Friday, June 29, 2012

Revalidation Submission - The joys of off, off, and away


Last Friday (the 22nd of June) a glorious thing happened. Yes, I posted off my latest CILIP Revalidation portfolio. 

This is generally accompanied by a sense of profound relief by that point.

Simply because various parts of it are somewhat time-consuming and / or require a lot of thinking through. So it’s quite a long process overall in thinking terms, but with very intense periods in compilation and completion terms right at the end. So it’s nice to know it’s off and away, nothing else to be done to it in my terms.

So where does the time and effort go?

Thinking through approach 

This is otherwise primarily known for me as the content of the Personal Statement. I always think this is far and away the core the portfolio, think it through correctly and it gives the structure of the work, the detail of which will then be the Table of Contents as stage 2 of working the portfolio through. From the Table of Contents it’s then just a compilation job of the evidence items listed in it.

My personal statements always start with a reflection on the three-year period as a whole, then they’ll break down into further paragraphs on the key types of activities / learning I’ve been involved in and how it went, and then there’ll be an end paragraph kind going back into overview mode saying what I envisage doing next and why.  So I kind of end up with about six or seven headings each in total in the Personal Statement with a paragraph under each discussing what I did and why and that I know I can link to evidence items giving fuller picture, discussion, evaluation.

Usually evidence will be things I already have that were done for a specific purpose at the time, mostly by me, sometimes by other people. Occasionally I won’t have anything that really covers what I want to discuss and I’ll do a separate reflective piece on it just for the portfolio. But 90% of it is things that already existed.

But for me the ethos / approach of what I’m creating is encapsulated in the Personal Statement. The Table of Contents will flow on from that  as a fuller working out of that as a distinct spine broken into the various area’s and with different illustrative examples for each heading. I’ll usually also annotate the Table of Contents just giving a quick note on why each evidence piece is there / what purpose it fulfils, who it’s by etc.


Sifting and selecting

The basic problem here is I do enough CPD of all shapes to cheerfully reach Portugal several times over without trying one iota. Which is its own headache in then trying to hone down three years worth of material at once. Which things do you use as evidence examples out of the mass of possible?  I had limited success on this time round. 
It comes down to what are the key aspects of what I do that I want to use that fulfil the assessment criteria, how best do I approach and illustrate each of those, and which particular examples do I use for them in evidence.

That I only succeeded to a very certain point is amply illustrated by fact I didn’t tick the box allowing anyone to keep a copy of my Portfolio.  Because my mentor side says it’s far too long and there is no way I’m perpetuating the myth that submitting a brick is expected or needful. Not useful! Or good for the health of Qualifications Board!

Leaving out most of reality is still big. In the end I decided to call 'halt' and just go with what I had put together even though it was bigger than I'd realised once I'd actually printed it all out and put it in a pile together (see below). Because it was going to be really time-consuming to change track on at that point and other things I needed to get done this month.


Compilation

Compilation is more logistical complexity than anything else.  It’s about having decided what you want to use and why and in what order already, but you still have to actually bring it all together in one place and format as per the submission rules.  I half-thought about electronic submission this time round.  Because the end point is time-consuming and finicky doing a paper-based submission.

In the end I decided paper-based. Mostly because for me it’s quite useful to actually be able to physically look at everything together.

Paper-based means an awful lot of pretending to have a damp towel on brow and that I’m going ‘omm’ while trying to remember exactly which file or pile all the different bits of paper are in I need and in what physical locations. I do kind of keep everything together, but some is in work, some is at home… Then there’s exactly on which pc or device or blog or internet site are all the things in non-paper format. Some of which may have delightfully ceased to exist since last you looked at it if not under your control. 


The finicky bit

It is a delightful rule that photocopiers will decide to jam with parts of your work inside them, printers will decide for some reason to print 5 files meekly but throw a fit on no. 6 as you take out more and more formatting in mystified fashion trying to make it accept it. Toner will suddenly decide to give up life and produce faded patches down the middle of pages.

Then there’s the true evil which is called taking lots of things some internally paginated and some not, in lots of different formats, and trying to uniformly paginate them all and label them in relation to the Table of Contents so that someone can actually navigate it all as ‘one’ cohesive work instead of a lucky dip.  My portfolio is lop-sided, over the years I’ve come to the conclusion it makes my life far simpler to just do lots of label sheets of pagination and stick those on at the end.  Ideally you can print off one full copy, attach all the labels, and re-photocopy to avoid the lops-sided corner and run off three of those.  The photocopiers hated me last week so I didn’t risk it and went for lop-sided as more conducive to retaining my sanity and making the Friday post.

