Wolverhampton weekly newsletter #9

We started the week with the fortnightly "scrum" and that started the week rolling with all things "Print Project" related.  This came about as a result of updates about the Project Board later that day.  At the end of the week there was confirmation that the sponsor had given the final go ahead.  Communications should be rolling today ahead of Monday's planned installations across the Walsall campus.

We also had a major upgrade to the Apps Anywhere service this week, which involved a planned service interruption. This turned out to be quite a lot shorted than anticipated.  It appears to have gone to plan.

I had an audio-conference with Box this week and there is now a meeting in mid-January at Wolverhampton to discuss next steps. I am wondering if this is potentially one of several platforms that might assist with "non-VLE use of Canvas".  It also came up in discussions at the end of the week on Digital Landscape.

I have had four "Digital Lens" sessions this week with the Dean of Students, Digital marketing, Dean of COLT and also the new Head of Computer Science and Maths). I also met with the VC and asked if he would so some homework for me - I've asked him to carry the crib sheet around with him and jot down any relevant areas from his perspective.  This could be the basis of future and ongoing discussions - not a one off exercise - and will feed into the Digital Advisory Boards process which is now getting established for end January.

I finally made it up to the Science Park on Monday this week and have a number of photos and observations. I will do the same thing that I did for the two Server Room visits and put a few slides together.  With over 100 University staff as well as a thriving set of small and medium sized businesses (many technology focused) this is an interesting set of customers and requirements.

There was a really useful conversation about student interns/apprentices and the organisational learning her team has gone through with recruitment and coaching of students.  I am personally very much in favour of students being employed alongside staff teams which can have positive outcomes for everyone involved if well managed.

Finally, I spent a couple of hours giving feedback on the draft business case for Data Management. We had a really positive and constructive session (and the canteen noodles weren't bad) and I was also able to update him on the early output relating to Digital Strategy.

 

The Slater's evening was good fun and there are some excellent santa selfies as proof!  Hopefully everyone is in their Christmas Jumpers today.