12 Apps of Christmas

Today I enrolled on the 12 Apps of Christmas course and completed the pre-course survey. It is offered by Regent's University London and is hosted on Blackboard.

I first heard about the course in June, when I attended a workshop at the ARLG 2016 conference. I'd never heard of it before then, and to be honest I'm not quite sure why. Because I'm relatively new to HE libraries? Because I'm a solo librarian and my networking is limited? Or does the course have a low profile? I don't think it's the latter, as hundreds of people have completed it over the past few years. When you change sector it can take a while to find/establish new links and I think that may be why I hadn't heard of this course previously.

Anyhoo, as soon as I did hear of it, I was hooked! I really like the idea. I have little knowledge of using apps in education and am keen to learn more. An added bonus is the ability of communicating with other participants via the Twitter hashtags (#RUL12AoC, #12AoC); it's interesting and fun to see what other folks are up to. Plus, I have little experience of MOOCs, so this is a good way to dip my toes in the water. The only online course I've ever done was CPD 23 Things, back in 2011. I really enjoyed it, so if this is even partly similar, I'll enjoy this too.

2016 reading challenge

Considering my job, it probably comes as no surprise that I enjoy reading. It relaxes me and centres me after a stressful day. I have built a career around reading and the empowerment it provides; I value it so much that whenever I go abroad to a non-English speaking country, the feeling of illiteracy I have scares me; losing the ability to read makes me feel vulnerable. As a librarian I consider it my duty to read widely in my spare time and I like to cover different genres. I used to take inspiration from the Richard and Judy Book Club or the Six Book Challenge, but this year I came across the 2016 Reading Challenge, which I have just completed. 

I’ve no idea where the challenge originated, but a friend mentioned seeing it on social media. I decided to omit one element of the challenge – a book you have previously abandoned. There is so much great literature out there (whatever your definition may be), and life is too short to spend it reading things you don’t enjoy. I’ve only ever abandoned a few books and the possibility of revisiting them felt like torture.

Champs!

Earlier this summer, my employer held a staff party. Staff awards were distributed during the event and I am pleased to say the library won the ‘annual recognition award’.

We were presented with a shield and a bottle of champagne each. The decisions were made after senior management studied feedback from the annual staff survey and also the regular end-of-semester student surveys. I’m not sure what comments were made about the library but they must have been good!

It feels great knowing the library and the work we do is appreciated by both students and fellow staff. It’s nice to see people appreciating a library service, a provision which is traditionally often overlooked. In my previous employment, the library was often side-lined but here we have support from senior management and that feels good. It allows us to develop the service and for this I am very grateful. 

Chartership coincidence

In 2011 I started a job in a further education college and met my new line manager, Ihar Ivanou. We have both since moved on to other jobs; we now work for the same private provider of HE but are based at different campuses, approximately 120 miles apart.

Anyhooo, the other day I was having a clear out at home and came across the copy of CILIP Update (April 2010) which announced my original chartership. I glanced down the list of names and spied a coincidence; it was the issue Ihar’s original chartership was announced, too!

Spooky? Destiny? Who knows???

Heritage Cirqa Flagship Programme

In Sept 2015, IS Oxford – the developers of Heritage, our LMS – launched theHeritage Cirqa Flagship Programme. This was a series of 10 monthly assessments designed to utilise a variety of functions within the software. I registered as soon as I heard of the course and was really chuffed to be within the first wave of ‘graduates’ announced in June. The main aim of the programme was to encourage library staff to make use of functions they may not already utilise. Each month saw a different task – here is a basic list of each topic covered: 

Reval :)

At the end of June I had an email announcing my second cycle of chartership revalidation had been successful. I often think about revalidation and much prefer the current regulations to the previous regulations. I chartered under the old regs but never revalidated under them; I tried, but the demands just didn’t fit into my busy working life as a long distance commuter. I have since revalidated twice under the new regs which proves how much more convenient they are. This is my first revalidation whilst working in HE. I blogged about my first revalidation (2015) here and also my original chartership (2010) here.

I submitted my portfolio on 27^th April and received the result exactly 2 months later. Although I was anxious to know whether my portfolio had been accepted, I found 8 weeks an acceptable wait. I’m happy revalidating every 12 months and feel a quick turnaround with the results is a key part of this.

