Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Plymouth College Art from 

Elaine and Kerry

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

 

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"

Vogue

 
Yes it was time to strike a pose and what fun we all had.  We booked out two days of studio time and have started with course tutors individual portraits and their teams.  

The general feeling was one of reluctance with some staff, but when it actually came to it the atmosphere was fantastic, staff were relaxed, happy and took some great photos.  






In many ways it was a good team bonding exercise and the word has now spread, so those who evaded the shoots have emailed to ask if we have any extra sessions planned. 

We were sent the finished shots by Joanne and what a very good looking bunch they all are too!

Elaine and myself trundled over to London for the JISC Programme meeting last week.

It was my first one so it was a nice chance to get to meet the other institutions in the programme, which was nice.

Before

After

We started the day off with an exercise centred around reflection on the various aspects of our projects; these categories were 'things that made me think', 'heartfelt issues', 'things I see with new eyes', 'things I was to shout about', 'thing I find hard to stomach' and then a look at next steps.

Next we assessed some cookies!

After lunch it was time work in groups to discuss issues and topics that were relevant to the institution and their project.  As once of project outputs is aggregator website demonstrator for the 'Creative Assembly', this was an excellent opportunity to catch up with the other creative institutions to discuss our progress and obtain feedback

After discussing at length the web specification the creative assembly decided to offer to present at the JISC show and tell in January, where we will have the demonstrator to show...and tell.

"We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has powerful muscles, but no personality."

The title of this post is a quote from Albert Einstein.  I actually felt that is summed up what we are hoping to achieve by the extension the feed of a 'Deliverer' field.

Students in the Art and Design community are inspired and driven by their tutors as we discovered in Stage 1, not just their qualifications.  So now it was time to address the lecturers in our college and sell them on this concept.

We were extremely lucky as when our Principal heard of what we were doing, he was enthusiastic and volunteered to be project champion; so we were already on the right path!  This meant that when we arranged our staff workshop we had a mock up of what the staff Mahara profile would like with the principal as a guideline.  Within this we were able to call up examples of best practice using http://workflow.arts.ac.uk/ as an example of best practice.  Some of the University of the Arts students had a real grasp on how to make Mahara work for them and will be a good foundation for inspiration with our staff.

It was good to use this workshop as an opportunity to feedback on the extremely positive comments made by the students, whilst evidencing that this is a concept that has sprung from student feedback, and educational institutions should be about the student - our customer.

To engage our staff further and ensure that images on tutor profiles were both creative and professional, we recruited a photography student (Joanne Cookney) to take staff portraits.  Also, in response to the Stage 1 findings, where students talked about the intangible elements of the college such as atmosphere being so much more than they expected, Jo would also be capturing teaching sessions, examples of work and college life.  We have a set format in terms of lighting and style, but we have said for tutors to be as creative as possible in their photos to capture their personality.  Staff are incredibly excited about this aspect of the project.

On reflection the session went very well and although we hoped to have a working version of our bespoke Mahara system, the staff got a feel of what we hope to achieve and why.

A few concerns were raised about having information about them in a public place, due to identity fraud and security.  This issue will be addressed as it is a fine balance between keeping staff information secure and publicising what makes out tutors so unique.

We also discussed our Moodle Block project with staff, and they are looking forward to seeing how this will work in practice.  

Next steps....

1.  Take all academic portrait photos
2.  Arrange a workshop for staff once PCA Mahara system is developed
3.  Have a good sample of staff profiles and any feedback on the system


Our Staff Mahara Workshop slides can be seen here, although some of the slides have not translated very well to slideshare.

Don't be fooled by the Blog that we got...it's still Moodle from the Block

We have now met with ULCC to discuss and move forward with the Moodle Block project.

The XCRI-CAP project has been a useful tool of looking at internal data the ways and places it is stored, validity, transparency and usefulness.  It has been a mechanism for implementing change management and working more effectively and efficiently as a college.

Using the XCRI in the Moodle Block has ultimately meant looking wider than our own needs and consider more fully the issues facing other institutions as the Moodle Block will need to be something that fits all institutions. 

We hope to have a working version by January, but with so many steps in between, there will plenty of food for thought and blog about! 

