From Martin Carvey, Project Manager

As we all get back up to speed with the start of the new term, work continues at pace to address the ongoing challenges with KentVision. As I previously updated, we have been working within a more robust project management structure which has helped us more effectively identify the areas where we can make progress quickly. 

Project timelines & resource 

We are focusing our work concurrently on several workstreams, with timelines linked to both business specific priorities and the academic calendar. These are currently being finalised through individual discussions with different stakeholders, filling in any gaps in knowledge and adding their on-the-ground experience so we can show a realistic delivery roadmap for each area during February. We are also continuously assessing resource levels for the project to ensure we have the right people in the right areas, having recently brought on board four additional KentVision team members to support this. 

Stakeholder engagement 

Bringing the right people into the project has been a key priority since we reformed the project structure, with stakeholder group meetings being set up with each functional area alongside the more detailed consultations taking place. This feeds directly into the design of the delivery roadmap, and the expertise we are drawing from across the organisation is proving hugely helpful – thank you for your continued engagement with this at a time when I know many of the challenges involved with using the system remain. 

We have also now introduced our new KentVision service desk workflow to help us better triage and prioritise ongoing issues. Tickets are being assessed and prioritised before being passed onto business analysts and developers so we can maintain a tighter focus on the key deliverables now, while also better managing expectations around work still to deliver. 

KentVision continued delivery 

One area where we have been able to move things forward in some areas is around Extenuating Circumstances. While in some areas there is still work to do to fully support deployment, a list of change requests for features and functionality relating to Extenuating Circumstances are being delivered with agreed Divisions this month.  

Attendance reports are undergoing user acceptance testing ready for delivery. 

A specific KentVision training environment is also being developed as a priority to ensure future deliveries are fortified by an additional focus on training prior to launch. 

This continues to be a complex project with multiple deliverables – however, we are now making clear progress and finalising tangible plans for the remaining deliverables across the University. Thanks to you all of you for your ongoing support with the project and I will provide a further update next month. 

Martin Carvey | Project Manager

Professor Ben Cosh has written and performed a Christmas song Christmas is Coming, which has raised over £400 for Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.

Ben is the Director of the Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and has been at the University and in his role leading CEMS since September 2021.

He said: ‘I write, play and record music in my spare time and this was a fun project including online collaboration with some friends. The song is about Christmas having two meanings; on the one hand family, gifts and wintertime, and on the other a celebration of the birth of Jesus, which means a lot to some of us.’

The song gathered some attention in his local area and was featured in the Henley Standard. Ben said: ‘I’m a little embarrassed really. The initial reason for doing it was just to enjoy creating the song and make some music with friends. The money raised so far has been a splendid bonus. I certainly wasn’t expecting my local newspaper to pick up on it. However, I’m glad they did as it has helped raise further funds for a cause that is worthy all year round.’

To donate to Shelter, click on Ben’s Just Giving link.

The Professional Practice MSc, offers academic and professional service colleagues the opportunity to make your work your study and your study your work.

The course is a standard 180 Credit Master’s degree but spread over three years (two 30 credit modules a year-with a 60-credit dissertation module in the final year). Over the duration of the programme,  the focus of all the modules is your professional role within the University.  Modules are taught over two extended weekends (Friday-Sunday). There are no exams as all the modules have final assessment which involves a short presentation followed by a written work-based assignment.

As a member of staff doing a part time Kent course, you are entitled to 50% fee remission – this means you get a Master’s qualification for half the price. In addition, if you currently hold level 7 credits and/or experience, you may be able to gain accreditation for prior learning (APECL).

Delivery

After a couple of induction days, you will start the Evidence Based Practice module. This module explores the nature of information used to answer work-based/practice-led questions and develops critical thinking.

The second module is the Learning and Development module. Here, you will explore the way we learn as professionals,  which as you know is totally different from learning at school or college.

Successfully passing the first year means you have a PgCert in Professional Practice and then commence on the 2nd year, which starts with an optional module and continues with a module to develop skills and prepare your research proposal for the final year.

You can find out more about the Professional Practice MSc on our Postgraduate course pages.

If you would like to find out more about this programme, please drop-in to our informal Teams meeting on Tuesday 5 April from 12 – 2pm.  Sign-up now via this link.

A lecture on ‘Transdisciplinarity – Solving Wicked Problems in Healthcare’ will be given by Professor David Croisdale-Appleby on Wednesday 19 January from 17.00-18.30.

The lecture is the latest in the ‘Talks on Transdisciplinarity’ series by the Medical and Health Humanities Group in our Division of Arts and Humanities.

Professor Croisdale-Appleby is the Chair of the RCP Board of Trustees, chair of Dementia UK; chair of the Public Health Advisory Committee at NICE, and non-executive director lead for medical and clinical education and quality at Health Education England.

