Abstracts and speaker profiles

20 July 2010   -   22 July 2010
St Anne's College, Oxford

Abstracts and speaker profiles

Ajay Burlingham-Böhr, Anglia Ruskin University

Getting more bang for your bucks: improving user support in lean times

Improving user support is not always a matter of spending money. Ajay will talk about some of the tools and techniques that she has implemented both within HE and other sectors to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of user support without having to spend a lot of money. Drawing from her own practical experience, Ajay will cover, amongst other things, approaches to improving structure and processes, gathering and making good use of intelligence from support desk data, and different approaches to skill sets and staff performance that can make a real difference and help you get more bang for your bucks out of IT user support.

Ajay has worked in the IT industry for over 26 years in the private and public sectors. Since 2006, Ajay has been the Director of Information Systems and Media Services at Anglia Ruskin University. Her achievements were recently recognized at the UK IT Industry Awards 2009 with an IT Leader of the Year medal.

Don Page, Marval software

How to identify the ICT services the university really needs

University ICT departments are more than ever under threat. We need to realign and focus on becoming an internal outsourcer. ICT need to be viewed as a critical strategic asset that facilitates student, faculty and staff engagement in teaching, learning, research, information and knowledge sharing, not just an expensive cost centre. The problem is, many ICT departments find it difficult to identify areas for improvement and demonstrate what a great job they really do − we often talk a good talk, but many of us find it difficult to prove it.

This session will highlight some of the strategic activities your ICT department and service desk need to adopt in order to identify areas for improvement, reduce costs, justify resources and ultimately survive.

As CEO of the Marval Group, Don Page, known as The Godfather of ITIL, has been responsible for the design and implementation of some of Europe’s largest service and support operations. His straight talking, pragmatic and innovative approaches, have made him a world renowned and respected industry figure. Don has been responsible for co-authoring several major service management publications, including:

• Co-author of ISO/IEC 20000 (The worldwide Standard for IT Service Management)
• Co-author of ITIL (Worldwide Best Practice Guidance in IT Service Management)
• Co-author of the British Standard for IT Service Management (BS 15000)
• Co-author of the Service Desk Institute Service Desk best practice
• Co-author of the 1st Masters Degree in IT Service Management with the University of Northampton
• Fellow of the Institute of Service Management

In recognition of his contribution to the industry, Don received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the international IT Service Management Forum (ITSMF).

John Peart, NUS

Student perspective on technology in HE − perceptions, demand and training needs

Student perspective on technology in HE − perceptions, demand and training needs There is an increased appetite amongst students for further accessibility of ICT in their learning and teaching experience in the midst of the sector facing difficult times and pressures that could distract from this development. Whilst students are viewed as consumers, how well are institutions satisfying their needs and creating accessible opportunities through supporting the development of ICT and embedding it in the delivery of courses? We will examine what students want; current examples of good practice; what challenges exist and how, together, we can improve the current student experience of ICT.

David Sweeney, HEFCE

Information services and financial consolidation

During a time of constrained public funding, Information Services Departments must look for new ways to engage with students and staff. This talk gives HEFCE’s perspective on the challenges in a post Browne era.

David Sweeney has been Director (Research, Innovation and Skills) since 2008. In this role he is responsible for developing policy on Research (including the Research Assessment Exercise and Research Excellence Framework), Business and Community and Employer Engagement. He is also responsible for the London and East regional teams and for the Strategic Development Fund. A statistician, David worked at two BBSRC research institutes, developing mathematical models of plant growth then moving into senior management in the IT area, becoming Director of Information Services at Royal Holloway, University of London and serving in a national role as Chair of the UCISA. He became Vice-Principal (Communications, Enterprise and Research) in 2004, responsible for research strategy, the 2008 RAE submission and for developing Royal Holloway's research led commercial and consultancy activities, knowledge transfer and development programme.

David Wilson, Open University

Delivering online learning at scale – the Open University model

Open University systems support many of the same range of services as other HE institutions – administration, learning and teaching and assessment systems. The challenges are in delivering these services at quality, to scale and cost effectively. Both reliability and innovation need to be supported. Taking a hierarchy of needs approach, this presentation assesses how a scalable system of online services and teaching provision can be provided, sustained and constantly improved at a time when resources are increasingly restricted.

During the past 10 years, David Wilson has directed development of the Open University’s learning and teaching materials and online services. Previously, he project managed implementation of the OU’s first intranet and document and asset management system. His background is in print publishing and software production, and he worked in the commercial sector for 8 years before joining the OU. David studied at the University of Kent, Balliol College, Oxford, the Open University and Birkbeck College, London.

Christine Sexton, University of Sheffield

Web 2.0 and mobile applications − their role in supporting users

Our users are becoming more mobile, using a wide range of devices to access our services, and have access to many Web 2.0 technologies. Should we be embracing these technologies to improve communication and services to our users? If so, what support issues are there? The presentation will include a short case study of CampusM.

Christine Sexton is Director of Corporate Information and Computing Services at the University of Sheffield, where she has held a number of roles (none in IT), the most recent being Head of Administration for the Faculty of Medicine. She is particularly interested in the provision of user centric services and the use of collaborative environments including social networks. Christine is currently Chair of the UCISA Executive Committee.

Stuart Lee, University of Oxford

Great expectations

The challenges for those centred around supporting IT services are numerous and varied. Not only are there the standard ones − provision and reliability of services, and development of services against an increasingly harsh financial backdrop; but there are also the demands and expectations of users to meet. These change all the time and users are becoming less forgiving, but at the same time there is understandable pressure on IT departments to recognise and meet these user requirements. This talk will look at the types of users we have to meet, the demands they make and some solutions and problems that arise.

Stuart Lee is the current Director (Computing Systems and Services) of Oxford University's Computing Services charged with maintaining and developing the core IT services for the University. He was formerly Head of the University’s Learning Technologies Group which was set up in 2001. He is also a member of several senior University ICT committees, has led major research projects in the fields of digitisation, humanities computing, and e-learning; and is also a lecturer and researcher at Oxford’s English Faculty. In 2008, he was made Oxford’s Reader in E-learning and Digital Libraries and received a University Teaching Award.

Donald H Taylor, Institute of IT Training

Rising to the challenge: transforming training in tough times

Who’d be in learning today? It seems that just when executives finally realise that skills are essential, they slash the funding needed to develop them. Yet there is good news. We now understand more about how people learn (and how to support them when learning) than ever before. Using this knowledge, together with an understanding of the technology used to support learning, how can we do more with less? In this address, Donald will explore informal learning and performance support, the values of user generated content, the limits of social networking and the power of saying no.

Donald H Taylor is non-executive chairman of the Institute of IT Training and chairman of the Learning and Skills Group, Europe's foremost association for workplace learning and development professionals. With over two decades’ experience in L&D and IT, he has published widely and is known as a leading thinker in the field of technology-supported learning. Formerly a non-executive director at talent management software provider InfoBasis, Donald has sat on the SFIA Council for 5 years and has extensive experience of implementing competency frameworks. The youngest ever recipient of the Colin Corder lifetime achievement award for services to IT Training, he also chairs the Learning Technologies Conference.