This was a shorter week due to being off on Monday and Tuesday on annual leave but no less productive. I feel the final parts of jigsaw have been getting put into place now for me to feel settled and that I can make an impact. Meetings have now been arranged or have taken place with all partners and I have taken ownership of our computer drives in order to set out a clear working structure that I feel completely in control of.

The main issue to arise this week has been the dramatic restructuring in the college meaning many of our contacts are dissapearing and doubts are being cast over the classes we run (even the January ones). I'm sure the January ones will go ahead and if the partnership starts to break down after this I feel strangely oprtomistic about the silver lining it may produce. Th chance to have a real impact and bring in a new partner (s) would be excellent and with learndirect possible as well then a whole new delivery pattern could be in place. The college to me seem to be in dire straits and it may be the best time for all to look at acontingency plan.

This week started with my attendance at the WW1 Remembrance event in the library, this was good experience as I saw what might be involved in running one myself! I also had to use my information skills to the full in order to find out information for one woman regarding her ancestor, not quite my job but happy to go the extra mile (though I'm still trying to find the answer). This week also saw two important meetings, the first was with the BBC where I got some information on what programmes they have coming up fopr literacy and numeracy and these are something I will look at. My other meeting was with a co-ordinator from the University of the West of Scotland, this was very productive and looks to be a partnership I can build on if it goes as well as promised. I realised in both metings that they went by quickly and this is possibly something I should work on. But if i'm being honest, I always feel meeting can be filled with too much waffle, I like to get to the point and come to the resolutions quickly. This week also saw me really see where I could make a difference. Too many of our courses are filled with older learners, I really feel that lifelong learning and employability are far more important in the present climate (or any climate) and many of our partnerships can be used to develop this. This can be somewhere I can make a real difference and hope to do that as I move forward.

This week I role definitely started to pick up pace! After a relatively easy going first two weeks that saw me begin to think there may be some really quiet periods within this job I was proved wrong! After starting the week at my graduation I spent the start of the week gathering evidence for the learndirect proposal, this was interesting adn brought into play a number of information seeking skills and helped me become more familiar with the location of everything. I then had to go to a SLIC conference with my new manager, this was a very interesting day and I saw some instances of projects that could be adapted such as National Entitlement Cards and also Stirling's methods for providing classes. This made me feel my role started to fit better into the whole framework and I liked that. The end of the week saw things speed up, with the idea of taster classes being mooted since my first day a meeting with the tutor saw these come to life. With my Assistant off I had to handle this myself by producing marketing, sending out press releases and organising all the classes, I feel I have handled this well but with one week to fill six classes we'll see next week how well it all goes.....