'UXLibs in a Day'

Earlier this month, I attended ‘UXLibs in a day’, facilitated by Andy Priestner. I was lucky enough to have been given a place sponsored by CILIP West Midlands Member Network.  It was held in the library at Aston University and there were 25 delegates. It was brilliant, by far the most enjoyable and interesting library session I’ve ever been to. I was completely new to the concept of UX and this day was the perfect introduction. We learnt so much – it is impossible to recount it all within the confines of a blog post, but below are a few of my ponderings from the event.

HUG Summer Meeting 16

Last week was the annual Summer Meeting of the Heritage User Group, held at Conference Aston in Birmingham. I am a solo librarian and do not have many opportunities to meet other library people. I go to the HUG meetings once a year and really appreciate the networking opportunities it creates. This year, it seems networking opportunities are like busses – you wait ages for one and then two arrive at once! The HUG event was the day after the ARLG conference.

I attended my first HUG event in 2011 and they are always useful and interesting days. As always, the morning session featured a member of staff from ISOxford, the LMS developers. The latest information regarding the upcoming My Cirqas app was both interesting and useful. Although the app is free, usage will require Heritage licences so this is something for us to look into. We have long been considering upgrading out licence size and this may be the additional evidence required for our 'business justification' to be approved. 

#ARLG16 part 2: Attending

Last week I attended the ARLG 2016 conference, held at Conference Aston within Aston University. I attended for just one day, Tuesday 28^th July, and this blog post will record which sessions I attended and the overall experience of being a conference delegate.

The morning keynote speaker was Peter Kilcoyne, ILT director at Heart of Worcestershire College. He outlined a large scale project regarding blending learning within FE. Colleges are encouraged to participate in blended learning as a means of combatting teacher shortages, but creating online resources on a mass scale is expensive and time consuming. HoW college leads a consortium, which colleges may join for a fee. The idea is all member colleges will create resources which will be shared amongst fellow members, thus saving time (and therefore money) in the creation of online resources. The project was outlined from IT and senior management perspectives rather than a teaching perspective and this was reflected in the content. Coming from a college background, I could see the value in the project and it was interesting to learn of it, but at times I felt this particular presentation’s relevance to librarians was limited. Saying that, it was good to see a keynote session coming from an FE perspective – the majority of sessions appear to be aimed at HE practitioners. 

#ARLG16 part 1: Presenting

Recently, I have been lucky enough to present a workshop at the ARLG 2016 conference. This came about as a result of my winning ARLG’s Alison Northover Bursary, which I used to attend the 2014 ARLG conference.  I had such an amazing experience attending the conference that I was determined to contribute to the next one.

I kept my eyes open for the call for papers, submitted a proposal in December 2015 and in January 2016 found out it had been accepted. I was thrilled! The proposal was based around a book folding workshop, to be co-presented with an ex-colleague, Fran Heap. In the past, Fran and I had both used book folding to lead various library initiatives to engage users and raise the profile of the library. We felt we could share these experiences in the hope that other library staff may be interested.

PRINCE2

My course textbook

For the past few years I have been interested in gaining a qualification in project management. In my previous job, there were a few times I felt a knowledge of project management principles would have benefitted me and prevented several moments of panic! In 2011 the library moved into a new build and although we were only a small part of the overall project, I was intrigued with how it was managed. A few years later in 2013, I was the library lead on a year-long project involving our online authentication provider and whilst it went fairly smoothly, at times I felt I wasn’t quite sure of my next step. Whilst not crucial to these projects, an understanding of project management concepts may have given me a little more confidence that I was moving in the right direction.

Two months ago, I finally attended a PRINCE2 course. There were about 20 of us in the class and I was the only one from a background completely unrelated to project management. From the offset I felt like the class dunce! The Foundation course is pretty intense and the handbook is quite hefty for a 2 day course. At the end of the first day I studied the materials and the concepts started to make sense. I did two hours of practice exams and was pleasantly surprised at my marks. This gave me confidence for the second day of the course. I no longer felt intimidated by the other delegates, especially when we compared marks for the practice exams and our scores were evenly matched.

