Category: People, Place and Work

havoc with your hare

cyclehare
Picture taken by me in the street . No rights reserved.

Thanks to the University of Edinburgh  Cycle to Work Scheme I am now equipped with a new bicycle, access to a bike shed and an exciting trip across the cobbles every morning.

The Edinburgh wind has been blowing a gale this week but thanks to Johanna Holtan of (Eusa/Cyclehack) who I saw speak at the Falling Walls Lab event, I am also armed with a new strategy for cycling in the wind: ‘A penny in your pants’. I haven’t tried it with a penny farthing.

The Falling Walls Conference is held in Berlin. Individuals, who are about to tear down walls in their studies or in their professions, are invited to apply. With current global challenges ranging from climate change to civil war, the scholarship program aims to encourage young people to think of innovative ideas that will have a direct impact on our societies and the environment. The programme is open to professionals, entrepreneurs or students enrolled in a Master’s, PhD or Post-Doctoral Programme.

When the wind blows some walls fall, others are merely hidden. My ride to work is enhanced by a series of billboard murals (by Astrid Jaekel, ECA) which have appeared to hide the  electricity substation. From these I am learning how to avoid the skateboarding hares and dancing bears who frequent the Meadows during the festival.

add new post

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University of Edinburgh Digital Image Collections CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

During my first week in my new post I gathered together all of the staff on the new LTW division.  They look much nicer in person than in the card-database-rogues-gallery I have on my wall.   For my presentation I used images from the splendid SCRAN collection to  which Edinburgh University has a subscription.  The collection includes some cracking images of computers and computer users in the university dating back to the 60’s and 70’s. With all the fashions of geek-style throughout the decades. I’d show you some, but for some reason the license under which SCRAN grants use are a bit confusing as regards internet, blogging, sharing, publishing and educational use. Nevermind, here is a picture of some more recent computer users in one of our learning spaces.

Q: How many men did it take to deliver a computer in Edinburgh in 1964? 

better together

DHT
Picture taken by me in the street . No rights reserved.

Our new Learning, Teaching and Web Division was formally created on August 1 2014, which seems like a good date to begin a new blog.

Edinburgh has a great reputation for digital innovation, it’s an exciting place to be at an exciting time. There’s a lot of talent here, and an appetite to take risks and innovate with bold moves.

It is important that the institution gets good support from central services. Learning, Teaching and Web Services (LTW) is bringing together the services in Information Services that directly support learning and teaching. This gives us the opportunity to innovate, enhance or expand services to support an improved digital student experience and public engagement. The academic technologies such as Learn and MyEd are absolutely key to the experience of our students, as are digital education,  distance learning courses, online media, the university website and the technology which enhances our teaching spaces. We work closely with colleagues in the IS Skills teams and support for research data management to ensure that academic colleagues and students have the skills they need to make the most of the technologies on offer.