Month: September 2018

perky

me, pondering the perks.

Next week, on the 26th I’ll be welcoming a new  group of staff to the  University,  talking about our mission and governance and people and diversity.

The following week on 10th October I’ll be speaking about The Perks of Working for a University as part of the ‘Empower yourself’ theme at the Scottish Women in Tech Conference in Glasgow.

It has to be said, working for universities generally include:

  • generous annual leave allowance
  • high quality pension schemes
  • a bunch of family-friendly working policies
  • staff discounts on a range of services
  • on-campus nurseries

All of which are defended by your union.

And the lesser-recognised, but best perk of all,  Eduroam!  Free wifi in ( and near) university buildings, libraries, museums and hospitals all over the world.

To highlight the kinds of values the university has I may mention that:

The University of Edinburgh won the National Universities Human Resources Award for Excellence in Equality and Diversity in 2018 https://www.uhr.ac.uk/awards/awards-2018/.

The University of Edinburgh won the Wikimedia UK Partnership of the Year Award in 2018 for our work in contributing biographies and articles to raise the profile of role models of women in STEM https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/about/news/partnership-of-the-year-2018

Our Director of Learning, Teaching and Web  Melissa Highton (me) is named as one of the EdTech50 in 2018 https://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6798/1/edtech50-2018.pdf

The University of Edinburgh Staff Pride Network was awarded Stonewall Scotland Network of the Year in 2018. https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/news-events/news/staffpride-award

The University of Edinburgh is shortlisted in the Diversity Project of the Year category of the Computing Women in IT Excellence Awards 2018 http://events.computing.co.uk/womeninitawards/static/2018-shortlist

The University of Edinburgh is recognised for our commitment to promoting gender equality by attaining the prestigious Athena SWAN Silver Institution award, the first in Scotland to do so. https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/news-events/news/more-athena-awards

The University of Edinburgh case study was highlighted in the Equality Challenge Unit’s briefing on ‘Intersectional Approaches to Equality and Diversity. https://www.ecu.ac.uk/publications/intersectional-approaches-equality-diversity/.

The University of Edinburgh was awarded the Scottish Union of Supported Employment (SUSE) Inclusive Workplace award in 2017 https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/about/news/inclusive-workplace-awardcommitted-to-supported

The University of Edinburgh is a sponsor of Girl Geek Scotland http://www.girlgeekscotland.com/

The University of Edinburgh recruits women into IT roles via Equate Scotland’s Women Returners programme https://equatescotland.org.uk/projects/women-returners/

The University of Edinburgh recruits women students into IT roles as summer interns providing paid work and industry experience and has won the Student Employer of the Year (SEOTY) award in 2018  https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/about/news/excellence-in-student-employment

bags of blogs

Image from University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections

Blogging? I’ve never been a fan, as you know. Nonetheless, we are launching a new service for all our staff and students.

The Academic Blogging service directly underpins the “Influential Voices” theme within our Web Strategy 2018-2021. This theme aims to: “Give our staff and students an online presence to publish and promote their work, and exchange ideas with organisations and communities globally”.

The  service will give our staff and students the tools and support that they need to publish online effectively, to develop a digital identity, and make more visible a range of authentic voices from across our academic community that are identifiably connected to our institution.

Our staff and students will be able to link their academic blogs into their profiles on social media or academic networking sites, improving the profile and visibility of the University across online channels. Staff and PGR students will also be able to link to their official University profile on EdWeb. Selections of blogs can be presented on our web pages to represent the range of learning, teaching or research activities that take place in a particular area. Content from blogs can be syndicated by ourselves, or by our partners or external organisations to create curated selections of content, reflecting the richness of our institutional activity.

 

If you want one, let us know.

as others see us

Graphic design from ISG BITS magazine

When looking at equality and diversity drivers for change in organisations, there is some literature which suggests that external accountability , the impression the public have about your organisation, or investor or client pressure, may be a consideration for  senior management. There may be concern for reputational damage with the wider business and society, and this risk could be mitigated for instance by the company’s success in winning a prize for gender equality .

Following our recent success as winners of the national Universities HR Excellence Award for Equality and Diversity, Information Services Group is now shortlisted as a finalist for 2 further awards.

We are finalists in the ‘Employer of the Year’ category in the Scotland Women in Technology Awards 2018 to be announced on Wednesday 24th October 2018 in Glasgow and for ‘Diversity Project of The Year’  in the Women in IT Excellence Awards taking place on 27 November at Finsbury Square, London.

near future data skills

Picture taken by me at the National Cryptologic Museum. No rights reserved by me. https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/museum/

Another excellent learning technology workshop from University of Edinburgh at ALT conference will be Data Skills for All

Most of our UK universities already have the Digimap Service, but I suspect few learning technologists have any idea how it can be used. The subscription often belongs to the Library, or to just one academic department so the power of the tools are not being utilised.

Co-created with academic and service users it enables students to use and understand data, to learn how to present it, and in doing so, to develop critical thinking through the use and interrogation of data.

Learning technologists who work closely in partnership with staff and students to deliver a technology enhanced curriculum can play a key role in ensuring that students learn appropriate data skills to apply in authentic learning task situations.

Participants will have the opportunity to understand how the platform and service is already being used, and to engage with census data to understand the range and versatility of the service.

This workshop will be of benefit to both FE and HE practitioners, who need to support students to gain critical data skills and spatial literacy that are already essential in the work place, as well as increase their ability to interrogate data and understand it.