What does XCRI-CAP, Van Gogh and a wine cellar have in common....?

Elaine and myself took ourselves off to the big smoke last week on the 2nd of October to visit Courtauld Institue of Art. This was a good opportunity to meet one of the stakeholders in the creative assembly face to face to discuss what the XCRI-CAP project has meant for them as a specialist art institute.



We met with Tom Scutt who showed us around their impressive gallery, steeped in history where I was delighted and amazed to see an original Van Gogh.

 

The imposing grounds were arresting and it was easy to see how inspiring the surroundings must be for their students.

Where old meets new, what struck me was the juxtaposition of traditional and modern.  For example, Courtauld are making every effort to digitalise their extensive archives, which hold a wealth of data collected over the life of the institute.  With the same economic issues facing them as other institutions, having seen the collection, I very much hope that the archive can be stored in some way.



Where old meets new, a state of the art library
in an old converted wine cellar



Courtauld decided to use a web CMS to create a framework from which to build their XCRI-CAP feed. To achieve this Drupal was chosen and have since released their XCRI-CAP module to the public.  I have had the opportunity to look at this and found it a very useful tool for those institutions using Drupal. The module allows users to create a catalogue of course presentations that adhere to the XCRI standard and can be set up on an existing Drupal installation in minutes. 

On reflection, it was apparent how Courtauld and PCA both complimented and 'filled in the gaps'.  I am excited at what this could mean for future relations both between us and Courtauld and the rest of the creative assembly.  

Tom has found the interaction between institutes both in the project as a whole and the creative assembly stimulating and useful and shall also be hosting the next creative assembly meeting in November.

To have this network as a result of this project is a real legacy in itself, and I'm sure that others will agree that other more tangible benefits will spring from this in the future.

Block that Moodle!

We are very excited to have received funding from JISC to develop a Moodle block. 

This block will allow students currently studying at the college to receive information on additional opportunities and course progression relevant to their study choices; this will be identified through the use of ‘key words’ such as subject and type fields, using the XCRI feed

A good use for this will be students wanting to make the natural transition from undergraduate courses to postgraduate study.  Since we have recently established new postgraduate course that the students may not be aware of this project has come at a good time.  We shall also seek to incorporate the progression opportunities for those in Further Education wishing to start an undergraduate qualification.

We shall be looking at how this will look soon and will post a picture in the next coming months.

#altc2012

This year's ALT-C had it all from mining outfits to knitting to confessions of a selfish tweeter.  I had a particular interest in the first keynote speaker of the first day Eric Mazur, who spoke about how students learn. 

The easy part of teaching is the regurgitation of information, the hard part and the focus should be how this information is assimilated and connected with experience and knowledge in the students brain.  Studies carried out showed that students are more asleep during lectures than they are when they are actually asleep!  Students need the time and discipline to go away and reflect on what they have learnt and process this especially when what they are learning is different from they believe to be true (cognitive dissonance).

  Eric Mazur's Keynote Speech: "Students are more asleep during lectures then when they are asleep"

And of course Plymouth College of Art were there to present our project to delegates.  The issues arising from the JISC workshop 'Can you HEAR the first KIS' were interesting and it was only a shame that we didn't have more time to talk around this subject.

Elaine Garcia and Kerry Dungay about to present our project!

What did we take away from the ALT-C 2012?  Interesting workshops on Mahara and ePortfolios which were particularly relevant to our project.  It was an edifying insight into the culture of learning technology and the Twitter feed provided a better view of the opinions, thoughts and perspectives of those attending. 

For those Harry Potter fans, I like to compare the Twitter feed to the magic time clock that Hermoine had that allowed her to go to several of her lessons at once.  I could attend one seminar but also read about what was being said elsewhere.

PCA would like to extend thanks to the organisers and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did at #altc2012!  Just remember next year to bring your knitting :0)



Organisational Development and Change Management

What is Organisational Development (OD)?

Academically there is no conclusive answer to this, with there being many definition and sumnations.  There is a depth of research and practice but with this seems to come a certain degree of confusion.  However as definitions go, I quite like the one give by Rainey Tolbert & Hanafin:

"The goal of organisation development, is to enhance organisational effectiveness by attending to both human and organisational needs."

