It’s ‘snow’ joke, eLearning works (reflection)

Well, here we are again. The UK has ground to a halt, it’s covered in quite a thick blanket of snow (for the UK in November/December), and most people can’t get where they ought to be; work, family, study, etc.

However, it didn’t bother me too much. I have broadband at home, I have a laptop and can connect to the majority of Uni systems online that I need to do my job, Intranet, personal drives, VLE, email, etc. As the Learning Technologist working on the fully online under-graduate International Business & Management degree at Bournemouth University I am privileged with the people I work with, and the students I help support.

With so much of the population prevented from doing what they wanted to today, it is another example of the advantage of working and studying online – I could carry on;

• I was able to answer student queries on access issues to the VLE.
• I could access the various personal and network drives to get the information I needed, remotely.
• I could update and repair permission issues for students accessing some files in the VLE.
• I was able to communicate, by email and skype, with my colleagues and team members – who were also working at home.
• I could update the VLE remotely, inform the students about the situation, engage in their Units, and show that for them anyway, we are able to continue supporting them even in such adverse weather conditions.

So, for me, this is another HUGE kick in the right direction for all of us looking at the Browne Report and Spending Review, and the reduction in Government funding for the UK HE industry (and increase in student tuition fees) … we can get students studying with us part-time online, they can continue to work/earn while they get their degree and qualification (“Learn while you Earn”, has anyone trademarked that yet? If not, it’s mine!). This mode of study is not always the first choice for the typical school leaver, but if we can get ourselves organised and marketed now, we could capture quite a few of these school leavers who might ordinarily opt out of higher education completely due to the costs involved.

The only thing I couldn’t do … mark some papers (an Excel exercise) I have to do; the marking guidelines are on my desk, on paper!

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PS. Sorry for the lame snow joke in the title.