Hello.
The project team (Laura, James and Pete) have made it back to Glasgow after encountering the most crowded train ever. I think I could write an entire blog post about the journey, but I'll concentrate on talking about the Service Design event instead.
Firstly, thanks to JISC and Aston University for organising and hosting the event. We had been keen to meet with Snook to discuss our project, so when the opportunity arose to attend we were most keen.
I took two things away from the event that I believe will be most useful for our project.
1. I'm looking forward to using the 'personas' tool when planning and testing our programme content. The event placed an even greater importance on understanding that whilst we think (and our research is indicating) that we have engaged alumni and students, we should not lose sight that not all will fit into this category. It's never going to be possible for us to speak with every different type of person who may or may not be involved in our project, so using personas can help us at least try to deliver a programme that can be all-inclusive.
2. The 'stakeholder map' will be a useful tool further into our project, so that we can take stock of how we started, what we've achieved and where we envisage we might develop. So I must remember to actually draw one out right now.
Additionally, the event was also a good opportunity to catch up with Leo and Loretta from our Cluster group and hear of the progress of their projects.
Thanks for reading!
Oh and if anyone wants to comment (and be the first from outside our Project Team to do so!), then please do!
Friday, 18 November 2011
University 'consumer culture' warning
Thanks to our Critical Friend, Peter Kawalek for sending on this article.
Maybe the most important statement is, "We need to talk about the student experience less in terms of transactions and more in terms of relationships..."
As an aside, the article touches on a criticism of focusing too much on undergraduates and ignoring postgraduates. This is something that the University of Glasgow is proactively working on through its external facing departments, setting itself an ambitious target of doubling it PGT numbers.
Maybe the most important statement is, "We need to talk about the student experience less in terms of transactions and more in terms of relationships..."
As an aside, the article touches on a criticism of focusing too much on undergraduates and ignoring postgraduates. This is something that the University of Glasgow is proactively working on through its external facing departments, setting itself an ambitious target of doubling it PGT numbers.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Visual Understanding Environment
This is maybe a tool that is used widely (or not) but has proved invaluable for myself and our project team.
Visual Understanding Environment
It's a free resource and very easy to use. Looking back at some of the original maps that we used for project planning, they are absolutely huge, difficult to read and not as focused as they could be.
The tool has enabled us to focus on the elements of our programme that are important to its success eg. resources/tasks.
Enjoy!
Visual Understanding Environment
It's a free resource and very easy to use. Looking back at some of the original maps that we used for project planning, they are absolutely huge, difficult to read and not as focused as they could be.
The tool has enabled us to focus on the elements of our programme that are important to its success eg. resources/tasks.
Enjoy!
Monday, 31 October 2011
Project update
It's quite worrying when you take a look at your own blog and realise that it's been so long since you posted anything to it however, it does mean that the team has been busy and focused.
After meeting with our Cluster group members in London at the start of September, the project team have been kicking on with defining the key aspects of our programme. Whether this be process flows, definitions of roles or the actual structure of the programme, it has really made us very aware of the level of detail and planning that is involved in a project like this.
There have been a number of factors that have assisted us in getting to this point.
Firstly, attending the CASE Europe 2011 conference in Manchester showed that volunteering within the HE sector is a 'hot topic'. It also showed that whilst a lot of HEI's are very keen to start or develop their programmes, no two are exactly that same. However, having said that, most if not all have the key aim of furthering and developing engagement with alumni.
Secondly, we should also acknowledge the help and advice of other institutions around the country. We're very lucky within HE that people are happy to share information, both good and bad practice. Come the completion of our project, the input from Development & Alumni, Careers and Recruitment offices around the country will not be underestimated.
Thirdly and finally, our Cluster group. It was really interesting to meet and see what the other projects were doing (and how far along they were). It allowed us to reflect a little and take a look at the amount of planning and research that we were doing and how appropriate it has been. Meeting also allowed us to share common problems and discuss potential solutions but it also raised a couple of questions for us. One response to the content of our programme was so strong from the rest of the group, that it showed that no matter how much you try and plan to offer something to everyone, you'll still potentially miss something.
We're also pleased to say that we will be informally launching one aspect of our programme in India this month, with a small group of our international alumni in attendance. We hope to update you with a little more information in one of our next posts.
Finally project members James Coleman, Laura Henaghan and Pete Speak will all be attending the Service Design event in Birmingham this month. We're very much looking forward to this and hope to see some familiar faces there.
After meeting with our Cluster group members in London at the start of September, the project team have been kicking on with defining the key aspects of our programme. Whether this be process flows, definitions of roles or the actual structure of the programme, it has really made us very aware of the level of detail and planning that is involved in a project like this.
