Spring?

Well its' supposed to be!

The Council for Administration consultation meeting for the new Level 2 Business and Administration Modern Apprenticeships was well attended by stakeholders from employers, training partnerships and Colleges. Check their website www.cfa.uk.com
for the latest updates.

Following on from the success of our Word 2007 and your request for further training in Excel I am in the process of organising this for early May - watch this space for date and vanue.

Aegon Insurance have produced a Business game as part of an event to commemorate 125 years of the Glasgow Institute of Insurance and Actuarial Services. The game (and mentors to deliver) will be free to all all colleges who participate. It can be used as part of the induction process for Business Studies students as well as curriculum delivery so could prove to be a valuable resource. Further news on this development will be posted on Practitioners Plus.

Bye for now.

What's new this month?

This month we held another successful Word 2007 training workshop at Stevenson College Edinburgh with 13 attendees, much networking and sharing ideas.

The CfA begins its development of a Level 2 Business & Administration Modern Apprenticeship (BAMA) framework for Scotland. The CfA is consulting with Scottish employers, learning providers and key stakeholders to determine the essential components of a Level 2 BAMA framework. They look forward to receiving your comments and thank you in advance for supporting the design and development of the new Level 2BAMA framework.

There are two Level 2 BAMA Workshops taking place -

Glasgow - Wednesday 18th February 1pm to 4pm
Edinburgh - Thursday 19th February 10am to 1pm

Current Level 3 BAMA centres, employers and other key stakeholders are invited to the workshops to discuss framework content, access arrangements and progression opportunities for new Level 2 BAMA framework. For further information about the consultation or if you have any questions, please contact Uta Sempf on 020 7091 9634.

Communicating and keeping others communicating is an imnportant part of the mentor's role and is ongoing so keep it coming.

Welcome back

The Word 2007 workshop at Reid Kerr College in December was a great success. As always there was the bonus of informal networking when ideas were swopped and email addresses exchanged.

Following the success of this workshop and in response to feedback an identical event is being held at Stevenson College Edinburgh on Thursday 05 February from 9.30 until 12.30. You can book online at http://www.sfeu.ac.uk/events/show/2938. This is an opportunity to update your skills for the latest software so sign up NOW as places are limited.

I've been invited to join a small working group of key stakeholders to assist in putting together an action plan for the CfA in Scotland for 2009 so will keep you posted on progress.

I've also been keeping in touch with people, putting people in touch with each other and answering queries so please keep the communications coming.

Update

As requested by you we have a FREE Word 2007 update workshop at Reid Kerr College on Thursday 11 December from 9.30 until 12.30 with supporting notes for you to take away. This has been specifically designed to include a selection of the Word Processing features (some of the trickier ones) required in the HN Admin & and IT units - ITB: WP and Presentation Applications (DE1L 34) and ITB: Advanced Word Processing (DE2G 35). You can book online at http://www.sfeu.ac.uk/events/book/2845. This is an opportunity to update your skills for the latest software so sign up NOW as places are limited.

I've been invited to a seminar which will inform the development of a framework for assessment to support Curriculum for Excellence. The seminars are an early stage of an engagement process and the focus will be on -

- What and how do we assess?
- Planning for assessment
- Sharing expectations and standards
- Reporting and using assessment information
- Improvement and accountability
- Continuous professional development

Watch this space for feedback.

The subject mentors met recently to start planning next year's objectives and discuss how best we can make an impact. As always your input in invaluable so please let me have your thoughts and views on what you would like us to do that would make a difference. Keep your emails coming.

Delivering what you asked for

In response to feedback from subject practitioners we are offering a series of workshops in Business & Administration at various venues across Scotland's Colleges.

Dates for your diaries are - Thursday 13 November at Dundee College, Thursday 04 December at Inverness UHI and Thursday 11 December at Reid Kerr College. Each workshop will have the same content so you can choose which one suits your timetable and location.

The morning session will be dedicated to Games and an exciting new project to help achievement in the Graded Units. In the afternoon Business practitioners have a Business Graded Unit 2 workshop and Administration have training in Word 2007. View the complete programme and book at www.sfeu.ac.uk/events.

I look forward to seeing you at these events.

What's new?

We had our first mentor's meeting of the year at Scotland's Colleges last week. It was good to see everyone again and get down to some serious discussion and planning. The year ahead is very exciting and offers a variety of opportunities for practitioners to benefit from and contribute to their network via local workshops and training events.

The CfA Asssessor master Class Scottish event is in Edinburgh on Tuesday 30 September at the Apex City Hotel. The Assessor Master Class workshop is between 9.30 - 12.30 and Friend or Foe? - How to Manage your EV Visit is between 1.30 - 4.30pm.

Scotland's Colleges and SQA Academy are offering a free professional development course for all college staff delivering Higher Business Management. This blended learning course comprises both online learning (approx 2 hours participation between Wednesday 5 November to Wednesday 19 November 2008) and face-to-face learning (a full day at Scotland's Colleges on Thursday 20 November).

I am delighted to say that we have two new members to our advisory group from Central and Dundee Colleges so welcome on board. Still room for more!

Watch this space for more details on the Business and Administration network events.

Welcome back

The mentors are back and looking forward to new challenges.

I have been catching on a mountain of emails and giving some thought and planning to our calendar of events for next year. It looks promising with some great ideas so far including the offer of FREE workshops/events and more opportunities for collaboration. We also need new members for the advisory group in Business & Administration so if you are interested in participating and being at the forefront of new developments and initiatives in our subject area please contact me.

Last week I delivered a presentation on the Subject Networks to the Business and Computing Faculty away day held at the Novotel in Edinburgh. A captive audience of around 60 practitioners got news of the latest developments as well as a tour of our page on Practitioners Plus. Feedback was positive so hopefully some new converts. Watch this space.