I was worried about the exam as it had been 15 years since I last sat a formal one. I’ve done practical assessments for first aid and an observed micro-teach for PTLLS, but that’s as near as I’ve been to an exam since 2000. During my degree back in the late 90s, I used to enjoy the challenge of an exam and knew I could trust myself not to panic. As soon as I entered the examination room I was relieved to find that old fighting spirit returned! My score was 86% and apparently this is good enough to progress to the next level – the Practitioner course. I have decided not to do this as I only wanted a general grounding in the concept of project management, not anything too in-depth.

I enjoyed being in a classroom again and had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed learning. The course was interesting and the PRINCE2 concepts are based on common sense, so the course is quite achievable for people without a project management background. I know of a few librarians who have attended the course but I’m not sure how valuable it is in their daily roles. The course content isn’t particularly relevant to me in my current role, but I am glad to have consolidated my knowledge on this topic. It would have been useful when working on previous projects and will give me confidence should I ever lead such a project again in future. Also, this course was a reminder not to allow myself to be intimidated and that I should trust my own abilities more than I do.    

Webinar wonderings

 

In recent months I have viewed 4 webinars, which is a fairly new experience for me. I attended a webinar back in 2011, and presented one in 2014, but other than that I’ve never given them much thought. When I changed jobs earlier this year I became a solo librarian, meaning it is not easy for me to attend CPD events in person. I needed to think of alternative activities I could engage with, and this is where webinars have proved useful.


Good and bad.
Image by Carl Carpenter. Used under a CC licence.

HE versus FE: my top 5 observations

Still learning.
Image taken by Chelsea:( Used under a CC license.

Last week I passed the probationary period in my new job. I felt uneasy with the direction FE was heading, so I was glad when changing jobs meant leaving the FE sector and joining the HE sector. I loved working at the college, but had long wanted to try my hand in a university library and was excited at the chance to do so. Now that I have been here almost six months, I have had chance to reflect on the differences between libraries. My initial top 5 ponderings are below:

Evolving CPD needs

Attendees at #hugsm15. Image by @HeritageUsers

Back in June I attended the Heritage User Group (HUG) meeting. These meetings are twice-yearly - this year’s Winter Meeting was held in March and the Summer Meeting held in June. I started attending meetings in 2011 and haven’t missed one until this year. (Previous HUG blog posts are here.) Due to changing jobs, I was unable to attend the March meeting. I was really disappointed by this and was glad to attend the next meeting in June.

Looking back, I can see that over the years the meetings have been of benefit to me in various ways. When I first started using Heritage the meetings were an incredibly useful source of information on how to use the software. I was thirsty for knowledge and the HUG meetings satisfied this need. Over the years, my knowledge of the software increased considerably and as a result my development needs changed also. Last year, I presented at a number of external events for the first time, one of which was a HUG meeting. I felt confident enough to deliver presentations exploring Heritage usage. By accepting the opportunity to present at HUG, the meeting met my development needs but in a slightly different way to how it usually did. I really enjoyed presenting and would like to continue doing this on occasions.

MCLIP revalidation

Last week I received an email telling me my chartership revalidation was successful. I originally chartered in 2010 and this was the first time I had revalidated. I attempted to do so back in 2012/13 but it didn’t get off the ground. Gathering evidence was time-consuming and knowing it was optional meant I didn’t prioritise it.

The new regulations are far more user-friendly and an online portfolio is much easier to maintain. I originally found CILIP’s VLE difficult to use but with perseverance I now have no trouble navigating it. Since submitting my revalidation I have continued to log CPD activities online in preparation for my next revalidation. I much prefer this new way, the process is less hassle and as a result I aim to revalidate annually.

Lecture time!

I recently enjoyed the opportunity to attend a university lecture for the first time since 2006. This was the last time I was a university student and things have certain moved on since! I remember endless sessions where the lecturer would deliver a presentation and students would spend the lecture hurriedly scribbling notes on a writing pad. Interrupting the lecture to ask a question was a rare occurrence and as a result it was easy to ‘drift off’ and allow your thoughts to wander.