Theory behind OD

Theories that underpin OD go back as far as the beginning of the 20th century and has routes in areas such as science, social science, and psychology to name a few.  There are 5 main schools of thought that underpin OD, Complexity Theory, Systems Theory and:

Lewin's Change Theory (1947)

• Unfreeze - getting prepared for change.
• Change - The change stage is a transition not an event
• Freeze (re-freeze) The stage where change systems are accepted as the norm once again.

This model is still relevant today in some cases, although due to its iterative process may not suit the speed of modern change.

Action Research Theory - Learning Theory (1944)

• Diagnosis
• Planning
• Implementing (action)
• Evaluation

Change is driven by the members of the process in this theory, which is an important part of engagement and creates traction.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI)

AI is a verbal science highlighted in the 1980s.  The first and most important difference between AI and problem solving is the questions it asks.  This is a glass half full approach to strengthen the organisation and build on its current potential posing questions such as 'what is working well'.  AI should be used as a lever to ignite postive attitudes and approaches to OD. 

The Link between OD and Change Management

The sun and the wind...a story that shows that no matter how hard you push, you can't force change on someone.

Change will only come when there is compelling evidence that to make the change puts you in a better place than you are in now.

Change management can occur with one or more people, team, group but OD looks at all the forces working and impacting on the organisation as a whole.  OD looks at the causes of problems rather than using symptomatic approach. 

When an OD practitioner will want to make changes within the culture of the organisation rather than just make changes to individual or team behaviours.  Successful change involves transforming the way the organisation thinks, it takes into account the culture of the organisation, the beliefs and attitudes of the members.  Suggestions made by an OD practitioner will be made to help engender a culture where people believe in the organisations purpose, want to work hard for it, believe in the leadership and focus.  This will result in change being managed effectively as people will be open to OD and change management.

A quick look at OD intervention process:

• Entry contracting - Establish point of contact and understand inter relationships within the buesiness, particularly strategic alliances.  What does the organisation hope to get from the intervention?
• Data collection - Use of forced neutrality.  Looks at readily available data, annual report, P&L accounts, customer feedback etc.  Speak to data owners and try to find out what is not reported.
• Data Analysis - Analysis of data collected.  There should be no preconceptions about the changes required before the analysis
• Feedback - Feedback initial findings to highlight the issues affecting the organisation.
• Action Planning - Identify the actions that will take place to make the situation better at the various layers of the organisation: Individual, interpersonal, intra group, inter group, bounded system level, system network.
• Action taking - Use of 'quick wins' may ensure committment to carry out longer term strategies. 
• Evaluation - Measures of success or failure in terms of alpha, beta, gamma etc.

OD - Tools and approaches

• Cultural assessments
• Working with emotions
• Diversity
• AI
• Left side/Right side Focus
• Organisational Learning

There are a number of management models and tools to assist organisational design and change.  Becoming familiar with what is available and applying the relevant ones to address the issues of your organisation is about knowing your staff and where you are at and having disciplined approach to seeing it through.

Mahara and all that Jazz

Following a very successful meeting with ULCC and GuildHE we are now on track for the next step of the project and the adjustments we wish to make to Mahara to align it with the Art & Design community's priorities.  

We discussed our specification in terms of design, branding, format and development.  The discussion highlighted issues such as hosting, administration, collaborative working, integrating systems and standarisation of data. Training was also discussed and will be developed to ensure efficient use of Mahara by staff.  Suggestions included:

·         The system is being used for the purpose for which it has been planned

·         The purpose of the system is made clear - personal promotion or institutional?

·         The techniques to populate the system is discussed and best practice is developed

·         That users are made aware of the need to consider whether the information they are posting is appropriate for Mahara or whether it should located in another system

What was exciting was we briefly touched upon the subject of the creative assembly and the aggregator website development.  I am looking forward to this aspect of the project and am eager to see what is going to be produced....watch this space!!!

Next steps....well, ULCC will start work on our specification proposal and feed back to us on progress and any issues arising.  System needs to be rolled out to staff for testing in October. The system will need to be ready for Champions to initially trial before training and therefore we will require a working version by 11^th October.  

