Great night at Light Night in Nottingham

Join us on Bluesky for #LTHEchat on Wednesday 4th February at 8pm GMT with guest @cardiffrutherford.bsky.social to discuss how can we empower students to be part of a larger university ‘Learning Community’?

Wednesday 4th February at 8pm GMT, we are hosting guest @cardiffrutherford.bsky.social to discuss how can we empower students to be part of a larger university ‘Learning Community’? Join the conversation on #lthechat

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And it really makes a difference that we appreciate! Being given permission to think and write one day a week feels like a luxury, but it shouldn’t be in a sector that is supposed to be all about original thought!

Space is the most precious commodity in HE. We made Fridays meeting free across BNU for that reason

An institution signals why is important by what it promotes and rewards as also what it allows to happen in its name… #ActionsSoeakLoudly

Agreed. Stopping things is one of the key actions leaders can do. I cut 60% of committees for that reason

A5 A realistic time in the workload to experiment and fail. Plus a time to rest. Do nothing, a no emails after 6pm. It is in the rest, we grow, flourish? You can't plunder the same resource without replenishing it, this is a recipe for burnou.t LTHEChat

But if you find you were wrong and the plan isn’t working be humble enough to acknowledge it and change

Thank you @profdamienpage.bsky.social for an excellent topic to focus on and discuss #LTHEchat

Thank you for another thought provoking chat! Good evening all! #LTHEchat

YES - and stop outsourcing things like cleaning, security, catering - we all used to 'belong' at one time! #LTHEchat

A6 Sharing what we do with our students #LTHEchat My colleague shared this through our SoTL blog Making Learning Meaningful: Reflections on a Pedagogy of Kindness, Belonging and Play blog.shu.ac.uk/sotl/making-...

Thank you @profdamienpage.bsky.social for these great questions 🙏👏 - to all other senior leaders - as Delia Smith once said 'let's be havin' you!' #LTHEChat

#LTHEchat THANK YOU so much for the chat tonight with guest Prof Damien Page - the times may be apocalyptic - but there is still some radical hope amongst the ruins ...

Yes well put Sandra, there is always hope and @profdamienpage.bsky.social and a few others give me hope in #Education for public good. 🙏 #LTHEChat

Yes there are successful online programs, I agree Pam. Physical or virtual spaces as I said. #LTHEChat

That’s how it used to be when I started in HE

I love me some time boxing, to-do lists really don't work for me but I have an almost Pavlovian response to stuff in my Outlook!

So few senior managers have training in this area. Decades ago I taught English for Secretaries in FE and learned a lot

Thanks all, really interesting chat tonight. Thanks to @profdamienpage.bsky.social for the questions and much to think about. Hope the rest of the week goes well for all #LTHEchat

Thanks everyone #LTHEChat

Thanks @profdamienpage.bsky.social and the #LTHEchat organising team

#lthechat Thanks for facilitating a great chat! Good night everyone

I have but so superficial to be insulting, and completely failing to spot that grade based selection pools meant that all Global Majority staff were in scope and most White colleagues safe … 😡 #LTHEchat

Great, yes a learning walk of sorts, I have done the same to the amazement of current and previous colleagues. It's how people see their roles. In a private franchise college as an Associate Dean Learning and Teaching at the moment. If you talk the talk you have to walk the walk 😉 #LTHEChat

A6 A ‘Sticky’ Campus not a feeling of apocalypse out in the communal areas - good classroom activities on individual courses spreading out and beyond the course experience #Lthechat

Q6 good or bad culture? Bypass direct descriptions and look for the analogies people use or the images evoked. I really like Lego serious play, or stickman sketches that people draw when asked about culture. Look for what the underlying narrative themes are. E.g. control or collaboration? #LTHEchat

Huge thanks to @profdamienpage.bsky.social for the great questions See you next week - same time, same place! #LTHEchat

I always wanted that magic pen! #LTHEchat

#LTHEchat A6 Opportunities to share & celebrate student & staff work. I was thinking how much everything is judged, measured, graded and evaluated - but oh so rarely celebrated, showcased and enjoyed. End of term paries in modules w showreels/exhibitions - and more shoutouts for all that staff do

Not just senior managers, build a culture of effective leadership from the first leadership roles people acquire. Capacity building for efficient meetings! #LTHEchat

Educators feel a university’s culture when values are consistently reflected in everyday behaviours, decisions, and relationships. It becomes real through respectful interactions, authentic leadership, meaningful work, and a genuine sense of belonging. #LTHEchat

A6. Spending time in social and communal spaces - assuming there *are* such spaces, especially when students are around and the place is alive. #LTHEChat

A6 #LTHEchat Take student and staff to dinner - talk to them Pay all staff a living wage. Cleaners and early career teachers with PhDs deserve better… #YouKnowWhyYouAre

A1 exercising some choice over duties within constraints and getting the annual workload confirmed in spring for the following year and not fundamentally changed in late Sept- basic satisfaction. Little experience recently of “flourishing” but know how it feels - energising and exciting #LTHEchat

A6 Less of the upstairs/downstairs culture, some (not all!) academic staff don’t seem to want to treat PS staff as experts. This needs to change! #LTHEchat

A6 #LTHEchat Spend time in the “in‑between” spaces. Culture shows up most clearly where no one is performing. • Sit in atrium, café, or library & watch how people interact • do students mix across groups or stick to silos • listen to the tone of conversations • how do staff & students share space

A6: Circling back to Q1 - making space for ‘large’ (e.g. national, linguistic aspects of people’s cultures) and, more importantly, ‘small’ cultures, e.g. space for people to bring the more nuanced parts of themselves, incl. recognising disciplinary cultures and ways of being, thinking, etc #LTHEChat

A3 senior staff actually speaking to them #Lthechat

A6. Enough/allocated time to collectively participate in teaching and learning in different areas - projects, shared experiences that allow us all to enjoy the best thing about higher education: the top tier education that surrounds us. #LTHEchat

A6 Be in the physical and virtual spaces where staff and students are. It's a people thing Education. Their success is your success. You can't run a University from a spare room or ivory tower, especially not in a crisis or restructure. If more VCs did this, the sector would be better. #LTHEChat

Sadly so true: How sad and tired everyone is... I remember several shake-ups ago in an institution far far away, just asking an older male colleague how they were - you know - an hallo: and their eyes filling with tears cos it was impossible to meet their workload targets - just impossible #LTHEchat

Don't they just make the case that the alternative is so bad there's no choice and hence to hell with the consequences? Perhaps the time to restructure successfully is when not in financial crisis #LTHEchat

A5 Consistent and honest use of timeboxing on Outlook (other calendars are available) so that everyone respects each others time. Everyone can see how colleagues are using their time and make only reasonable requests on others time. And free thinking is a valid and protected use of time #LTHEchat

A6 Being able to participate in its different services, lifecycles, and to contribute to its imagination. #LTHEchat

Yep! #LTHEchat

But I can’t spell with a pen! 😢 #LTHEchat

Training on how to chair meetings and get from agenda to achievable actions would be a significant and positive step #LTHEchat