As predicted, November has been a hectic month. Just as it feels as though things should settle down towards the end of the calendar year and the festive break, so it gets busier and more frantic! I seem to have been away alot in November, both for teaching, attending external exam boards as external examiner and presenting research work at conference. I have again, this month, been supporting part-time, open-learning undergraduate students with final dissertation work, including individual tutorial support and group-led taught sessions. I have also been working with teaching colleagues to share some of my learning and experience of using the NVivo qualitative data analysis software for my research work. I participated in two external events during the month; with REACH network colleagues I presented some or our work at a workshop at the annual SEDA (Staff Educational Development Association) conference at the Aston Conference Centre in Birmingham; then I attended a SRHE (Society for Research into Higher Education) event at Edinburgh exploring ‘policy discourse and local enactments’. I also took part in a very interactive day at the University of LIncoln exploring our Learning Landscapes agenda further, ‘Working in partnership, working with partner colleges’. Between all of this, I completed first good drafts of chapters 1, 2 and 3 of my thesis and have started planning the next chapters for a new year on-slaught! Therefore, I have not had much space to do any work on furthering this website, but it remains written large on my ‘to do’ list!
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.
This is the first blog that I have written for this website. Previously I have been blogging on my doctoral research web pages as a means of keeping participant case study institutions, individuals and interested parties up-to-date with progress on the research process. I now intend to use this blog page to provide regular comments and up-dates on my professional work, perhaps monthly, or as often as I can or deem appropriate.
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…..
