New job, who dis?

It has been four months since I joined ALT as their new COO. I can no longer use ‘it’s my first day’ as an excuse. I had been a learning technologist, albeit with varying titles, for over ten years. I have worked at four different universities in that time. My last, was my longest. I […]

You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps

There is a knack to applying for jobs in Higher Education. I’ve been involved in several vacancies this year from short listing and interviewing, so I thought it might be helpful to write down some of the pitfalls applicants fall in to. This is also a cathartic exercise. There is something incredibly frustrating about a […]

I am the harbinger of doom

The one thing I hate about my job is disappointing the people I ‘serve’. I guarantee some choice words are said about me. I am often the bad guy, a necessary part of managing a service, but no one likes being the bad guy. Last week I published a post, or a piece of therapy, […]

Jack of all trades…

“What do you do?” *Deep breath*, “I’m an academic technologist”. *Blank stare*, “So, what do you do?”. *Deep breath* [attempts to explain]. I have had this conversation regularly with family, friends and people who work outside of the ‘biz’. If I had a pound… That, I find, is increasingly difficult to define. “I help teaching […]

We got 99 problems…

and the TEF is one. Disclaimer: this post has nothing to do with the TEF. Sorry if you came here looking for a scholarly article on the TEF. I’m afraid you will not find that here (or anything scholarly for that matter). Instead I will reflect on my Higher Education journey. I’ve recently moved institution […]