Friday, September 29, 2017

Launch of IFS Apprenticeship Programme @NCIRL

Today I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the IFS Apprenticeship programmes in the College - the programmes in FinTech were formally launched by the Minister for Education Richard Bruton. These new programmes are aimed at providing students with both on-the-job training and classroom - it is an exciting opportunity for the new students, and the College. The apprenticeship model in popular in other countries and is now becoming a new model for recruitment here in Ireland. Good luck to the new apprentices!


Richard Bruton is a fine public speaker. He did not use notes today, and spoke as if his entire speech was scripted. I recall seeing him doing this before at a launch of new offices for SmartForce in my previous job during the 1990s. 

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Can you really be over-qualified? via @IrishTimes

According Carl O'Brien, writing in last Friday's Irish Times, Irish workers are most ‘overqualified’ in Europe. This is based on "research carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) between 2000 and 2011". About 60% of our school leavers progress onto third level education, and this is projected to rise to about 70% over the next decade - one of the highest rates in Europe. Of course not all of these students will leave college/university with a qualification, but most will. 

So - can you be overqualified? Is it OK to have "bar tenders who have university degrees"?

My view is that there is no such thing as being overqualified. There - I said it!

Of course, I work in the third level sector so I guess I would say this. 

My first business card.
Let me tell a quick personal story. When I was getting my first ever business card, I was asked for details such as job title, phone number, etc. This was about 1994. I still had my graduation in 1988 fresh in my mind and I wondered if I would be allowed to add either "Dr" before my name, or "MA, PhD." after my name. My manager at the time said an emphatic "No". He did not want to intimidate anyone with fancy letters (I was one of only two PhDs in the organization at the time). So I accepted the decision despite being bitterly disappointed - I was very proud of my degree (as all graduates should be). Today of course, I do have the "fancy" letters on my business card - but I do work in a College where things like this are accepted and expected. 

Attending College and getting a degree means many things. For those studying subjects such as Medicine, Pharmacy, or Law - it is a career decision made before going to College. A degree is obviously needed for these types of careers. If I ever end up in an operating theatre facing a surgeon's knife - I am not going to ask for someone else to do the job if my surgeon is over-qualified to wield a scalpel. For most other third level students, the three or four years in College may be something else completely. I studied Marine Biology - but never worked as a Marine Biologist. Students learn so much more in College than just what's on the syllabus. I'm sure if we asked all graduates if they regretted attending College - very few would say that they did.

So - the next time a bartender with a degree serves me a pint I will be thinking "Good for you!". Your degree did not make you a better bar tender or a better person than another bartender who does not have a degree. You will both have had different life experiences - neither is better than the other. Be proud of your achievement in gaining a degree, you might never get a chance like it again. You are not over-qualified.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Students Don't Take Notes Anymore?

While taking my usual perusal through the very funny Waterford Whispers News this morning I had a giggle at one of their latest posts: Fucking Loser In Front Of You Actually Taking Notes During Lecture. In this post a student who doesn't take notes thinks others who do are "losers" while scribbling rude drawings and checking out Snapchat and Netflix. Funny - maybe, but real?

When I first became a Lecturer in NCI in 2002, most students took down notes based on what my slides showed on screen. It appeared to me that students took note of my bullet points word-for-word, and I often wondered if they were listening to anything I said. Basically, at the time this was the only way for them to have material from class - no Moodle or Blackboard in those days. For those of us Lecturers who knew a bit of HTML, we then started to put our notes on web pages. While this worked for some students, it is hard to believe that many at that time had no email address or access to the Internet. Moodle changed everything for both students and Lecturers. For students, it was an easy way to get notes and saved a lot of note taking in class, for Lecturers it was an opportunity to provide not just notes, but other resources (such as case studies, web links, quizzes, and exercise files) as well.

Many Lecturers create quite elaborate notes, often based on PowerPoint slides created by textbook authors. I create my own and sometimes use very modified (by me) textbook versions. Perhaps because of  this, or maybe it is part of a wider condition - I too notice that students very rarely take notes in my classes. While my notes are no substitute for a textbook, I know that many students who choose not to buy a textbook rely on my notes (and videos). I am often asked by students if they really need to buy one of the recommended textbooks - my answer always is that there are some copies in the library, but good luck trying to reserve a copy in the days and weeks leading up to the exams.

