10 things I’ve learned since starting work for JISC
I started working for JISC infoNet on 1 April 2010. It’s amazing how two jobs within education – Director of E-Learning and Researcher/Analyst – can be so different. More on that when I compare and contrast them in a future post. :-p
I’ve learned lots of things since joining JISC. Here’s my top ten:
- Virtually nothing is done on an ad-hoc basis. Things are planned, documented and rigorously organized.
- Despite the above, they’re flexible. Very flexible.
- As in any large organization, sometimes the left hand doesn’t talk to the right hand.
- “We’ve had a strong steer on this” means “someone insinuated something that I want you to crack on with.”
- Microsoft Outlook sucks. And not just a little bit.
- There’s a massive push towards openness – not just Open Source but things like Open Access and Open Educational Resources (check out the draft OER infoKit I helped produce!)
- JISC is well-funded (well, at the moment anyway…)
- Many things that I thought were innovative in schools are standard practice and well-known in the FE and HE sector.
- Wikis are by far the best way to organize internal documentation and plan stuff. Really. (JISC infoNet uses PBworks)
- Consultants aren’t that bad. In fact, they’re pretty necessary actually.
So there we are; more updates as I learn new stuff. As I mentioned above, once I’ve settled in a bit more I plan to compare and contrast my work in schools with my new role. There’s pros and cons for both. 😉