Attending a lecture as an observer rather than a student was an interesting experience. I wasn’t distracted by the need to absorb content and was therefore able to focus on elements such as structure, delivery, interaction etc. There were approximately 40 people in the room, excluding myself and the lecturer. It was far more informal than I remembered lectures to be, with more of a seminar vibe in the air. Questions and interruptions were frequent and encouraged, and as a result, students proactively engaged with the content of the session. I am new to working within the HE sector and I don’t know if this way of delivering lecturers is now the norm in all institutions, but it seems to certainly work well for our students.

A lot of students had their mobile devices to hand – tablets as well as phones. I have recently left he FE sector, and in the college the use of personal devices during sessions was discouraged unless it was part of a BYOD initiative. It differed from group to group, but some FE lecturers preferred students to not be distracted by such devices during the main part of the session. I can understand this in compulsory education and FE. Is it the same in HE? Perhaps. I don’t know yet. At first, I presumed the devices were being used to browse social media or send text messages, but when I sneaked peaks at a few screens, I could see students were mirroring the actions on the big screen at the front of the auditorium. Instead of watching the lecturer demonstrate a website, they were following along on their devices and learning kinaesthetically too. One student even used his phone to photograph the printed resources the lecturer used, and later visited the library referring to these photos as the starting point for his research.

A few students used laptops to make notes, but in general, handwritten was the most common form of note taking. Incorporating modern technology into lectures is interesting and can be advantageous, but it is comforting to know scribbled notes are still the order of the day! I will soon be delivering lectures myself, assisting students with research techniques and assignment preparation, so it is important for me to know the format of lectures in my institution.

Six Book Challenge

My completion certificate

This year, I completed the Six Book Challenge (6BC) for the first time. I am already a regular reader, so why did I take part?

The 6BC is a well-established project, supported by the Reading Agency. It promotes reading for pleasure amongst adults, particularly those who may have low reading levels. The 6BC is offered in various types of establishments, including colleges, and generally works pretty well. It involves reading 6 books and writing a short review of each one in a reading diary. Small rewards are encouraged to emphasise the fun elements of reading.

I attempted the 6BC last year, having signed up in the college in which I work. This was the first time we had offered the scheme and I think we learned a lot. We were embedded into the scheme of work for foundation learners, but they didn’t manage to progress through 6 books within the allotted timeframe. As much as I wanted the project to succeed, even I failed to complete 6 books. There was a lack of ownership and none of us really had the time to dedicate to it. The momentum ran out pretty soon, unfortunately. So much so that this year, the library hasn’t offered the 6BC at all.

Folded book art lives on!

I've spent the past six months working in two separate FE colleges. Last summer a college restructuring activity deemed that my role should become a shared role between the college and its partner college. Such a change was implemented to many staff, and working in such a way was not without challenges. However, there were also positives... such as the saving of time by recycling various projects.

For the college's Green Week 2014, I (along with a library assistant) spent numerous hours creating an extensive display of folded book art. It was very popular and an enjoyable thing to be a part of. (I blogged about it here. It also featured as 'letter of the month' in the October issue of CILIP Update and the May issue of the CoLRiC Newsletter.) For Green Week 2015, we were able to recreate the display in the partner college I had recently started working in. The concept of folded book art was entirely new to this college so we were able to recreate the display without any additional work. It was well received by both staff and learners, and it was a lovely opportunity to re-live the buzz created by the book art. Here is a photo of the Green Week 2015 display...

A selection of my folded book art

ARLG conference: Newsletter reflection

The following text featured in the ARLG national newsletter, February 2015. It is a short reflection of my attendance at the ARLG 2014 conference, enabled by ARLG's Alison Northover Bursary.


I was thrilled to be the 2014 Alison Northover Bursary recipient. This funded my attendance at the 2014 ARLG conference, entitled ‘The final frontier: to boldly go where you have never gone before’. I had never been to a conference before and was very excited about attending. Looking back, I was not disappointed…

Interview Qs

Image created using Wordle

Within the past six months I have attended two job interviews, one to work in FE, the other HE. After each interview, I reflect on my performance and how I approached the questions. I find this helps identify my strengths and weaknesses, as well as anticipate possible topics for discussion in future interviews.