It’s been a fascinating day today.
Following that early morning jog, I slowly got my stuff together and headed over to the Computing Centre, where I was to met a couple of university ‘colleagues’ for the 50-minute drive down here, the Derbyshire Hotel, from where I’m now staying for a couple of nights (all expenses paid. Thank you Sheffield!).
This three day residential event is the product of the university’s investment in change. The idea was spawned at a national “change” event attended by a couple of senior members of staff, who then thought “Wow! What a great idea! Let’s have our own ‘Change’ process at Sheffield …and let’s call it SeeChange!” The call then went out for project proposals, one of which was drawn up by Patrice of Learning and Teaching Support, and Mark of CiCS/CILASS fame.
The goal of our project is to formulate a strategy that will see students utilising Web 2.0 tools to positively impact upon their learning process. This might include tools such as Facebook, RSS feeds & newsreaders, Flickr, YouTube and social bookmarking. It’s not going to be easy. The use of Facebook by university staff is the topic of some debate and has cropped up several in CILASS debates; the current consensus seems to be something along the lines of ‘stay away’.
What is key to our project is that it is student driven. If the university was to ‘hijack’ these popular services, the response would most likely be students choosing to go elsewhere. It’s a difficult situation: A university driven initiative that cannot be university driven!
I’ll describe some of the tools we’ve been given to aid us in our change process tomorrow.
I feel very fortunate to be involved in what really is an exciting project. And it’s not just the project itself, it’s the way it’s being launched. The four teams that are here (making up a total of about 30 people) were selected following a competitive tendering process – thus we already feel quite special, it’s like winning a holiday (although the hotel’s not all that nice, and the Internet access deal is the biggest rip-off in the history of the galaxy. Having said that, I love staying in hotels and am very grateful for what we have been provided with. I’ll be going for a Sauna when I wake up tomorrow…). The reason it’s a three day residential held outside of Sheffield is, according to one of the organisers, to stop people nipping back to the office at lunchtime – we have to be fully focused. And I think it does help the creative process.
I’m also very appreciative to be able to partake in the training sessions that are being provided as a part of the package, the kind of things you’d pay good money to take part in privately. I’ll talk more tomorrow about the Team Management Profile, a ‘test’ that leads to a personalised 25-page report on your contribution to a team. They are scarily accurate and offer invaluable insights into one’s own character.
It’s fascinating attending this event in the role of ‘student’, surrounded by staff. Whilst I may be 30 years old, I often feel more like I’m a teenager, and am prone to elevate staff above myself in the university environment. But seeing them work together here, it strikes me just how much they resemble my classmates and I as we carry out some group project. This leads me to think on how difficult I find it to take on the mantle of ‘adult’, and I wonder if this is a consequence of being labelled as a ‘student’. How will my sense of identity change when I begin work?
I digress.
I’d better get to bed really, it’s late. We have a full schedule tomorrow. Looking forward to it.