As well as the study schools, I also presented, with colleagues at two conferences this month.  The first was the Higher Education Academy’s national conference in Nottingham where we presented on an innovative project to develop and implement our own Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Learning in Higher Educaiton at the University of Lincoln.  The second was the Joint Social Work Education Conference held in Manchester, where we presented on a SWAP (social work and policy subject centre) funded research project to explore students’ experiences of mentoring children and young people looked after by the Local Authority.  These are just some of the areas of work that made July such a busy month – all in all, I felt as though I was hardly at home all month!  So, I am looking forward to a chance to catch up and have some annual leave in August!

On a different note, with a team of colleagues I started on the Global Corporate Challenge on 19th May.  This is a pedometer based walking challenge where we are engaged in a virtual team walk around the world for 16 weeks; wearing a pedometer each day and entering our own daily step count on-line each day.  It is fascinating how wearing a pedometer makes me not only realise  how sedentry my job can be, but also gives me the motivation to take the stairs rather than the lift and to get out jogging and walking more than I had been.  It’ll be interesting to watch progress over the coming weeks. 

Then at the end of the month, I had a short family break away in West Wales, whilst the weather was somewhat unpredictable, it was great to spend time with my family, just enjoying each other’s company and time together.

The book that I have written about several times over the last year in this journal was finally submitted in its finished form this month, phew!  It has been a long haul, but a satisfying project to complete.  That being said, it is not really complete as there will be more work to do on copy-editor queries and proofing as the publishing process progresses – the plan is for publication October 2011. In the meantime I have been commissioned to write another book for the same publisher, so need to make a start on planning and writing again! 

I was also pleased this month to have been successful in my application for recognition as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) at Standard Descriptor 3 (SD3) - I have held SD2 for some years, so was pleased to participate in the pilot implementation of the University of Lincoln Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, following the HEA accredition of the institution’s framework earlier in the year. The HEA have now announced a consultation on a review of the recognition scheme, so I hope that the outcome will be that SD3 is given a distinct tier of recognition, rather than being titled ‘Fellow’ alongside SD2, but we shall see. 

At home, one of the highlights of November, was a trip to the grey seal colony at Donna Nook, on the Lincolnshire coast – this is the time of year when the seals come right up close to the shoreline to give birth to their cubs and when we visited, we saw over 1,000 seal cubs – it was amazing.  I felt priviledged to be so close and see so many seals in their natural habitat in the wild – wonderful.  Follow this link to see the photographs and video clips we took on our visit - Seals at Donna Nook.

Finally, I couldn’t make a journal entry for this November without mention of the weather!  I don’t think I can ever remember such cold weather, or the extremes of ice and snow coming so early in the winter. This picture was taken by a colleague and shows the frozen expanse of Brayford water in front of the University.

On the ‘up’ side, at home, we had a good time celebrating my son’s birthday, these are always precious family times to be enjoyed – so another year older and another year wiser … well maybe!  

On the ‘down’ side, as the University develops and consolidates, there is increasing awareness of the impact of national funding changes (cuts!) to structures and practices in the institution.  A key example this month has been the confirmed decision to sell the campus building in Hull.  It is pleasing that all current students from the campus will be supported to continue and complete their studies before Hull based activities are consolidated at the main Lincoln campus; however, change always has its challenges.  At the same time, nationally students and colleagues are protesting about financial cuts to higher education, the whole picture is very worrying.

I have been pleasantly distracted, however, through my involvement in some interesting research projects that have required a good deal of activity this month. I have been in southern Ireland gathering data, which has involved some really interesting and enjoyable time spent with school children and professionals.  The research project I am leading, that is funded by the Social Work and Policy subject centre of the Higher Education Academy, has also ‘taken off’ this month, with the first tranch of data collection with students and key stakeholders; for details of this project click here.  My teaching this month has centred around supporting delivery of a doctoral study school and individual work with students completing their final undergraduate independent study work.

To continue in the same vein for now though, January and February so far have been busy teaching and marking periods.  I have also found time to submit some proposals for conference papers both as a sole author, and jointly with some very valued colleagues in South Africa and in Australia.  I am hoping that these abstracts meet with some success as I feel so honoured to have the opportunity to work with people from Universities across the world (keeping fingers firmly crossed on these!).  I also submitted two bids for small ‘pockets’ of research funding over this period, one locally, one to a national organisation.  The first has been unsuccessful, but offered good learning for its redevelopment for future submissions….the second is still under review (hopefully the already crossed fingers will work for this too)

During January I made reasonable progress on the book I am writing; I have tight plan/schedule to keep to and so far, all is going well.  I enjoy writing when I have some concentrated time and can loose myself in the substance and content – a whole day can go by in, what feels like the blink of an eye! 

I wouldn’t be a true Brit without mentioning the weather, particularly given the extreme conditions we have experienced at this start of the year.  It has been very cold (and I really don’t like the cold), with some periods of substantial snow fall.  The snow is attractive and leaves a stunning landscape, but we are not prepared for it and it brings chaos for all travellers, even those trying to get about on foot.  I very much dislike driving in these conditions, so am looking forward to spring – we have snowdrops in the garden, so hopefully the new season will soon be here.  In my last blog, I reported on the troubles caused by mechanical problems with my car, so can now update this by reporting that I have decided to buy a new vehicle.  The new car arrives in March – perhaps along with the spring….there is much to look forward to

Family life was also somewhat difficult this month with a very sad and unexpected family bereavement putting us all in a bit of turmoil.  However, on a more cheery note, family pulled together and we are now all looking forward to the festive break and some time to ‘gather strength’.  December will be a busy time workwise, but with some precious family time built-in.

So, the key thing for October has been publishing this website, with the help of colleagues at the University of Lincoln and my husband, Dai – there is lots more to do, but this will always be ‘work in progress’.  I have also been spending as much time as possible writing on my doctoral thesis, with a particular focus on chapters 1, 2 and 3.  My teaching focus this month has been on supporting part-time students with the final dissertations and progress towards practice learning experiences as part of their undergraduate studies.  I had an excellent day at the NVivo Masterclass in London in the middle of the month and now feel confident to improve and progress my analysis of the doctoral project on the qualitative data analysis software.  Also, on 7th October at Derby University, I facilitated, with colleagues from the REACH network, a one-day workshop event, in partnership with the Centre for Recording Achievement titled ‘Implementing Professional Development in Complex Roles within Higher Education; using research findings’.  This went very well, with over 20 participants, although we are yet to properly reflect on all of the outcomes and the evaluations from the day.

At home, my son had his 21st birthday (where do the years go?); my daughter and son-in-law came over to spend a weekend with us; I had a weekend away at a spa-retreat with some ‘old’ girlfriends from school; and the kittens have been growing at great speed!

The diary is full for November, so we shall see what progress can be made…..