Since I last posted...

This is going to be my last post relating to my work placement, for which I set this blogger account up for.

I finished my placement on 15th April, however was kindly allowed to work 10 hrs a week, until the end of May.

The Learning and Teaching Symposium which was organised by the LTDU (where I did my placement) was a big success. I did a 10 minute presentation to academics and support staff that turned up to my session. I also attended a lot of the symposium and helped with Audio Visual booking, doing an online site + booking form for the staff, with the help of others in the Unit (although this wasn't as smooth as I though it would be, a lesson to learn for me there) and also setting up the displays of e-Learning supported by the LTDU.

The presentation was viewed by my Supervisor on placement, Fred Weimer, who said it was a good presentation and with the help of the PA system he could hear me at the back, where he was sitting.

We practiced the presentations a lot and were all pleased with the outcomes. We also receieved a thank you from many members of staff, which was nice.

My presentation was on using Audio and Video in WebCT.

I'm now in the process of writing up my techinical report and putting together material for this module and thinking of the challenges of next year.

At work, I'm finishing projects off, updating the sites and generally clearing up, for the end of May, when I will leave the Unit.

As a last sentence to this post and indeed all these posts... it was a great work placement, and at times I've really enjoyed working at the University !

Update 17.03.05

Been really busy to update this for a while... lots of say, where can I start...

The University Site, has gone live and with it, the amount of work seems to finally be less. Although I did small things on a Content Management Style system built at Brunel University, it was fun and a break from WebCT, the system we normally deal with.

Learn a lot of new skills about HTML, Photoshop and the like during my placement so far.

I've also been using the Quiz tool inside WebCT to create quizzes for a module I've working on.

On the less techincal side, I've been giving presentations about WebCT and helping out other members of the team with presentations and other small jobs - image manipulation, web-base creation, setting up equipment in various rooms etc. Yet another side to the work done at the Unit.

I'm currently on holiday, trying to enjoy my time off, starting and stopping personal projects. Hope to have some time to myself soon, so I can think about some of the things I need to do when I return back into full time education - I quite miss the lecture, or lack of them! No, in all honesty this placement has been rather a strange but exciting experience, made possible by the people whom I've worked with!

Over the last 2 months

It's been a long time since I blogged - hey what can I say it's been busy at work and at home.

At work, the christmas fever took over the office and so did the work, with lots of student queries into Web-based Learning Support and new projects that needed to be completed before the start of the new term in January.

At present it's been one project after the next and the office keeps getting furniture reshuffles all the time, so this all adds to the tension.

On the plus side, the e-Learning team are bonding well and coming up with new ways of working faster and more effectively and with the new University website in the pipeline ready to launch anytime soon working is cooking with gas !

Socially, also it's been a busy few months with a lot of "going out" and bowling prior to an operation of a member of our Unit.

All in all , a crazy time - soon to end and the normally of student life will take over once again, but for now I'm enjoying it very much both in terms of new skills building and the added fun factor in the Unit, which has made the placement one to remember!

Update 13/11/04 - New Projects; Old friends

Currently celebrating Diwali and enjoying the fireworks.

With regards to the work placement, I'm working on a web-base EE2900 in corporation with Dr Turner (the Placement Co-ordinator) and so this should (in theory!) be up soon for all the ECE students on Placement.

I'm also nearing the end of phase 1 of the CMS project I've been working on. This envolved a lot of editing of the content; phase 2 will be the design side of things, another chance for me to put some of my skills from Levels 1 and 2 into practice.

Also, we are finally updating the LTDU website - for which I've been asked to deal with the photography/images side of things - so again this should be a new challenge, something I haven't yet done on placement. Also there will be a New FAQ section, which will go live soon after the main site goes live.

Been meeting old friends too, and catching up with them about their experiences - how life changes day by day.

So it's full steam ahead til Christmas.

Oh, and I've been working on my module EE2900 as well.

Update 27/10/04

The placement is now over 4 months in (had some time off too - which was nice, a break from it all) and all is calm at the Unit, with both offices finished. They look very posh now, I love them both!

Doing some design/re-vamp work in terms of PowerPoint slides and printed material, hope to finish this off soon.

Also the Careers Site section I'm working on is in full swing, but apart from these projects, all else is calm and peaceful as the night draw in and winter sets in.

Oh how the cold nights make me think of the warm summer nights of the past.

Just though it was good to update the blog on the past few weeks.

With people getting on with things, life rolls on in a slow pace these days.

University Life and WebCT

The work really did begin and begin in earnest. Wow, one moment it's nothing, the next, a packed inbox of e-mails and lecturers on the phone and students coming to the door, and asking for help. Fun though, I like being busy; you've no time to think and that's when you can be at your best somethings.

Also, did 6 hours of WebCT training for Students of the Brunel School of Business. That was fun, presentational skills demonstrated and the use of the SMART board was also most enjoyable.

The problems with the student records database haven't helped either. All sorted now, however the student queries etc are coming in thick and fast.

Otherwise, personally very quiet and busy with tasks etc. Strange not to be in Lectures, but in University.

The building work at Brunel continues and the re-generation of Wembley Park Station means a different route into work each morning for me.

Hope things settle down soon, I suppose they will, then I can think of other things ;)

Update 7.9.04

Now the real work begins, or so my work collegues inform me, start of term and start of the long year ahead. At work, we're finally moving offices, the new offices looks great, can't wait. Going out tomorrow to a work collegue's "Dinner and Dance" before she gets married, should be fun.

Also, had my first work placement visit (3.9.04), from the my industrial training officer, who oddly, as I work in the university, asked for help with IT matters as well. Lots of hoops to jump in this area, red tape and PC gone mad!

Things I need to do before I forget is to -

1) Fill out my Forms.
2) Collect Data for the "thesis"
3) Look at the skills I've shown and work on the ones I haven't.
4) Keep a log of what I do which I try to do through this blog and other records.
5) Write an assignment about one aspect of the job.

Other than that, the University is going through lots of change, some we like, some we don't like. However, for someone like me, this is an exciting time to be involved, as the things we do, will help people in years to come, and I think that's what it's all about.

My projects are on hold, so I'm helping with other things like the new website for my unit and the logo, which has finally been decided - which I'm very pleased about!

Oh well, lots to do, just thought a quick blog of the past few weeks would be a good thing.