tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307351192012-01-13T12:56:17.949ZHenley MBA, distance learning MBA design and development. E-learning explored.Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.comBlogger1161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-4375079909169344722009-01-29T13:28:00.004Z2009-01-31T18:52:40.147Z

I am continuing this blog at a new service provider. This site will remain open for archive purposes, but you can also find all the past posts from here alongside the new ones from February 2009 if you click here.

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-70700075713376132572009-01-10T10:16:00.004Z2009-01-10T10:31:06.649Z

With such a long winter break at Henley there has been, among some of the male members of faculty and staff, an inevitable giving in to the temptation to continue the process of 'letting one's hair down' when on holiday into the new working year. The appearance of several new beards (though, in the case of Emilio Herbolzheimer, the disappearance one) has caused some amusement - as you can you see.

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-18798014347151300962009-01-08T21:21:00.004Z2009-01-08T22:52:06.547Z

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-19559745939012667202009-01-02T14:52:00.005Z2009-01-04T13:07:09.678Z

The other day, while out walking the dog, I found myself composing a temporary foreword to my PhD in my head. I'm not sure why, except that it felt useful to try and set some boundaries for what might otherwise stray off into endless meandering.It's amazing how words can be put together so easily and sound so well composed in the confines of one's own head, and yet how difficult it is to bring

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-39346512885182840172008-12-17T16:35:00.004Z2008-12-17T16:53:41.617Z

Yesterday I attempted, and failed, to get to the Reading Whiteknights campus without getting lost. My third attempt to do it seamlessly. I am, however, picking up a fairly well mapped knowledge of the suburban side streets of east Reading. The reason for going over there was to join colleagues from Greenlands (we must nowadays avoid saying "from Henley" in the context of meetings within the

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-10998682250303981952008-12-14T12:20:00.005Z2008-12-14T16:39:10.790Z

Here are 10 of my current favourite pieces of music; my version of an iTunes play-list. Most of them I can listen to again and again. In no particular order:1. 'What Difference Does It Make?' - The SmithsOne of their best songs, showing the perfect mix of elements that made them special. I saw the Smiths play live twice, once at a university gig in Kent when they first made it big, and another

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-24567496651498478582008-12-12T14:32:00.003Z2008-12-12T16:36:47.973Z

Just completed my second Yoga class. It's much harder than it looks!Actually, although it reveals one's own physical limits and imbalance in quite a cruel way, it's the extent to which it was mentally challenging that I found interesting. I think it could be a very long process to reach (in every sense) anything like competence in it, even after two sessions the effects are evident - more centred

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-3588988772578973622008-12-01T15:51:00.002Z2008-12-01T15:55:11.361Z

Dear all,The idea that we live within, not apart from, a globally inter-connected world is not new and has been around since at least the 1970s, but the economic events of the last few months have probably revealed with frightening (though hindsight) clarity how the world’s major economies have become linked in a complex system and how trying to understand and make corrections using only tools of

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-23371788167023349892008-11-29T17:57:00.005Z2008-11-29T18:11:11.615Z

Spent two and a half days blissful at Lancaster Business School this week being a student. The occasion was one of an series of get-togethers which are arranged for the disparate group (numbering a potential 30) of part-time PhD in Management Learning and Leadership candidates.I deliberately drove up a day early to be able to spend some time in the library there doing some writing and making some

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-50023614368425088792008-11-12T14:21:00.010Z2008-11-12T15:58:27.584Z

Sitting in a Qualitative Research workshop at Henley this afternoon and it's a session on interviewing in research data gathering. My project will be using a lot of interviews, and a thought has struck me.Many researchers will be able to place their interviews on a continuum that ranges from unstructured to semi-structured to structured. But perhaps there is another continuum, one which looks at

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-71694966412939464012008-11-12T13:45:00.004Z2008-11-12T13:56:35.445Z

Sales of my novel [The Messenger's Falling] are picking up!I can truthfully say that I have seen a 30% increase in sales in October, though I dare not tell you what that equates to in real numbers because the base number is rather low. No matter, there it sits proudly on Amazon, who also seem to be selling it via secondary book dealers and would make a ideal stocking filler.

