As our official Employee Assistance Programme provider, Care first offers a numbers of services and provide useful advice and support.

Their weekly webinars continue this week (Monday 17 – Friday 21 August) and are as follows:

Monday 17 August 2020 –  ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 14.00-14.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Tuesday 18 August 2020 – ‘Loneliness during COVID-19’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 19 August 2020 – ‘Dealing with feelings of anger & frustration’
Time: 11.00-11.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 20 August 2020 – ‘Managing Survivor Guilt during COVID-19’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 21 August 2020 – ‘Tips for Employers and Leaders’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Vicky Annis, Head of Physiotherapy at Kent Sport Physiotherapy Clinic, was part of a four-person relay team swimming across the English Channel on Friday 7 August .

The team – named ‘A Doctor, Teacher, Princess and Frog Go Swimming’ – began their challenge at 1.30am, leaving from Samphire Hoe beach and 11.32 hours later (to be ratified) arrived close to Le Gris Nez in France .

Vicky Annis swimming the Channel

Vicky describes how she has prepared for a trek of a lifetime during lockdown:  ‘Most of my swimming preparation has been completed at Tankerton and Kingsdown with support from friends and family swimming with me and kayaking. It has been a welcome distraction from the difficulties in the world and every time you get to the shore, there are slightly different conditions which has made it so much fun; whether it is a calm day or windy with the waves and tide to contend with.’

She adds: ‘The English Channel is such a remarkable waterway with so many historical events and tales. Living in Kent, and having always been a swimmer, this challenge was one not to miss!’

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Kent Sport Physiotherapy Clinic has been raising funds for the NHS Charities by offering free initial online consultations. Vicky chose charity for her relay channel swim and you can still show your support by donating via this JustGiving link.

Would you like to develop your skills and confidence in providing consultancy to businesses?

If you are an academic who is considering working on a consultancy project or a seasoned academic looking to enhance you consultancy skills, the School of Computing’s KITC in collaboration with the Enabling Innovation: Research to Application (EIRA) Project are hosting an online training event on Thursday 17 September 2020 10.00, that will introduce a range of consultancy tools to help you achieve a successful consultancy project.

Over several years the KITC, the University of Kent’s student staffed IT Consultancy, have developed a framework for delivering successful consultancy projects for business clients. In this 60 minute webinar Jason Marshall, the KITC Business Manager, will provide an overview of the KITC consultancy framework and introduce you to some of the design thinking tools that the KITC use to deliver successful consultancy projects.

To help you consider how you could use and adapt these tools Jason will present a case study to illustrate how the KITC has used the framework to deliver consultancy projects.

Academics at any stage of their career are welcome.

To register please visit Eventbrite 

For more information contact the EIRA team on eirakent@kent.ac.uk

A new online learning resource is now available for both new and returning students.

Available in Moodle, the Online Learning at Kent: A Guide to Successful Study Online module has been created by the University’s E-Learning team to help students get the very best out of online learning. The module has been designed as the student-focused companion to the staff module Digitally Enhanced Education – A Guide to Teaching Online which has been very well received.

Many of our students will be unfamiliar with online learning and may be anxious about how their modules will be delivered in the coming academic year. All current students will be familiar with Moodle and KentPlayer, but may wish to know what the online experience will be like and how these, and other, tools will be used to support online delivery.

The Online Learning at Kent module is designed to help with this transition and to enable all students to familiarise themselves with both the technologies that they will use as part of their studies and the types of online and interactive activities they are likely experience. More importantly, it will enable students to be able to do the right things to gain the most benefit from online learning.

The module is not solely focused on technology; there is an emphasis on digital accessibility and how students can engage with resources to suit their needs and use the available content their own way. The module highlights how to stay safe and work smart online, and features contributions from various parts of the University, including Student Support and Wellbeing, Information Services, Kent Union and the Library.

The transition to online is challenging for both staff and students and so it is hoped that, regardless of discipline or stage, this module will support all of our students so that they can be successful in their studies and make the most of this unique experience.

All students will see the Online Learning at Kent module in their modules list on Moodle 2020.

In June, the School of Social Policy, Sociology & Social Research issued a statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The statement expressed how University & College Union members of the school were intending to use leftover funds from our precarious strike fund (comprised of donations from the pockets of school staff) to make a £1000 gift to a black education charity.

We asked our students to participate in a vote as to which organisations they wished us to support. The aim of the donation was to show solidarity and demonstrate our collective commitment to improving the experience of education for black students. One of the objectives of the recent industrial action was to promote equality and diversity in HE, and we believe this is a practical and effective way to contribute towards that aim.

