This week I have been mostly...

Comparing the possible replacements for the University's current student email system (NIMS) - see my post from the 18th May for more information.
The one I'd go with personally is Google Apps for Education mainly because it offers a lot more for your money (which is no money at all !). The winning features (of which there are too many to mention here) for me are the fact that there's no infrastructure requirement (Google uses APIs to perform user administration and directory synchronisation, as opposed to Microsoft's requirement for an Identity Integration Server and SQL database), there's a 20Mb attachment size limit as opposed to Microsoft's 10Mb, and with Google's solution you have the ability to do a phased user migration from the old to the new using an email gateway. Obviously though this is just my personal opinion, so I've emailed the Student Union President in order to get another opinion and to ask about the best way to conduct a survey of students' current email usage. I'll let you know when I get a reply !

I've also had a look at Second Life. It seems that quite a few Universities have "land" in Second Life, using it to provide distance learning, marketing for the Univerity, and as a testing ground for new ways of learning. Unfortunately I had a few problems with my laptop which meant that my first experience of Second Life was of extreme frustration with the "choppiness" and lag when trying to do anything at all. I'm going to give it another go this weekend though and see if I can move without waiting 2 minutes for the screen to update !

So, not a bad 2nd week in the new job - I'm pleased to say I'm still enjoying myself - here's hoping that it continues !!