Let's get technical

Having put together our specification for the additional fields within Mahara, we then waited with baited breath to see how this would work with the XCRI-CAP feed. 

We were pleased (and ever so slightly relieved) that what the project was proposing was technically possible.  The idea is to add a section in the schema called 'deliverer' with tutor information listed within this.  There will also be a URL link with the tutors public profile information stored within Mahara.

The next step is to meet with ULCC and GuildHE to discuss the Mahara aspect of the project.

Extending for value

As outlined in Stage 1, students highlighted the need for greater profile information on Academic staff.  This has been a fantastic opportunity to work collaboratively with our HR and marketing departments to inform our feed specification.  This extended feed shall draw its information from Mahara. 

Staff can then enter their required information in Mahara, with the aim of this being a one stop shop for information saving on duplication of data input and thefore time and effort.

Our specification is ready for submitting for consideration and we will have a sample to work with by September 2012. 

Students in the Art & Design Community

As part of our project we proposed that the types of information that students within the Art & Design (A&D) sector require are different from those students applying for more 'mainstream' qualifications.  One of the reasons being that the outcomes of an A&D qualification are often very different.

For example students are less likely to be interested in expected potential earnings and employment prospects as A&D students generally study this area because they are passionate about it, not for the financial benefits. 

To test this theory we carried out a survey for the Further Education and Higher Education students within the college to get an idea of their priorities and requirements.

The results were interesting and mostly confirmed what we had previously postulated.  In particular students were keen to see staff profiling and were more interested and captivated by the intangible aspects of the courses, such as community and atmosphere.  Location was a big factor, not just for the logistical benefits but how inspiring the surrounding environment was and how it enhanced creativity. 

Other types of information students looked for were details on resources and facilities as well as the cost of equipment required for the course (as this can often be expensive for A&D students!)

In conclusion the results were very telling and whilst throwing up a few suprises, supported out theory of what students within the A&D community were really looking for!  Some of our findings can be seen in the below presentation.

Course data Stage 1

Our Progress

We are now in the process of disseminating Stage 1 information internally.  The data has been presented to the Senior Management Team and it was received very positively and has been the catalyst for us to ask the pertinent questions for invoking change.

The results have been extremely beneficial for marketing purposes which has engaged top level staff and is now resulting in more effective internal collaborative working with other relevant departments.

We are really pleased with the positive outcome of the dissemination process - long may it continue!

Data Definitions summary

As a way of reaching out to those not directly involved in the project in a user friendly and accessible way, we created a simplified outline of the feed content.

This has had good feedback internally from departments who are engaged in the project, including Marketing, Quality and project champions. 

Data Definitions summary

Time for some Creativity

Creative Assembly

As an Art & Design College we are somewhat special!  Students' motivations, requirements and aspirations are outside the norms of most other qualifactions. 

Working collaboratively, sharing best practice and findings from Stage 2 with other Art and Design Institutions offers us a unique and varying perspective on course data. 
We have formed a super art and design data busting group - known as...The Creative Assembly.

Our first meeting is going to be held on the 30th April at Bournemouth.

Twittering

We have set up a Twitter account for our project @PCAcoursedata, please feel free to follow us.

For those interested in setting up your own Twitter account, I have included a link from the LSE which is a Twitter guide for Academics and researchers.

Using Twitter in University research, teaching and impact opportunities

We like this one...

Having reviewed some of the projects on JISC Elevator we really like the Mobile apps proposal. 

The idea is to re-use the XML files they produce to create an two Apps, both on iPhone and Android to enable students to search for courses.  One app will be institutional based (you will be able to rebrand it and point to your XML feeds) the second will be a generic app that will pull all the XML feeds.

If you like the sound of it, or want to see more, click on the above link and register your vote.  Feel free to pass to colleagues.

Project set up and moving

JISC Course Data Project


We have had the initial team briefing and have started working within the organisation to move the project forward.

Also we have just taken on Kerry Dungay as our new Project Administrator who started work with us on the 13th March.

Elaine has created a presentation on the project which can be viewed at:

JISC Slideshow

Dates for your diary:

• 30th March 2012 - Online meeting with JISC
• 30th April 2012 - Report and Disseminate findings to the wider community - relating to information gathered from prospective students from Stage 1