Of the responses to the poll, over 40% chose Black Learning and Mental Health (BLAM), but as there were several very popular causes, SSPSSR opted to donate £500 to BLAM, and £250 each to the Reach Society and Wonder Foundation.

A HUGE thank you to all SSPSSR students who participate in challenging racial injustice, both on campus and beyond!

As part of continued work to identify non-pay savings across the University and ensure our spending is closely controlled, the University will be introducing a ‘No Purchase Order, No Pay’ policy from 14 September 2020. 

The University’s Procurement Team supports Divisions and Departments with getting the best possible value from the goods and services they use, while also keeping track of how much we spend on key suppliers. Introducing the new ‘No PO, No Pay’ policy is key to this, ensuring we have better oversight of what we are spending when while also increasing efficiency by reducing the number of invoice queries. 

Under the new system, invoices will only be paid if they include a valid Purchase Order (PO) number which has been agreed with the supplier prior to the delivery of goods, services or works. This will set out likely cost and delivery dates, along with an agreed payment process for suppliers, bringing us in line with what is increasingly standard practice across the sector. 

Once fully introduced, the move to ‘No PO, No Pay’ will help reduce our overall spend through better management of suppliers, ensuring as much support as possible can be put towards our core teaching and research activity. Detailed guidance will be sent to Finance Managers later this week, ahead of ongoing support with adapting to the new way of working ahead of the change and from September onwards. 

Find out more about our Procurement Team 

Find out more about our Financial Sustainability work 

KentVision is a major project underway at the University intended to bring together a number of different administrative processes and simplify how we support the student journey. 

As a complex programme impacting on numerous areas of our work, getting the final scope for this right has been crucial and has required detailed work over recent months. With this now in place, the project is now nearing the testing and approval stage ahead of launching in January 2021. 

KentVision aims 

As well as replacing the expiring Student Data System (SDS), KentVision is designed to introduce simpler and more consistent ways to input, manage and process student data across the University. This will in turn support wider work to reduce bureaucracy and improve the ways we work at Kent. Its objectives are to: 

• Provide an administrative journey that is clear, informative and seamless to all applicants and students. 
• Create a united academic administration across Central Services and Divisions, giving us a single source of high–quality authoritative data. 
• Refine student administration, reducing administrative effort for staff across the University 
• Improve processes and deliver full IT enablement, using standard SITS capability to maximum advantage and enabling fully integrated mobile-enabled services for students and staff. 

Next steps 

After a lengthy and at times challenging initial development phase, the KentVision project is now fully on track against an agreed timeline to launch in January 2021. Key staff will be invited to take part in detailed testing work throughout the coming months, ahead of a broader training programme for wider staff later in the autumn as we prepare for full data migration. After launching in January, the project will move towards ongoing support for staff as they adapt to new system, while also working together with users to identify improvements and ensure we make the most of the multiple benefits KentVision will offer.  

Find out more about KentVision 

As our official Employee Assistance Programme provider, Care first offers a numbers of services and provide useful advice and support. Read their latest Tips for a UK Summer Holiday.

Their weekly webinars continue this week (Monday 10 – Friday 14 August) and are as follows:

Monday 10 August 2020 –  ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 11.00-11.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Tuesday 11 August 2020 – ‘Quarantine Guidelines’
Time: 11.00-11.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 12 August 2020 – ‘COVID-19: A Dr’s perspective’
Time: 12.00-13.00 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 13 August 2020 – ‘What does a local lockdown look like?’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 14 August 2020 – ‘COVID-19: Starting a new role remotely’
Time: 14.00-14.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

If you’re looking for something fun to do with the family this month, why not enjoy an outdoor performance of the musical ‘Urinetown’, taking place at the end of August?

When:

Thursday 27 August at 18.00

Saturday 29 August at 13.00 and 18.00

Sunday 30 August 13.00 and 18.00

Where:

Open Air @ The Woodstock, Sittingbourne, Broadoak Road, ME9 8AG

Featuring our colleague Tracey Ashmore (Student Learning Advisory Service Manager within the Education Directorate), this outdoor show is a “bring your own picnic” event and is the first pro-musical theatre performances in Kent to take place since the pandemic. 

The production team and performers are adhering stringently to safety guidelines and there is a crew managing the distancing measures for audiences as well as managing an outdoor bar.

To find out where to book tickets please visit the Urinetown Open Air Facebook page.

Capacity is strictly limited per performance to allow for social distancing, so book now!