By this point a nice portfolio theory has turned into a mountain of paper all over the floor, desk, and any other bit of space surrounding as you try and get 3 ordered copies of everything. Actually I went for four, I was determined to have one complete copy for myself now rather than when it comes back. Mostly to prove to myself I had finished!

It is a truth, even if not universally acknowledged, that it’s always bigger that you supposed when you print it all out, that’s when you can count it all in order, and you actually see what size it is.


The End is Nigh

Thus you end up with ordered bundles of copies that now look like you’re getting ready to roast the chicken for Christmas (it’s all the elastic bands holding it in order somehow).  So, are all the pages there and in order as they should be, are they all the right way round.  If so, hurrah, it all together, put in the divider cards, and comb-bind it with covers and it’s done.

Then it’s just forms, cheque, packaging, posting. Major slump of relief to recover. Possibly for a week judging by it’s taken me a week to blog this, but actually just lots of other things going on that needed to be prioritised instead.


So what was different this time?

Down the years I’ve done Chartership portfolio, Fellowship portfolio, this is my second Revalidation portfolio since my Fellowship…  I’ve always done them, regular as clockwork!

The reasons I do them don’t change – it’s a really useful exercise every three years just looking back at what you’ve done and why and how it went and figuring out from it what you want to do next.  A way of getting perspective, being able to stand outside the day-to-day working life, of clarifying things for yourself. I learned that way back doing my Chartership portfolio, and it becomes more valuable, not less, with the years.

But every time I do one it also changes, because I will have changed, what I’m doing, the wider world around me.  So if I consider what I’ve just submitted, there’s a lot of blogs in it, there’s tweets, there’s photos. None of which would have been there before.


Crossing Things Off The List


This month seems to have been about trying to finish various things that have been going on for a while. Always a nice feeling…



Friday, June 15, 2012

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Library

I have yet to blog on #GLTU4 which was a visit to The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Library and the Library of the Scottish Piping Centre.  So consider this part one on RCS, part two to follow over the weekend hopefully!
I am reminded of this somewhat by the fact that next week is #GLTU5 (as in Glasgow Librarians Tweet Up 5) whereby we descend on long-suffering members of the profession en masse and wander enthusiastically about their libraries and hear about their services before heading off to the pub to muse some more! Theme of #GLTU5 is health information.
I suspect there are still places going, so if you fancy joining the amusement the booking information is here

 But for the moment I'll concentrate on catching up on blogging the last one!

Image from the current exhibition from the Archives


the new logo


The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Library

The Royal Conservatoire is the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dance as was which re-named itself recently to move to a title that better described the range and subject-matter of courses and training it offers to its students.

Collection Scope

We were given a tour round the Whittaker Library.
That it is the library to a performance arts institution (music, dance, drama) is immediately clear, not just from the stock types and content, but also the study spaces and the uses made of them. As we passed it the ‘quiet study’ room had a student in it with earphones in and his conductors baton out as he rehearsed his conducting to whatever piece of music he was listening to. Whereas passing the comfy seating area prompted discussion of it being in practical terms the only place in the building a student could have a quiet nap on a sofa as long as they didn’t disturb everyone else.


Layout


 


In actual library layout terms broadly music is shelved down one side of the room and drama on the other side.  Music involves anything from sheet music, to collections based on different themes or composers, to orchestral scores for specific instruments.  As such there are items of all different sizes and shapes from very small pamphlets to very large consolidated works in many volumes.
Down the centre of the room are a host of open study desks, at the bottom the comfy seating area and access to the quiet study room.
On the other side of the room is ‘drama’, but this is a very broad definition, it includes dramatic works, but also a host of literature on related subjects from everything from set design to geography. Anything that could be relevant and helpful in informing the performance of a specific piece.  The drama side has been reclassified recently to DDC as a major summer project, the music is on Library of Congress if I recall correctly.


The drama side also includes the dvd collection to help students studying production techniques, acting type skills, look at things like narration… Lots of cd’s of audio versions of plays and a very small audio tape collection thereof too still…  As such has a wide selection of different genres and styles.  There is also a vast collection of cd’s and LPs reflecting all musical styles and periods and the section of musical theatre scores.. A student studying a particular piece of music doesn’t want one version of it if they can flick between and compare ten different interpretations and performances instead. 
To the left of the musical theatre section is the computer bank giving access to a range of electronic products and all the normal IT functions and just inside the main library door the issue desk and staff area.