Taking notes is a great way to really learn - it helps with your writing, understanding, memory, exam revision, and is a useful record of information. The Horry Georgetown Technical College has a really good (and short) presentation on how to take and review notes. If you don't take notes in class, the presentation below will really make you think:


Monday, September 25, 2017

Great day out at Ladies' All-Ireland Footaball Final #Mayo #Dublin #SeriousSupport

First - a confession. I have never ever attended a ladies football game of any kind. I never really thought about it, and certainly did not consciously avoid them. So when Mayo and Dublin lined up for the Ladies' All-Ireland Football Final in Croke Park, it was my first ever ladies match. It was also my first football All-Ireland Final since 1980! A huge crowd of over 46,000 attended - a record! 

We certainly had great fun with both teams of girls playing their hearts out. Dublin had lost the last three finals, so they were in a determined mood. Mayo were very wasteful, missing a lot of easy chances. They did not help themselves by having three players sin-binned - that's equivalent to being down a player for 30 minutes in a 60 minute game. After the third sin-binning, Dublin just exploded out of the blocks and cut loose to win by 12 points (4-11 to 0-11). A well-deserved win.

Mayo fans will just have to suffer for another year!


Friday, September 22, 2017

Employers Giving Lectures - whatever will they think of next?

Katherine Donnelly writes in yesterday's Irish Independent in an article entitled "DCU invites employers in to lecture its students" about an interesting idea to get employers to "to deliver master classes to undergraduates about the realities of the fast-changing workplace". Donnelly goes on to write that this initiative by DCU is "aimed at ensuring that third- and fourth-year students on technology-focused degree programmes are up to date with current thinking and equipped for what lies ahead". Sounds like a good idea?

Leaving aside scheduling issues and payments, this on the surface looks like a great initiative. However - it implies that existing lecturers are not "up to date with current thinking and equipped for what lies ahead", so it is likely to be less popular with lecturers - though none of us would have a problem with someone else taking over a class from time-to-time! I think the biggest problem is getting busy employers to commit - they will have to ensure that someone is available to give the "master classes" at the scheduled time. Not impossible, but a commitment none-the-less. While there are no details in Donnelly's article about whether the "master classes" would be embedded in modules or given as separate lectures - I feel that separate "Guest Lecture" style events outside of class time would be best. This allows for a more informal setting devoid of learning outcomes and QQI standards - Q&A afterwards would also be very useful. No doubt DCU will have thought this through thoroughly and I applaud their innovation.

Preparing "master classes" (or any class for that matter) takes a considerable amount of time, so employers should not underestimate the resources and time required. Were other colleges to follow DCU's lead there could be a huge demand for such classes that might not sit well with employers unless they commit to having dedicated Academic Program Managers (such as Microsoft do).

I hope this works!

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Jimmy Magee RIP #DifferentClass #Legend

Sad news this morning that Jimmy Magee has died at the age of 82. Being a huge sports fan I must have listened to Jimmy's voice countless times over the past 50 years or so. One of Ireland's most popular sports commentator has passed on to that great gantry in the sky.

When I started to watch sport back in the 70s I was too sophisticated to watch a game on RTÉ with an Irishman like Jimmy as commentator. Somehow we thought that the commentators on the BBC and ITV were better. We did at times have to watch RTÉ - one match sticks out for me, the English League Cup Final between Manchester City and Newcastle United. City won 2-1 with the winner being an over head kick by Dennis Tueart - Jimmy's commentary was simply "Well, what about that!".

Definitely my fondest commentary was the 1984 Marathon finish at the Los Angeles Olympics with Jimmy rattling off all of Ireland's medal winners in previous Olympics before acclaiming John Treacy's silver medal. Magic stuff - here it is on YouTube:


When somebody like Jimmy who has been part of your life this passes away it almost feels like a death in the family. I never met Jimmy Magee and have no connection to him other than his commentaries. All sports fans will miss him greatly - rest in peace Jimmy.

Monday, September 18, 2017

New Semester! #33

It's been 21 whole weeks since my last class at the end of the 2016/2017 academic year, and it is just coming up to 09:00 on the first day of the new semester for the 2017/2018 academic year. This will be my 33rd semester as a Lecturer in NCI. When I started back in 2002 I was mostly involved with e-Learning programmes, but in the past couple of years it has been mostly Data Analytics. 

Image Source: Business 2 Community.
This semester I will be working on the Higher Diploma in FinTech for the first time - it is only the second year of this course. The module I will be teaching is Business Data Analysis (a statistics module) on Wednesday evenings. It will be a slightly awkward module in that it is a combination of two separate modules normally delivered in two three hour classes - I have four hours for the combined version.

FinTech is also a new field for me. The good thing is that Statistics is still Statistics, but I am embarking on using financial data instead of my usual scientific and demographic data for this module. This is not a comfort zone for me, so I will be learning a lot throughout the semester - I look forward to it!

