non, je ne regrette rien...

(except, possibly, not paying a hitman to take out Alison "Paparazzi" Purvis last Sunday.)

this is a very un-me-like statement, but i've had an excellent conference. i was going to do the traditional "highs and lows" post (with possibly the highest thing being the excited voice...and the lowest thing being...erm, me) but there really haven't been any lows from a conference perspective. yes, not everything has been stretching or progressive (don't worry, the old Sheffield Hallam smugness is still intact), but the standard of presentations, the atmosphere, the conversations with people during the breaks, the organisation, have been really good*.

so, here are some of the things that stand out for one reason or another:

• the keynotes - particularly the world bank keynote, but the standard of keynotes here has been in a different class to the usual uninspiring, same-old-same-old drivel about planets, zoos, what dead or fictitious people would think about e-learning, etc. and no one wearing a freaky hat or ceremonial costume. which was nice.
• scholar - i know there's a certain level of scepticism (sp?) about this amongst the team at SHU, but from what i saw, and the conversations with Bb staff (who, yes, are bound to be a little bit biased) in my very focussed focus group, and at the stand yesterday, this looks like a v promising development - familiar interface, flexible, and something that might just encourage academics to begin engaging with ways that many of their students' will be living their lives.
• following paul's link to the chipmunks site just now, and absolutely killing myself laughing. brittany, eleanor, jeanette - they're all here, but i'll let you decide for yourself who's who.
• not spending the whole time listening to the usual suspects - there's been quite a diverse group of people presenting here - not everything's been relevant, but the vast majority has been thought provoking in some way, and people seem to be very willing to share.
• the very high standard of presentations from Sheffield Hallam...
• Helen inventing the Boardman Shuffle (do do do do do de de de do do...).
• oh, and not once being dragged into a conversation that involved the words "Blackboard" and "patent" in the same sentence.

*not to mention the sheer volume of free bombay sapphire on offer throughout the trip. truly, truly excellent.

notre presentation...

Angie & I did our "Evolving staff support" presentation this afternoon. Despite it being in the big scary main hall (the one that made Mickey Chasen look smaller than Richard Parsons' ear) it went well. We had around 25 people (spread out among the seating for 5000 people) but everyone seemed very engaged. Of course, they could have been writing their shopping lists and we were clearly not up to the standard of Helen Rodger (Sheffield Hallam Helen Rodger, that is) but we got some really good informal feedback from people in the audience, and some good questions too.

The focus of the presentation was some of the impacts of the Presidium support on on-campus support mechanisms, etc, particularly focussing on the Info Services and pedagogical advice, some of the things that the additional Tier 1 support and reporting info are allowing us to do. Seems like 24/7 and/or out of hours support is something that a number of UK institutions are contemplating at the moment. Must dash, need to ask Presidium what kind of commission they offer for new business generation...

a votre sante!

Baluchon! Baluchon!

(that's Backpack Backpack for those who care..)

Corks! that went rather well, I had about 30 victims in my session, all of whom were thinking about but not actually using Backpack yet. All the usual UK crew were there along with a healthy amount of new faces, and despite hideous ulcerated tonsillitis, I didn't screw up. Anyway I was ace* - told them about the pilot, why, when and how and what our little darlings said in their initial feedback. Good discussion at the end too, though some technical - all good.

I spent some quality time yesterday with our man on the ground Thomas Collette from Agilix (the most lovely man in Nice), among other things, he was tickled by feedback from one of ours who said something along the lines of "I would rather saw my own head off with a blunt knife than listen to the Backpack tutorials.." (here here!), as a result of which they've promised to do some UK voice overs. We are currently considering whether dick van dyke or rough northern lass would be best...

Some of you may be aware that we are having a few (not insignificant) problems with the new version of Bp, he's been prioritising getting it sorted to us, as ever responsive and constructive. More when I get back.

*my aceness is official, 95% of my feedback forms said so, and one even said that I was the "best so far, and by far" So HA! I'm going to milk that for as long as humanly possible, or till liz sorts me out with a brick to the back of the head.

le keynote numero 3

just to prove that we are going to sessions, and not just making short people feel good about themselves by being shorter than them...

this morning's keynote was by Serge Goldstein (Princeton) who talked about their use of Bb, and the evolution from Course Management System (CMS) through Learning Management System (LMS) to Academic Management System (yes, you've guessed it, AMS). it was an interesting talk, and it made everyone very jealous - they have a faculty:student ratio of 1:4.5...and their professors teach only one course per semester.

one thing that was quite interesting was that they use Bb to deliver tests to languages students before they start, so they can place them in the correct level class when they begin. this also has the benefit, i guess, of getting new students accustomed to the Bb system before they start.

picture to follow later...

"je m'appelle helen rodger"..."non, je m'appelle helen rodger!"

mon dieu! there are two helen rodgers here. in case you don't believe me:

ok, caption competition time...we've started you off with a couple of suggestions:

"I'm helen rodger, and so's my wife..."

"Pick a helen rodger, any helen rodger..."

now it's over to you! and just in case you're not sure which one is our ("best in show") helen rodger, here's a picture of her in mischievous mode:

the night before her session was nominated best of the conference so far. and by far.

je suis tres desole...

Sheffield Hallam's reputation in the e-learning world now appears to be based largely on the fact that we're enthusiastic disco dancing pixies (helen's phrase). you may see a lot of incriminating evidence about a certain member of the team dancing wildly. but we were all at it. alot. well, someone had to appreciate the fact that blackboard was appreciating their clients...