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-190805966142170032008-11-11T19:48:00.004Z2008-11-11T21:19:47.455Z

In the past week or so I have presented my thinking and ideas for my research twice - once to a research colloquium on the Henley DBA programme, and the other (much more nerve-racking) as a shorter version to the modular MBA group.There is something very sobering in presenting to those who are themselves on their own journeys at doctoral level. It is reassuring to find that they fear the same

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-81746896099190438932008-11-01T14:32:00.003Z2008-11-01T17:43:06.195Z

Dear all,Rituals can play an important role in the creation of a sense of belonging. Twice yearly the graduation at Henley is such an event; a regular and reassuring milestone in the life of the school. As with all rituals, it engenders a sense of tradition and can create a feeling of stability and connection. There is also the risk that a ritual can become formulaic and formalised, hiding rather

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-40623702340290668832008-10-18T10:16:00.004+01:002008-10-18T10:37:09.464+01:00

Being a PhD student contains many inherent contradictions, or mental struggles, that one must face in order to create meaning in the experience. The first of these is the debunking of "science" and the tearing down of the walls of academic hubris that seem to stand between the novice and the doctoral title. I, possibly along with many others, still feel the esoteric awe and draw of the PhD - that

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-33997727556819882562008-10-02T13:07:00.001+01:002008-10-02T13:09:40.167+01:00

Dear all,There have been lovely misty mornings followed by brilliant late summer blue skies here at Henley. Yet the leaves are also beginning to turn and every now and again a gust of wind sends a shower of them floating around and down, reminding us that - for all the stillness and serenity - this also is a period of change. The seasons and the cycle of the year at Henley, with comings and

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-52264155584748127702008-08-29T16:48:00.001+01:002008-08-29T16:50:20.411+01:00

Dear all,We’re coming to the end of our first month as Henley Business School. HBS. I’m probably not the only one biting my tongue occasionally when out slips the word ‘College’ in a sentence, but we’re all getting more used to referring to ourselves in our new format. Mind you, it has been a shock to discover that August is not a month to get anything done in a university; quite a few new

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-8351270631581657192008-08-18T17:08:00.002+01:002008-08-18T17:36:03.617+01:00

I have travelled up from Oxford to Lancaster for a meeting with my doctoral supervisors. I chose to come by train mainly to have some extra reading time. This feels like a luxury when it's supposed to be a staple of this kind of studies. Sometimes it even feels like a guilty pleasure. So I will need to find ways of taming the all-enveloping demands of the Director of Studies role in order to make

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-14080621232657918482008-07-31T12:41:00.004+01:002008-08-06T09:30:13.360+01:00

It has been a somewhat surreal couple of days at the College. The signs at the front gates were changed on the 31st, directing drivers to Henley Business School, not Henley Management College. It's odd that such a mundane alteration was noticed by so many of us, with more often that not a slight pang of anguish at the reality of the end of one era and start of another.Staff have been buying up '

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-35075655215145869622008-07-30T21:14:00.002+01:002008-07-30T21:17:54.599+01:00

Dear All,Forgive me if I use the word 'College' numerous times in this month's message - like many here I feel the need to say it as much as possible until July 31st, when I shall (with equal fervour) start referring to the 'Business School' instead.Long-time recipients of these newsletters will have noted that they often feature the River Thames. The river is something we take as an integral

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-84909684017070326772008-07-16T12:12:00.004+01:002008-07-16T12:28:15.657+01:00

The title of this post is not going to foretell any attempt by me to try and write about philosophy, in management or anywhere else. It refers to a conference that was recently held at St Anne's College, Oxford on this topic, mainly for tenured academics but with a day built in for doctoral students who are directly or (like me) indirectly interested.I attended one of the four days of the

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-21376415277327020242008-07-11T09:31:00.003+01:002008-07-11T09:57:31.298+01:00

With now just three weeks before we officially merge with Reading, there are plenty of signs around the College that we are in a more agitated gear.Some of these signs are quite visible. For example, a number of Henley staff seem to have acquired Reading shadows; people from the University who do a similar job and who are spending time at Greenlands trying to understand how we do things here.