Staffing

In terms of staffing there is the head librarian, librarians each with specific remits to music, performance, drama, and library assistants. The library serves the staff and students of the institution but is open to the public more generally for reference purposes only if they first sign in at Reception.

Revisiting times past...

I was interested to go in because I’ve used the library for reference purposes myself back in my students days when it was still RSAMD, so that’s going back fifteen years!  So really I wanted to see if any of it was as I remembered it and how much had changed. As expected, an awful lot!  I naturally remember the days of an absolutely gigantic card catalogue long before the days of banks of student pc’s and an electronic library catalogue available over the internet. Though library stacks don't change much, has to be said!

Music section stack



Karen with Whittaker library bag

So many thanks to Karen, the extremely knowledgeable music and academic services librarian.

Karen showed us around and talked us through and also showed us various other parts of the building from the opera centre to a walk past rehearsal rooms full of practicing musicians. Huge interesting experience.




Thursday, June 14, 2012

Education, training, trainees, and legal research

The SLLG (Scottish Law Librarians Group) AGM talk this year concerned recent changes to the professional education and training of Trainees in Scotland, the changes to the overall CPD rules affecting the Scottish legal profession, and how this impacted on training in legal research skills and other areas.

PEAT1 and 2 and CPD regulation.
For students with an LLB who wish to enter the legal profession postgraduate training is first required from one of the accredited universities offering the course. This now takes the form of PEAT (Professional Education and Training) 1.
PEAT 1 (formerly the Diploma in Legal Practice) is essentially made up of a mixture of core modules and electives, is compulsory and lasts a year. Precisely what is available subject-wise depends on individual legal education providers (currently six). One university includes work-based learning as an elective whereby students go into firms and work under supervision for a period of time.
PEAT 2 is the traineeship within a firm, lasts two years, and is an outcomes-based traineeship against 60 / 80 different measures. It involves continuous appraisal.
The new CPD Regulations revolve around verifiable CPD – proving why did it, that it fulfilled a need, be able to show outcomes from, record that they did it adequately, justify the need for it and show what they learned from doing it.  Emphasis on people doing CPD that matters and commenting on said. Linked to person, job, level, career – not just done for the sake of it. Freer methods are allowed than before, but have to be justified.

Effects discussion
There was discussion among the audience about:-
Training providers and content
May allow new providers to enter the training market  giving better provision and choice overall. Problems sometimes caused by Scotland being a small legal market in sourcing appropriate material at correct level. Trainers don’t always understand the legal market to the same extent as the product they train on. Could allow for new methods of training. Opportunity in licensing. Training tends to be weaker for more advanced levels. Awful lot of very organised effort goes into the LLB, Diploma as was (now PEAT 1) and traineeship (now PEAT 2) level, rather more ad hoc as lawyers move further up their career.

Research methodology and expectations
Difference between existing research skills standard of people entering a traineeship and the expectation and needs of the firm in transacting client business. Discussion of how to better instill research skills at university stage, through any PEAT 1 work-based elective, through PEAT 2. Discussion of e-learning methods and face to face and differences between and relative strengths and weaknesses. Discussion about need for research to be mindful of commerciality aspects, what the client is seeking to achieve, time and billing issues, focusing in on precise points at issue rather than generalities, phrasing things in language that lay people can understand.

Training methods
There was discussion about approaches and training methods and learning styles and whether what is offered by trainers and in-house matches the needs of individuals and of the firms in terms of developing their people appropriately.

Licensing
There was discussion about firms who applied for this and fulfilled the criteria being licenced by the Law Society of Scotland to deliver CPD and PEAT 2 internally. This would last for a  fixed period of time and be monitored to ensure overall standards could be ensured and results verified. Also about whether firms with specific subject coverage needs would seek to carve out exclusivity deals with a particular legal education provider to ensure their key subjects were represented in the programme of study undertaken to give them better potential trainee candidates.

Differences between Scots model and England
Significantly different system in England so difficult to compare and contrast.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Carneige Medal Shortlist Reading finished for another year..

I finished last week actually and up-dated the Shadowing Sight for the group I'm in. 

However didn't get around to mentioning it here.


What I enjoyed reading most of this years Shortlist were:-

Patrick Ness

Whose books I love and had never read any of before I started Carnegie Shdowing three years ago.  So wasn't any great surprise to me that I utterly adore this.