This semester I am scheduled for four modules with around 200 students spread across each. I am also scheduled to supervise eight MSc students. This will mean a very busy schedule is ahead with lots of Continuous Assessment to grade, also - each MSc student is supposed to get one hour a week face-to-face supervision.

Despite the heavy workload ahead, I am just as hungry and enthusiastic for the new semester as I was for my first way back in 2002. There is nothing I like better than being in the classroom with students hungry for learning. If at the end of the semester my students are more knowledgeable - great! If they are more fulfilled - great! If they think a bit differently about a subject than before - great! If their lives are changed in even a tiny way - great! And if I had even a tiny part in this - fantastic!

National College of Ireland - Changing Lives Through Education.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Visiting all 32 Counties #Fermanagh

Fermanagh County Crest.
Last evening I was in County Fermanagh and it was my first time ever to set foot in this county. It only took me almost 58 years to complete the tour of all 32 counties in Ireland, but now I can say I have been to them all. Any time I have ever been to Donegal or Derry, I skirted around this beautiful county. We were staying the night in Blacklion (only my second time ever in Co Cavan), and during our trip we crossed the border six times. Not many people there looking forward to the re-introduction of border checks if they happen after Brexit. 

We also took the chance to visit Enniskillen, the largest town in Co Fermanagh. it was early evening and the town was quiet. We had a nice walk around the town and I wanted to see the cenotaph where a bomb killed 11 people at a Remembrance Day ceremony almost 30 years ago. After the bomb the locals added a plaque with the names of the 11 dead to the cenotaph, and also added some peace doves around the top of the monument. It's horrible to think of what happened that day, especially the death of young Marie Wilson whose father, Gordon, went on to be a peace campaigner and a senator. On other trips around Northern Ireland nearly ever town and village has a war memorial. Sadly, this is missing in the Republic of Ireland - our towns and villages suffered loss just as much as the North, but we chose not to set up memorials to the dead of the two World Wars - a pity.

At the Cenotaph, Enniskillen.

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Orientation @NCIRL


Today I had the pleasure of welcoming new students studying the BSc in Technology Management to the National College of Ireland. It is 39 years ago that I attended College for the first time. It is a very nervous day for everybody, and the new students get so much information on their first day that it must be difficult to remember everything - I told the new students that I forgot or ignored all advice given to me on my first day! 

Many of today's new students will be in my classes and will be with us in the College for the next four years. I really hope that College is everything they expected it to be - it is the next step on life's journey with a lot of unknowns ahead.

Welcome to NCI!


Thursday, September 07, 2017

13,000,000+ @YouTube Views #LuckyThirteen

Each time the number of views on my YouTube Channel passes a million milestone mark I boast write about it here. Since I started this channel on 7th April 2006, it has accumulated 13,005,837 views as of today. In overall YouTube terms this is a very modest number of views, but I continue to be fascinated and grateful that so many people find the videos useful. Older videos are still the top attraction, though my more recent Statistics by hand videos are gaining in popularity. The views continue to be very seasonal - currently the number of daily views is climbing again after a fall off during the summer. Lots of other content creators are doing this now, so there is much more competition for views. With a bit of luck the number of views will pass 14,000,000 early in 2018.

Click to enlarge.

Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Has anyone from North Korea ever viewed my YouTube videos? #BigInNorthKorea

North Korea is in the news again for all the wrong reasons - I feel a creeping sense of dread and disaster as Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump face off in a pissing contest. In the midst of all this I decided to revisit YouTube Analytics for North Korea on my channel. Between 21st September 2014 and 4th May 2015, there have been four views lasting just over 14 minutes. No more views before or since these dates. The videos were about creating Gantt, Polar, and a Progress Gantt charts. I suspected that YouTube must be blocked in North Korea, but according to Wikipedia it has been only fully blocked since April 2016, and "anyone who tries to access it, even with authorization, will be subject to punishment". I'd hate to think that anyone in North Korea would end up in jail for watching one of my videos!

Click to enlarge.


Monday, September 04, 2017

How To.. Create and Manage a Drop Down Menu in Excel @YouTube

Recently, a colleague asked me if I know how to create drop down lists in Excel. I didn't, so I looked it up and found that it was relatively easy to do. Then I thought a video for others might be helpful - it's just my 7th video uploaded this year. 



I note that there are several versions showing how this task is done on YouTube - lots of people are doing this now. Each of my 26,547 subscribers will have received an email notifying them that a new video has been uploaded - so at least that's a start in getting it publicised. It takes a long time for a video to get a significant number of views - only one of my videos published in the last 12 months has exceeded 10,000 views, it's the oldies that are still attracting views. Total views for all videos on my channel are currently between 18,000 - 20,000 daily.