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-15136308851207904492008-07-06T11:51:00.007+01:002008-07-08T16:21:11.164+01:00

Following the earlier post on this topic, here I reproduce the words of my Great Uncle Emmet, Major General in the Irish Free State army at the time of the creation of the State of Eire in the 1920s. Emmet was with Collins on August 22nd 1922 and soon after wrote his own short account of the events of those days. His typewritten manuscript, the final page of which is shown in the picture here,

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-10845621414634591102008-07-05T20:32:00.012+01:002008-07-06T06:42:11.405+01:00

My brother and I like to surprise each other with hitherto undiscovered family artifacts and memorabilia. I've written a little before about the extraordinary sailing by four young Irishmen in the summer 1950 of the 36-foot gaff-rigged yacht the Ituna from Dublin to New York. My father being a member of that crew, architecture students with none too much sailing experience between them. Skip back

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-57355663872260599282008-07-05T18:49:00.002+01:002008-07-05T19:18:26.443+01:00

Last week I plucked up courage to do what is one of those rites of passage that all those embarking on Doctoral studies must explore - talking about their ideas in public. The idea is that you look for a group of like-minded (and fellow suffering) peers and long suffering and sympathetic faculty and talk through your thinking.At the start of the PhD no-one really expects you to have all the

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-43752091102974350262008-06-27T22:14:00.002+01:002008-06-27T22:20:18.058+01:00

Dear all,There are some events in the UK that are synonymous with the name of their location. Wimbledon, Ascot, Glastonbury and Notting Hill all come to mind as both places and experiences. In the social calendar it is now Henley’s turn - that time of the summer when the banks of the river Thames in front of the College fill up with moored (and very expensive) craft and the early mornings are

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-78648863089998842482008-06-12T22:39:00.002+01:002008-06-13T00:12:06.217+01:00

It's been one of those weeks very full of many smaller things, like a mosaic. When I was programme leader, I rarely found myself at the end of the line in any process, though I had the good fortune to be at the start of several really exciting lines, such as the launch of a new intake (and there will be a new intake launching next Monday, so I'm really looking forward that). Now, as Director of

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-78821628508785036162008-06-01T11:37:00.009+01:002008-06-01T16:10:12.722+01:00

I have been sitting, sifting and sorting ideas and academic papers in self-imposed PhD isolation for nearly three days now. Studying this way is both exhilarating and frustrating.I have been struggling to develop the thread for my PhD - the story that will connect the parts. There are plenty of ideas but unless I can find a way of organising them I may disappear (intellectually) under the sheer

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-15586793126494806902008-05-28T16:58:00.002+01:002008-05-28T17:04:56.742+01:00

Dear all,They're packing away the giant marquee on the main lawn in front of the building. Given the downpours over the Bank Holiday weekend, we were really lucky with the weather at Saturday's graduation. The mix of sunshine and cloud was just about perfect for a Graduation - not too cold to be out on the lawn and not too hot to be dressed in cap and gown for several hours. It was my first

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-30887345642971765692008-05-24T19:30:00.002+01:002008-05-24T19:46:35.257+01:00

It's been a hectic two days at the College, rounding off a fairly frantic week. On Friday we had a day-long series of meetings with the International Network, whereby the managers from the associate partners and subsidiary offices spread across the world come to Henley. They come in part for the graduation, and in part to catch up with the formal news and informal gossip from the preceding six

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-55276237811621778912008-05-16T12:23:00.003+01:002008-05-16T12:37:34.064+01:00

Here I am in Terminal 5 at Heathrow. I was here yesterday afternoon and evening too, thinking (foolishly) that I had beaten the curse of BA by having no bags to check in. I am trying to fly to Budapest.Everything went well yesterday until about an hour before boarding, when a delay was signalled. OK, not too serious, and a gate allocation duly appeared, and we all duly appeared at the gate. To

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-86063759285593479052008-05-09T20:46:00.003+01:002008-05-10T08:45:52.049+01:00

We had our first faculty-to-faculty meeting with soon-to-be-colleagues at the University of Reading this week. In preparation, I had a quick look at the Wikipedia entry for UoR. I found a several interesting facts, and here is my top 10. See if you can work out which ones may have played a part in the merger:The Whiteknights campus name was taken from the nickname of John de Erliegh IV, a 13th

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-4315332492849000642008-05-04T12:48:00.003+01:002008-05-05T19:28:53.511+01:00