Transdisciplinarity focuses on “wicked problems” that need creative solutions, which demand wide stakeholder involvement and the engagement with socially responsible science.

In this talk, Professor Croisdale-Appleby will address some of the issues that arise in transdisciplinary research in the field of healthcare, social care and wellbeing, and suggest how these can best be overcome in the exciting and scholarly enterprise of transdisciplinary research.

The lecture will be introduced by Professor Murray Smith, Professor of Film and chaired by Professor Julie Anderson, Professor of Modern History at Kent.

Find out more and register via this Eventbrite link or email: transdisciplinarity@kent.ac.uk.

From Trevor Pereira, Director of Commercial and Facilities Management

Richard Bradford, interim Director of Commercial Services, will be leaving the University at the end of his interim contract on 31 January 2022.

Richard has shepherded the Commercial function over a difficult year, and I would like to thank him for his hard work over this period.

We wish Richard all the best with his future endeavours.

Trevor Pereira | Director of Commercial and Facilities Management

Dave Thomas, a PhD candidate within our Centre for the Study of Higher Education, has been inducted into the American Association of Colleges and Universities Future Leaders Society.  

Dave, who is also an EDI adviser and an associate lecturer at Kent, was invited to join the Future Leaders Society after becoming a finalist for the prestigious K Patricia Cross Award. The award recognises graduate students who “show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education and who are committed to academic innovation in the areas of equity, community engagement, and teaching and learning.”

Each year, the award attracts hundreds of nominations from across disciplines. Dave is the only student from a university outside of the USA to be selected this year. Since he began his part-time doctoral studies in Higher Education in 2017, Dave has amassed an exceptional record of achievements including:

• engagement of student and staff communities at Kent through the Decolonise UKC initiative and the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Staff Network
• local community engagement that strengthened connections between African and Caribbean heritage residents in the Medway region and the University of Kent
• research on race equality and enhancing teaching and learning in higher education, particularly for minoritised students
• and service across the UK higher education sector on race equality. 

During Dave’s doctorate, he contributed as a student success professional at Kent before recently taking up appointments as a Senior Advisor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Advance HE and Associate Lecturer in the Kent and Medway Medical School.

Professor Richard Reece, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience, says: ‘It is excellent news that Dave’s substantial accomplishments have been recognised.  He will be able to exchange expertise with American colleagues on this very important aspect of higher education as he continues to grow as a leader in HE here in the UK.’

Colleagues involved in teaching or supporting student learning are invited to submit proposals for workshops, discussion papers, mini-presentations, or posters for the 2022 Learning and Teaching Conference. Contributions should address the theme, “Rethinking assessment and feedback designs for learning enhancement”, and be received by 28 February 2022. The full call, including the proposal submission form, is available via this blog.

How we design assessments and opportunities for students to gather and act on feedback are critically important aspects of teaching practice.  Assessment design is a key point of leverage for enhancing education because many students strategically focus on it, and it is obligatory. Feedback can be one of the most powerful ways of enhancing students’ learning if students are prepared to seek out and use all available sources of feedback to improve their subsequent work. We invite contributions that address assessment and feedback in various ways or contexts, for example:

• Diversifying assessments as part of diversifying the curriculum for cultural and racial inclusivity
• Gamification
• Digital tools for automating or innovating processes
• Using questions and unmarked tasks strategically and systematically to enhance seminars, labs or lectures
• Authentic assessments
• Wider audiences for student work, such as presentations or performances for the community or business stakeholders
• Promoting self-feedback or peer feedback
• Noticing, interpreting, and making changes based on feedback from technologies of the discipline (e.g. lab equipment readings, results of computer code, sense-making of statistical data and outputs)
• Innovative use of materials, spaces, or technologies
• Co-curricular, partnership, work-based, or employability activities

The conference will be held on Monday, 20 June 2022 in Darwin Conference Suite. Sign up to attend. Questions can be emailed to heprogsadmin@kent.ac.uk.      

Professor Paul Allain and Dr Alison Charles with Divisional and central colleagues will be holding the webinar, ‘Responding to the challenge of the Researcher Development Concordat at Kent, on 15 February 2022, 14.00-15.00.

As a signatory of the Researcher Development Concordat since June 2020, the University supports its principles as part of our commitment to create the very best culture for our researchers.

Join us to learn about the wide-ranging work which is being undertaken to realise these aims. Contribute to the debate about how best to implement the Concordat principles across Kent.

The session will consist of a short overview of the context, progress to date and our current plans, followed by a discussion and Q&A about how we might implement the Concordat principles, including 10 days’ professional development pro rata per year for staff who research.

All academic and research staff and professional services staff who support them are very welcome.

There is no need to book – access the Microsoft Teams link via SharePoint (Kent staff login required.)

This webinar will be recorded and available to watch on demand with a Kent staff login.