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!

There appears to be a lot of discussion around the term ‘customer’ in relation to Further and Higher Education at the moment.  Articles (e.g. THE - Times Higher Education) along with outcomes from events (e.g. JISC Conference) highlight this further.  I (Andy Stewart) decided that I’d run a session at the Support Northumbria conference to find out the thoughts of fellow colleagues.

As you’d probably expect a range of perspectives were given, often associated with an individuals current role and past experience.  Much of the discussion focussed around students with the room split on whether we should view them as a customer, after all they are paying for particular services.  If we don’t view them as a customer how can we possibly deliver on expected outcomes and deliver effective services?  Another delegate responded highlighting that the relationship should be viewed much more as a partnership, the student plays an integral role in their time at any institution.  The more time they invest in this partnership the better the outcome overall, for the institution as well as the individual.  One delegate recalled their time at an institution and highlighted that as a student it’s not all about getting a grade, rather an involvement in a unique and beneficial cultural experience - a statement I must agree with.

After thinking through the discussion I feel I must apologise to delegates in that I may have asked the wrong question.  Although the discussion was lively and useful, hopefully challenging people to review their current thinking, I believe a much more pertinent question would be to ask who are our customers?  The most recent grant letter received by HEFCE states:

“…and where I hope the Council will continue to focus during 2009-10, include engaging with business; widening access to higher education; supporting quality in HE; enhancing employability; sustaining world class research; and responding to climate change.”

Pretty simple wouldn’t you agree?  All jokes aside, what this seems to come down to is “future employers” and “society generally” being the core customers of institutions, a distinction I must attribute to a brilliant blog post by Lloyd Armstrong, Jr.  Perhaps we could argue the removal of ‘future’ and concentrate solely on ‘employers’ and ’society’, reason being students could be ‘work-based learners’.  All of this ties in nicely with the Business and Community Engagement (BCE) initiative currently underway within JISC, a cross cutting theme which needs to be addressed by the core components of any institution - Research and Learning & Teaching.

I particularly relate to the suggestion by Lloyd that education is “…in the knowledge chain management business”.  So what does this mean for the ’student’?  One delegate touched on the idea that their financial transaction was not so much in return for goods/services but an investment in their own future.  Again, something Lloyd touches upon in his post:

“…they are ‘independent partners’ who have invested in an education that will enable them to become valued contributors to their institution’s knowledge chain.”

I must thank all those that contributed to the discussion and encourage further debate using the comments facility below!

We are pleased to welcome Joanne Hyslop to the JISC infoNet team. Joanne joins infoNet from the University of Teesside, where she was Performance Information Analysis Manager in the Corporate Information Analysis Unit, within the Academic Registry. As part of her previous role Joanne’s main responsibility was for the HESA Student Return, ensuring that the submission maximised on funding and related outputs. Part of Joanne’s remit covered analysis of various sector-wide performance measures including the National Student Survey, HEFCE Performance Indicators and various published league tables.

Joanne’s new role at infoNet will see her take on new challenges, working closely with Steve Bailey on the ‘Creating a Common Research Framework for Measuring the Impact of Records Management’ project. Initially Joanne will undertake desk-based research to ascertain the current evidence base for demonstrating the economic benefit of implementing records management processes. The later stages of this research will include an online survey to discover relevant unpublished sources of evidence which may have been established for internal purposes within organisations. Joanne will support Steve as he formulates the framework for measuring the benefits to records management.

Joanne will also be responsible for collating the responses to the Information Legislation & Management Survey conducted each year in association with Universities UK and GuildHE.

This latest appointment sees Joanne joining our busy and dedicated team.

We are pleased to welcome Joanne on board and look forward to working with her on our exciting new project.