We all have voices in our heads. I don't mean just our own, though that's a voice, too. I mean that some people by dint of tone, use of language and principles they live by have a recurring influence on how we think. In the mind's eye they can be conjured up to talk to us, even when they are no longer around. Last week the jazz musician Humphrey Lyttleton died at the age of 86, and his was one of

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-6042793921465446692008-05-01T23:08:00.014+01:002008-05-03T16:45:43.401+01:00

Apparently, publishing used to be a pretty direct business. Somebody set about writing something themselves, or caused something to be written, and went either to talk to a publisher or published it themselves. Only from the late 1800s, with the arrival of the literary agent and the explosion of mass production in books, did it become either too labyrinthine or unacceptable as vanity for a writer

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-29760861479730559122008-04-30T22:16:00.001+01:002008-04-30T22:18:59.606+01:00

Dear all,Henley is a great place for contemplation, if you can find the time, and this month I have been thinking a lot about systemics. As any fule kno', (and to quote Wikipedia) "systemics is an emerging branch of science that studies holistic systems". None the wiser? Well, read on...My current interest comes from the reading I am doing for my PhD, where a focus at the moment is on looking at

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-6765874948799125722008-04-11T09:56:00.003+01:002008-04-11T10:25:45.049+01:00

Whilst in South Africa, I managed to take some time away from Henley work to visit the much-publicised Apartheid Museum. I was urged to do so by a number of locals, but I'm not sure how many of them had actually been there themselves. Such is the way - as a Londoner, I would frequently encourage visitors to go and see an attraction I had never witnessed myself.So, a taxi drive across the city,

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-16003825333687330532008-03-30T11:40:00.002+01:002008-03-30T11:45:28.076+01:00

Dear All,It's always a pleasure to write these newsletters. This month's has added spice as I am writing on location in Johannesburg, South Africa. I'm here to fly the flag at a World MBA Tour event, sit in on part of a Stage 2 starter workshop, work one-on-one with programme members who are now at dissertation stage and then kick things off next week for the Stage One Starter with the next

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-11933549790339285382008-03-25T19:40:00.004Z2008-03-25T20:19:31.944Z

This Easter I was able to spend some time away from it all in Ireland. Some time in Dublin, and then two wonderfully relaxing and unwinding days in Galway. As you can see, I was luckier than most people in the British Isles with the weather...The pictures don't capture the keen North wind, nor the heady smell of peat smoke and salt air.

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-31635512689995665042008-03-16T17:06:00.005Z2008-03-16T18:10:40.568Z

Last Friday we held a special supper to mark Intake 30's final scheduled workshop on their Henley MBA programme. These events are invariably held in a private dining room, away from the main restaurant, and the intimate atmosphere leads to some really good conversations, where the personality of the group loosens its tie, relaxes a little and compares notes on what's what.We usually invite either

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-62219999229491590792008-03-06T07:18:00.003Z2008-03-08T09:42:51.065Z

One of my favourite films is the Robert Altman classic, Gosford Park, which is a study of the complexity of life in an English Stately Home over one weekend in the inter-war period. On one level it is a murder mystery, a whodunit, but what makes it repeatedly watchable is the recreation of a more or less self-contained community, full of strong personalities and odd behaviours, but a community

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-68260136624780519572008-03-01T15:26:00.001Z2008-03-01T15:29:38.460Z

Dear all,It would be fanciful to suggest that this year February has inserted an extra day just to allow me to catch up on the volume of emails, calls, meetings and workshops that have filled the month to bursting point. It would probably also hint at megalomania, too, so I won't pursue it, but nevertheless it has been a hectic time. Eight different intakes have had workshops at the College this

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-85183960208224040282008-02-27T13:28:00.002Z2008-02-27T13:37:45.393Z

I find myself in alien territory of academia. Yesterday I came up to Lancaster University, a modern, self-contained education provider, sandwiched between the main north-south rail line and the M6, but with lovely views on to green hills beyond. There are all sorts of students here - quite different to the ambience of Henley.This is my first trip to this campus as a PhD student, and I had to go

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-10947266378556171452008-02-25T10:13:00.002Z2008-02-25T10:21:18.326Z

From the slow start, last week picked up in both pace and mood. By Friday, and the arrival of the new Henley-Based MBA intake, things were at full pelt.It's very interesting how every new cohort, despite bearing so many similarities to one another (age, geography, industry and workshop agenda tend not to vary across the year), has developed its own distinct personality by lunchtime on the first

