Spotlight

The New Year gives us the opportunity to reflect on some of our projects and initiatives from 2009 and consider how we move forward into challenging times in 2010.
Last year saw a number of innovative developments as well as the addition of a significant volume of new resources. Highlights include:

• the launch of this very blog in February, followed later in the year by our move onto Twitter
• resources on the wider strategic implications of the Bologna Process were launched (with more to follow in 2010 on HEAR)
• a wide range of activity in the Information and Records Management arena saw not only the local hosting of a very successful nationwide conference (’Building Bridges’ held in NewcastleGateshead in March) and the annual run of the Information Legislation survey, but significant new work on Measuring the Impact of Records Management which has rapidly gained momentum in the sector
• In the e-Learning sphere, exciting developments for the JISC’s Curriculum Design and Delivery programmes saw the beta launch of the ‘Design Studio’, and a significant addition of materials to our e-Portfolios resources
• Our work on providing resources to help with external engagement progressed with the relaunch of our Business and Community Engagement (BCE) ‘hub’ and the addition of new resources from institution-based projects on Embedding BCE
• The shaping of our Strategy infoKit (launched November 2009) marked an ambitious but hugely successful development in our resources, with the 15 colleges and institutions involved at the heart of the review process helping us create a package of materials that are truly ‘of the sector’

The service achieved recognition by being shortlisted amongst the 16 finalists for the inaugural World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Awards in the sustainability category and the launch of JISC Advance in September saw JISC infoNet come together with the collective expertise of: JISC Digital Media, JISC infoNet, JISC Legal, JISCMail, JISC Netskills, JISC Procureweb, JISC RSC UK and JISC TechDis to address the new and challenging requirements emerging within the education and research communities and beyond.

The service achieved recognition by being shortlisted amongst the 16 finalists for the inaugural World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Awards in the sustainability category.

On the ‘business as usual’ front, we continued to provide our popular workshops across the UK, and a JISC publication highlighted the experience of one college in maximising the combined use of our workshops and online resource. We also contributed workshops, presentations and seminars to a range of external events, delivering face-to-face support for the sector.

We have worked with numerous partners including many organisations and institutions to help co-fund and support projects and we look forward to further opportunities for collaborative work in 2010.

Some recent changes have also taken place within the team. We said a fond farewell to Joanne Hyslop earlier in the year, who left to pursue an exciting opportunity at Sunderland University. We also have a new addition to the team as Adam Hiles joined us in December as Administrator.

Some of the aforementioned strands of work continue during 2010, with institutional pilot work shortly to commence relating to the Strategy infoKit and the Impact Calculator. With the JISC Curriculum Delivery programme ending later this year, the support work for the Curriculum Design and Delivery programmes enters a new phase. A new strand of work on managing research information will kick off shortly, and in what will undoubtedly be challenging times ahead, the service’s materials and support on optimising processes and managing change, risk and projects effectively should be of particular use to the sector.

Keep an eye on our blog for news of what we’re up to in 2010!