David Almond

Never read Skellig (his previous one to this that follows on from Mina) or any by him before. I will definitely be reading Skellig over the summer now.  Really loved this and want to know what happened after.




Lissa Evans

Again, really enjoyed this one. I love sci-fi / fantasy style books anyway, but this one is clever as clockwork and a highly enjoyable read.




A Good Read is a Good Read

Carnegie is a childrens reading prize.

But if any adults feel like casting off the joys of linear time that have made them adults for a few hours, I would definitely recommend all of these. Highly enjoyable for adults and children alike!


Tomorrow is only a day away (but I still really dislike Annie the Musical and film)

Looking forward to seeing who wins tomorrow on the Carnegie judging criteria!

And then roll on next year...


Addendum -

And the winner was indeed announced and I'm delighted it was Patrick Ness.  Even more delighted the illustrator won the Greenaway Prize for illustration for the same book.  So, a double win for A Monster Calls for the first time in Carnegie history. Not bad going...!!!

Musings on reasons for placemark entries and blogs not up-dated…

The function of the 'placemark entry'...

This is a placemark post for a blog not up-dated in several weeks. The mere fact I’m posting about not posting amuses me highly. Is it content?  Is it lack of content?  Is it content about the lack of content?


Be Back Soon Style Posts…

Such posts are actually very common though, quick notes or explanations that e.g.

There’s been too much going on to get near the blog recently

Other area’s of life have required the time and attention or changed substantially recently

Term has just started so time has vanished

A particular looming deadline or, even worse!, combination of said had meant dropping everything else in life and focusing on that or those alone

Lots of things have been happening, just not ones appropriate to discuss on the type of blog you maintain (e.g. because they’re outside the scope you’ve chosen for it)


Reasons people do them

The reasons people make these posts are all good ones.

It basically means:-

1. They’re perfectly aware of the vacuum

2. It’s nagging at them

3. They intend doing something about it soon and want to show they have actually noticed (in which case it’s probably also saying they have a backlog built up of things they intend to blog on from the posting gap that will start to appear as next content) OR

They’re not currently in a position to do anything more but they intend being back at some point and want to say so OR

They want to finish the blog off tidily because their situation or wish to do it has changed since they started it OR

They’ve been meaning to take the blog down for ages, or transfer it somewhere else, or do something else substantive to it and haven’t got round to it or have been baffled trying to figure out how to actually achieve it and / or find the time for


The Perils of the Untended Blog

These probably weigh more with the authors than anyone else!!!

An un-updated blog has a slightly sad look about it, something started not currently maintained, for reasons that could be anything or nothing. Bit like a garden no one’s been in for a while that can be seen by passers-by.

Because most blogs are public. So who notices lack of up-dating isn’t immediately discernible, perhaps no one but the author, perhaps not. You might well never know. How does anyone interpret silence or omission of text? But someone, somewhere, probably has.


When is a blog an un-updated blog?

I don’t think there’s any standard answer to that at all if there’s no clues from the posts and you don't actually know the person.  All you can do is look at the pattern of how regular or when posts have tended to be in past and when it was last up-dated. That probably gives a bit of a feel for what the standard rhythm is. We all have periods when we go slightly irregular because our routines and schedules have changed.

But it if tended to be every few weeks and that was a year ago it’s a fairly safe assumption!


My Busy Month (Honest Guv!)

Which brings me to the paragraph I meant to write at the top of this originally.  It would basically have said:-

I’ve been engulfed for the last fortnight in preparing and writing a presentation for my ancient history life I’m giving tomorrow. Mostly finished in small hours of yesterday morning. Properly finished after tomorrow evening. Hurrah. Relief. Slump. Starting to feel vaguely human again.

Various work stuff around internal deadlines.

Finishing the Carnegie Shortlist in time re the Shadowing Group I’m in (as the winner is announced tomorrow). Hurrah hurrah, I got finished last week. Which is late for me.

The small matter of my CILIP Revalidation portfolio. I’m due again next month and still have some hopes of getting it all finished and bound in time to take it down next Monday when I’m in CILIP for a meeting anyway. That would mean could leave it all there a bit early in the relieved knowledge it’s assembled, finished, and out of my hands! If a thump of three copies landing on Reception desk is heard I’ll managed it and have arrived in the building…!!


Normal service shall resume... (shes says sounding like a tv transmitter fault!)

Yes, I have a backlog(!!) built up from my absence over the last few weeks…

And yes it's nagging at me...

So going to start gradually start posting it…

You have been warned…!