There have been a number of factors that have assisted us in getting to this point.
Firstly, attending the CASE Europe 2011 conference in Manchester showed that volunteering within the HE sector is a 'hot topic'. It also showed that whilst a lot of HEI's are very keen to start or develop their programmes, no two are exactly that same. However, having said that, most if not all have the key aim of furthering and developing engagement with alumni.
Secondly, we should also acknowledge the help and advice of other institutions around the country. We're very lucky within HE that people are happy to share information, both good and bad practice. Come the completion of our project, the input from Development & Alumni, Careers and Recruitment offices around the country will not be underestimated.
Thirdly and finally, our Cluster group. It was really interesting to meet and see what the other projects were doing (and how far along they were). It allowed us to reflect a little and take a look at the amount of planning and research that we were doing and how appropriate it has been. Meeting also allowed us to share common problems and discuss potential solutions but it also raised a couple of questions for us. One response to the content of our programme was so strong from the rest of the group, that it showed that no matter how much you try and plan to offer something to everyone, you'll still potentially miss something.
We're also pleased to say that we will be informally launching one aspect of our programme in India this month, with a small group of our international alumni in attendance. We hope to update you with a little more information in one of our next posts.
Finally project members James Coleman, Laura Henaghan and Pete Speak will all be attending the Service Design event in Birmingham this month. We're very much looking forward to this and hope to see some familiar faces there.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Update of many, many things.
Forgive me father for it has been over one month since my last blog post.
The last month has seen a raft of progress for the SAVE programme at Glasgow which includes...
Meeting with an international company to discuss a mentor programme.
Meeting with Blackbaud to discuss potential solutions within NetCommunity.
Laura & Pete delivered a presentation on internal and external findings relating to potential programme content.
Being allocated a Critical Friend by JISC!
Being very, very close to contacting our students and alumni for their opinions about how the University engages with them and what we can offer them in the future.
So quite a lot to get through then! For the benefit of the hoards reading this blog, "I" or "me" means "Pete".
Meeting with an international company to discuss a mentor programme.
The Careers service has over the past year developed a close working relationship with a contact at a large international company, who along with the Careers service has been keen to engage with Glasgow University alumni employed at the company to become careers mentors. The meeting that we had was incredibly positive as we are now close to being in a position to try and take all the discussions that have taken place forward.
What came out of the meeting that appealed to me, with my rather analytical and systematic working brain, was that we have to satisfy and meet the needs of numerous people here; students, alumni, staff within the company and the Careers department at Glasgow University. We also have tp do this in a way that is interactive and easy to use as well as construct it in a manner that fits in with GU World (online portal for alumni) and NetCommunity (software for GU World)! So plenty of challenges ahead but this links me nicely to....
Meeting with Blackbaud to discuss potential solutions within NetCommunity.
This is the sort of meeting that I enjoy. Where someone tells me about all of the excellent features that are already available that aren't utilised and all the exciting updates that are coming!!! We met with Graham from Blackbaud and he helped us in two ways..
1. He confirmed in many ways that the ideas, methods of recording information and potential online structure of our programme that we have been discussing and developing aren't that far away from being realised and are workable.
2. He was able to offer alternative solutions in areas where we anticipated that we might find challenges in operating.
So all is looking rosy on this front.
Laura & Pete delivered a presentation on internal and external findings relating to potential programme content.
The fruition of over 3 months of work from Laura and over a month of work from Pete culminated in a presentation to the project group last week.
Laura was able to present on her findings from Alumni Volunteer Programme's at other HEI's in the UK and internationally as well as put forward initial recommendations on programme content. Additionally, there was a whole raft of other information discussed after the presentation on the key findings that have really been of excellent use in defining what we are hoping to do, as well as stimulating discussion on what our priorities should be.
I presented on the statistical findings of an internal audit of information held within the University, that has been collated over the years. Some of this was online activity and engagement with other information being recorded from existing relationships with alumni across Development & Alumni, International Recruitment and the Careers Service. One of the main points that came out of this audit was that we already have quite a number of alumni who want to engage with us, but we may have not followed up that interest in the past. These people will most definitely be contacted by us in the near future.
Being allocated a Critical Friend by JISC!
A warm welcome to Professor Peter Kawalek of Manchester Business School who is the Critical Friend for our cluster group.
We look forward to meeting him for the first time at our cluster group meeting which we are hoping to schedule on the 13th September in London. I'm awaiting a response from JISC who have very helpfully offered us use of some of their central London space, as the members of our cluster group have quite a geographical spread.
