Letter to the VC: or, what academics do all the time

Back in December 2015, the then-newish Vice Chancellor – in post for about 7 months – attended Arts Faculty Committee, when the whole of what was then the Arts Faculty came together, and addressed the assembled masses. I think I was the first person to ask a question when the session was opened up to the floor; my question was about his focus on retention (keeping students once they’ve arrived) and I asked for more to be done on recruitment (attacting them in the first place).

Because I was aware that the VC had come to us without previous Higher Education experience, I wondered if it would be helpful for him to gain a better sense of what a ‘Central Academic’ – those employed at the campus who develop, write and monitor the courses taken by students – does every day for a week. The OU is a very complicated place even to those like me who move to it from another university; so many acronyms, such different ways of doing pretty well everything. So I wrote the email below, and sent the table as an attachment. It was a typically busy week, not least because alongside module writing and head of department stuff I was also finishing a Quality Assurance Agency review (relevance: the OU too falls under the QAA so inside information helps, plus my day job involved validating other institutions using the QAA model) and reading a PhD thesis for another university (relevance: makes me a better PhD supervisor at the OU). The reference to ‘Schoolification’ is to an internal restructuring process (these are real drains on senior staff time).

The message didn’t bounce. But I had no reply. Not even an acknowledgement.

THURS 3 DEC 07:00-07:30	Checked email; updates for AFC meeting today received; read. Checked social media: noted my most recent post on MA page I run has reached 580 people. Note to self – make sure serious posts promoting the course are interspersed with ‘fun’ ones as the latter still get circulated with our brand on so may have an effect. Also noted that post reach this week has been over 1000, a record
07:30-09:00	Travelling to MK; on journey checked OU Student Association forums and online forums for the MA Classical Studies degree, and did routine emails
09:00-09:30	Office: saw Faculty research administrator for update; did travel claim from the recent Associate Lecturer development day in London. Conflated applications for students for Classical Association 2017 conference bursaries, in advance of submission on Fri
09:30-12:30	Arts Faculty Committee. During meeting, picked up query on student-run FB group about article they can’t access. Emailed OU colleague who’s the author to ask for copy to be on Dropbox so I can send on link. After meeting, discussion with N. Ireland staff tutor about possible event with two of our dept going over to address newly-founded N. Ireland Classical Association branch on a Friday and then run a day school for students and ALs on the Saturday. She has progressed this a lot. Funding still remains unclear. Lots of enthusiasm from colleagues at AFC
12:30-13:00	Lunch
13:00-16:00	Office: discussed with the module team chair recent evidence of some disgruntlement at second part of the MA (in first presentation) on one of the FB pages. Minority involved, but vociferous. Recommended calm message on tutor forum about the issue. Contacted IT Helpdesk about failure to download latest version of Dropbox which needs ‘administrator privileges’. On phone for over 20 minutes while they took remote control and sorted it. Advised not to try the same on the laptop until Monday so they can find out from Client Systems why usual method not working. Checked latest update to the report I’m writing after doing a visit to London Film Academy for QAA last week. Request for further evidence on some points. This now needs to be done tomorrow. Adjusted schedule to delay another task until Monday. Got hold of article from colleague to share with students – found a way of sharing it with Dropbox on the Cloud as OU computer is still adjusting to updated version. Students grateful. Brief meeting with dept coordinator Discussed with owner of Facebook Classics International group how best to link to our MA page
16:00-17:30	Travelling home. Used journey to catch up with routine emails including scripts for recording on Monday
FRI 4 DEC 09:00-11:00	Work with PhD students: finished reading and commenting on final version of one student’s thesis, to be submitted early January; finalising regular report form for another student. Emails to co-supervisors.
12:00-14:00	Extended lunch hour to catch up with a friend
14:00-18:00	Updated QAA report for London Film Academy including the extra evidence required.
	Checked OUSA forums and online forums for the MA Classical Studies degree
	Welcomed newest member of department to The Conversation; spread story on twitter and to Arts-Comms
	Checked minutes of last dept meeting so coordinator can send them out on Mon
	Submitted applications for Classical Association 2017 conference bursaries for our students to the national office
22:00-01:30	Got away from OU business by being a Street Pastor (I do this once a month)
SAT 5 DEC	Social media time: caught up on various media and tweeted link to OpenLearn course based on our Level 2 module on ancient history (730 impressions, 25 engagements) Put up link to new module on Latin on Facebook page Classics International (82 likes, 47 shares, across the world)
SUN 6 DEC	Tweeted link to OpenLearn course based on our new module on Latin (5649 impressions, 92 engagements)
MON 7 DEC 09:00-10:00	Worked on resubmitted PhD thesis I am examining for Macquarie University and started writing report
10:00-11:30	Travel to MK: caught up with routine email. Checked social media, OUSA forums and online forums. Identified trends.
11:30-12:30	Tried to get Dropbox update to download on to the laptop. IT helpdesk unable to help due to pressure of work. Told to call again tomorrow.
12:30-13:00	Lunch
13:00-13:50	Continued reading PhD thesis
13:50-15:30	Recorded two audios for new History module for which I’ve written a 15,000 word unit
15:30-18:00	Continued reading PhD thesis; attempted to set up meeting of Classical Reception Studies Network which I co-convene
	Stayed overnight in MK
18:30-19.15	Dinner – read papers for ASSET meeting the next day to discuss configurations of new Schools (papers only circulated at 17:00)
19:15-21:00	Continued reading PhD thesis
	Tweeted link to department’s ‘Christmas blog post’ (1379 impressions, 146 engagements)
TUES 8 DEC 09:00-12:30	Office. Saw colleague with difficult family issues. Checked no deadlines are being missed; offered reassurance. Turned down invitation to contribute to a book. Turned down request to act as referee for Wolfson College Junior Research Fellowships. No time.
	Again failed to download Dropbox update. Went to IT in person; they thought they had done it; on return to office, ‘installation unsuccessful’. Now unable to sync.
12:30-13.30	Lunch with Level 1 director and Dean
13:30-16:15	Arts and Social Sciences Executive Team meeting to discuss configurations to Schools
16:30-18:00	Travelled home on bus. Caught up with email backlog.
WED 9 DEC 09:00-10:00	Routine email; checked social media, OUSA forums and online forums. Identified trends.
10:00-11:00	Phone meeting with colleague to discuss her promotion bid
11:00-13:00	Finished and submitted report on PhD thesis and other paperwork to Macquarie University; sorted out monitoring on MA module (Assessment had wrongly sent it to me)
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-15:00	Checked submitted image description for visually impaired students on new MA module; routine emails; advised colleague on submitting a bid for internal funding
15:00-15:45	Physiotherapy to mobilise wrist broken in September
15:45-18:30	Checked 15,000 words of text for undergraduate History module in production; approved external funding bid by a colleague; discussed by email a possible link to a local secondary school; read first draft of CV from colleague aiming at promotion; wrote up the final version of this list