Survived

Well, that's the first week over and done. It's been fun. I still feel a bit like a proud parent, except that I've been chasing around after one very active toddler for a week, getting up very early, and dealing with a few teething problems along the way. In short, I'm feeling a bit worn out.

In statistical terms, the system had an average of 471 logins per day this week. Not bad considering that only just over 1000 students and about 35 teaching staff are using it this semester. And 20,800 hits per day isn't bad either.

In real terms, the staff are embracing the technology (for the most part). The students and finding their way around and appreciating the new environment (for the most part). The support and helpdesk staff are able to assist staff and students who are having problems (for the most part). I reviewed the original PID and communication and training plans this afternoon, and I was very proud to think that what seemed like a mammoth amount of very complicated work has actually been achieved, and achieved to a considerable standard of quality. Period.

Next week, I plan to write a refelctive 'lesson's learned' post, but for now I'm going home for a celebratory dinner with friends, and to relax over the weekend.

"It's getting noisy"

Great post by Konrad Glogowski over on the Blog of Proximal Development.

Whenever I “'enter'” our online community and start clicking my way through all the entries, I feel like I am in a very noisy place. It's like being in a tiny cafe where, around each tiny table, there are conversations that you overhear as you order your latte and check your pockets for change. It feels like a train station, or a concert hall before the lights go down, or your favourite coffee place, or, well, a classroom before the teacher walks in and all the voices stop. Except, when I 'walk in,' the voices don'’t stop. The din continues and the constant hum means that I'm doing something right because they'’re talking, they'’re writing.

I like his comparisons between online, aka non-traditional, learning environments and other more traditional, non-traditional learning environments of cafes, train stations, jazz clubs. This supports the reality that learning happens everywhere, not just in classrooms.

Out into the world... and off to a slow but steady start

Our new-born Blackboard server, at the end of it's second full day of work.

Out into the world...

Bond's new LMS aka iLearn@Bond is now available to students. Yikes. We enabled the student accounts this afternoon and I've logged in this evening just to reasure myself the system is still there, and still happy. Only 29 subjects will be using it this pilot semester, but the grunt work of managing the system imprementation and data integration is done at this point.

I feel... proud. I've been poking my head in on academic's subject sites to see how they are progressing, and while they are all basic in terms of instructional design, I can actually see the personalities of the staff reflected in ther sites. I quite like that the property lawyer has chosen pink bubbles for his navigation menu. There are announcements welcoming students to the sites and explaining that they are the lucky few to be pioneering a new learning tool at Bond. These make me smile.

The energy and enthusiasm of the academics has really surprised and refreshed me. They are so very keen to do... something. Anything. As are the students. The IT HelpDesk forwarded me an email from a student asking why he couldn't login to "the iLearn", as he could access all other university systems with his new account. This was at 2pm this afternoon, 3 hours before we enabled student accounts, and no communications had yet gone out to students. I don't know how he even found the login page as it's not linked to from anywhere on the main site.

I've invited everyone who has been involved in the project so far to a launch drinks tomorrow afternoon and I really am looking forward to it. I'm feeding off the enthusiam and passion of the staff and students at this place. It really is energising.

More on leadership styles

I'm going to go off on another tangent about leadership styles again. The leaders and managers I've worked with who I most respected and was inspired by, were the ones I was and still am a little intimidated by. The ones I always take a minute to think through questions and ideas before speaking. The ones I most want to impress.

I know I'm a fairly approachable manager. I've always tried to be. While my thoughts and ideas are generally respected, I get the feeling that people aren't intimidated by me or aren't willing to approach me with requests for advice or ideas in the same way I have been towards some of the people who's leadership I most value.

Is my own approachability, something I've always prided myself one, a detriment to my progress into more senior leadership roles? Do you have to be a little bit scary to be a good leader?