Being very, very close to contacting our students and alumni for their opinions about how the University engages with them and what we can offer them in the future.
Something that I have been working on is pulling together a questionnaire for both alumni and students that can assist us in setting up our programme.
Our main challenge in contacting them is that they're all away having a lovely time in the sunshine, whilst we're stuck indoors slaving over a programme just for them! Therefore we have had to hold off on sending out questionnaire so that we can get the best possible response from them (Amazon vouchers may also facilitate a greater response).
Our audit also output a large number of alumni (800+) that we can contact with the alumni version of the questionnaire.
There were two things that I kept in mind when compiling the questions.
1. Make sure they're not loaded questions.
2. Make sure the answers are comparable and easily output.
Here's hoping we get lots and lots and lots and lots of reponses.
Thanks for reading!
The last month has seen a raft of progress for the SAVE programme at Glasgow which includes...
Meeting with an international company to discuss a mentor programme.
Meeting with Blackbaud to discuss potential solutions within NetCommunity.
Laura & Pete delivered a presentation on internal and external findings relating to potential programme content.
Being allocated a Critical Friend by JISC!
Being very, very close to contacting our students and alumni for their opinions about how the University engages with them and what we can offer them in the future.
So quite a lot to get through then! For the benefit of the hoards reading this blog, "I" or "me" means "Pete".
Meeting with an international company to discuss a mentor programme.
The Careers service has over the past year developed a close working relationship with a contact at a large international company, who along with the Careers service has been keen to engage with Glasgow University alumni employed at the company to become careers mentors. The meeting that we had was incredibly positive as we are now close to being in a position to try and take all the discussions that have taken place forward.
What came out of the meeting that appealed to me, with my rather analytical and systematic working brain, was that we have to satisfy and meet the needs of numerous people here; students, alumni, staff within the company and the Careers department at Glasgow University. We also have tp do this in a way that is interactive and easy to use as well as construct it in a manner that fits in with GU World (online portal for alumni) and NetCommunity (software for GU World)! So plenty of challenges ahead but this links me nicely to....
Meeting with Blackbaud to discuss potential solutions within NetCommunity.
This is the sort of meeting that I enjoy. Where someone tells me about all of the excellent features that are already available that aren't utilised and all the exciting updates that are coming!!! We met with Graham from Blackbaud and he helped us in two ways..
1. He confirmed in many ways that the ideas, methods of recording information and potential online structure of our programme that we have been discussing and developing aren't that far away from being realised and are workable.
2. He was able to offer alternative solutions in areas where we anticipated that we might find challenges in operating.
So all is looking rosy on this front.
Laura & Pete delivered a presentation on internal and external findings relating to potential programme content.
The fruition of over 3 months of work from Laura and over a month of work from Pete culminated in a presentation to the project group last week.
Laura was able to present on her findings from Alumni Volunteer Programme's at other HEI's in the UK and internationally as well as put forward initial recommendations on programme content. Additionally, there was a whole raft of other information discussed after the presentation on the key findings that have really been of excellent use in defining what we are hoping to do, as well as stimulating discussion on what our priorities should be.
I presented on the statistical findings of an internal audit of information held within the University, that has been collated over the years. Some of this was online activity and engagement with other information being recorded from existing relationships with alumni across Development & Alumni, International Recruitment and the Careers Service. One of the main points that came out of this audit was that we already have quite a number of alumni who want to engage with us, but we may have not followed up that interest in the past. These people will most definitely be contacted by us in the near future.
Being allocated a Critical Friend by JISC!
A warm welcome to Professor Peter Kawalek of Manchester Business School who is the Critical Friend for our cluster group.
We look forward to meeting him for the first time at our cluster group meeting which we are hoping to schedule on the 13th September in London. I'm awaiting a response from JISC who have very helpfully offered us use of some of their central London space, as the members of our cluster group have quite a geographical spread.
Being very, very close to contacting our students and alumni for their opinions about how the University engages with them and what we can offer them in the future.
Something that I have been working on is pulling together a questionnaire for both alumni and students that can assist us in setting up our programme.
Our main challenge in contacting them is that they're all away having a lovely time in the sunshine, whilst we're stuck indoors slaving over a programme just for them! Therefore we have had to hold off on sending out questionnaire so that we can get the best possible response from them (Amazon vouchers may also facilitate a greater response).
Our audit also output a large number of alumni (800+) that we can contact with the alumni version of the questionnaire.
There were two things that I kept in mind when compiling the questions.
1. Make sure they're not loaded questions.
2. Make sure the answers are comparable and easily output.
Here's hoping we get lots and lots and lots and lots of reponses.
Thanks for reading!
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