POCKET

This week was spent finalising the workshop details and documentation with Tina Wilson at the Open University. I arranged the modular materials dump with the
University of
Bolton and theUniversity of
Exeter, and met with Kevin Silber to discuss his module. It was agreed that due to his agreement with another project that the Conceptual History in Psychology would be replaced on the project and I informed Julie Stone that another module would need to be identified as soon as possible.  I confirmed travel arrangements for all the attendees and ensured detailed directions were sent out to all participants within a workshop pack. This also contained the agenda and revised briefing document.  

I had my settling in review this week to discuss how I felt I had adjusted to my new role and highlight any areas of concern with my line manager Dave O’Hare. I was very pleased with the review and received positive comments on my progress.  

The interviews for the Learning Technologist post were also held this week and after the panel had carefully reviewed all applicants, Sarah Darley was chosen as the successful candidate. I liaised with Human Resources to ensure all applicants were informed of the decision and contacted Sarah to discuss the position in more depth and confirm her attendance at the upcoming workshop.  

Finally I met with Lisa Joyce to review the revisions made to the Consortium Agreement document and circulated the revised document along with a list of proposed dates for the next board meeting to all the POCKET board members.

This week was spent mostly working on the documents for the upcoming workshop with the Open University. I also contacted all the identified module authors from all the project partners to arrange a “dump” of all relevant modular materials to Tina Wilson at the Open University, to allow her to familiarise herself with the module content and examples of the learning materials currently used before the workshop. 

I had my first project meeting with Louise Buxton, programme leader from the Foundation Degree in Hairdressing and Salon Management, to discuss the project in more depth and her reasons for selecting the Customer Service Skills module. It was agreed that the meeting had been a great success as Louise left with a better understanding of the project and how her module could be developed, and I left with a good overview of the module and the materials I needed to pass on to the Open University. It also gave me an opportunity to get to know Louise, talking through some of her queries and concerns about her module material and her attendance at the workshop was also confirmed.  

Finally I attended a meeting with Julie stone and Lisa Joyce to discuss final revisions to the Consortium Agreement. Lisa has agreed to help advise on the legal technicalities of the document in her role as commercial coordinator. The Consortium Agreement was reviewed and it was agreed that Lisa would make the necessary revisions to the document in light of points made during the meeting and also the received suggested revisions from the University of Bolton.

As the Learning Technologist application deadline had now passed, the majority of the week was spent reviewing the application forms and a short list of candidates for interview was drawn up with the help of Dave O’Hare (e-Learning Senior Teaching Fellow) and Peter Radcliff (CDM Academic Support). The interview panel was agreed and I liaised with Human Resources to contact the short listed candidates and arrange the interview agenda. The interviews were confirmed for the 20^th February and the room was booked.

I attended my first Learning, Teaching and Assessment committee meeting this week, in which I presented a project progress report on POCKET. The meeting was interesting as we discussed all the current projects in the school and it provided me with a great opportunity to meet colleagues and raise awareness of the project.

I had my first Flash Meeting with Patrick McAndrew and Tina Wilson from the Open University to discuss the upcoming workshop and the documentation to be circulated to participants beforehand. I drafted a briefing document which was discussed and revisions were suggested. I also began working with Tina on the Pro – Forma for module authors to complete to request upload of their materials.

Finally I met with finance officer Elaine Hazell to review the project budget and inform her of invoices from the partner institutions that were due to be submitted.