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-29903928953766996932008-02-18T21:52:00.004Z2008-02-19T08:37:00.268Z

I knew it was going to be one of those days when on a freezing cold start to the day on the M40 this morning I was cut off by a white van which completely failed to see me. Lucky there was nothing by my side as I swerved left to avoid the van.My composure recaptured, I nevertheless decided to park on the 'client' side of the road at Henley (and therefore just outside my own office), with the

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-13091696670604411982008-02-16T15:44:00.004Z2008-02-16T21:54:02.920Z

Since I will have my first face-to-face meeting with my supervisors before the end of February, I had a couple of days working from home this week, ostensibly to make some progress with ideas for my PhD.I rediscovered the strange phenomenon that making a cup of tea, an activity that might occupy thirty seconds at work on a busy day, can take a full 35 minutes at home when all that waits to

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-63706699242835138302008-02-10T22:13:00.000Z2008-02-12T20:38:06.849Z

Last week I had the unexpected but none the less pleasurable chance to spend a week in Budapest with the full-time MBA group, who were undertaking the first of their three foreign study trips during their one-year programme.Having lived there for so long, and having acquired the language, I was in the strange position of knowing some of the background history (and background chat). We visited

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-52461661376560076722008-02-01T16:51:00.000Z2008-02-01T16:55:01.408Z

Dear all,It's one of those very stormy English winter days here at Henley, with wind-driven rain, trees bending at their tops and the surface of the Thames whipped into (by staid British standards) a frenzied procession downstream toward London. And yet the daffodils are already flowering on the lawns and hinting at Spring, so it appears to me a bit of a mixed message.The MergerThe only item

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-37457388726648244532008-01-26T14:36:00.000Z2008-01-26T15:58:57.138Z

For the first time, the well-known Economist Intelligence Unit has produced a ranking of distance learning MBAs. You can read the extended report here. Henley is placed at number 6, which means that we are the only European school in the top ten of both EIU MBA rankings. We are number two in the UK, behind Warwick. To be honest, I'd much rather we were number one!DL is often hard to categorise

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-17175250265414298412008-01-19T19:48:00.000Z2008-01-20T21:39:08.205Z

The road from Programme Leader to Director of Studies doesn't look far on the map, but is up a deceptively steep path. I feel as though I haven't sat down in the last month or so, which is odd since I am sitting down most of the day. Nevertheless, it is a brilliant position to be in and I am thankful to be involved at such an interesting level with one of the best business schools in the

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-68434006949073813332008-01-14T22:46:00.000Z2008-01-14T23:08:26.871Z

We had a break in our Internet connection at the College which lasted from Sunday lunchtime to end of work on Monday. It wasn't our fault, and another 20 colleges and schools were affected, but of course when your system isn't working, no-one can see whether it's localised or general.It's always interesting to see what happens when technology's blankets are torn off the bed for a while. We had

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-3387522516244703522008-01-09T15:06:00.000Z2008-01-09T15:20:05.955Z

Everyone here is, not very surprisingly, talking about the proposed merger of Henley Management College with Reading Business School.The funny thing is - concern over the nuts and bolts of how it will all happen notwithstanding - there is a generally optimistic consensus which accepts not only the advisability of such a move but also the synergy and opportunity.Reading has no corporate clientele

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-41707434266513216622007-12-21T12:57:00.000Z2007-12-21T13:00:06.506Z

Dear All,This month's newsletter is being delivered a little earlier than usual (and in time for Christmas). I have learnt that you really have to be careful how you say what you say in emails because a version of last month's e-newsletter was bounced back undelivered, unread and unloved from several corporate inboxes for containing objectionable content. The offensive word was one for obvious

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-88473832566131231862007-12-18T14:26:00.000Z2007-12-18T15:30:03.384Z

This morning I attended a one-day workshop/conference/seminar (terms which seem increasingly interchangeable these days) co-hosted by Microsoft at their Campus in a leafy edge of Reading. It's interesting how Microsoft, purveyors of software programmes almost always labelled 'Office', use a different word to describe their own premises. Perhaps it's the proximity of Reading to Slough that makes

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-44328176904158636952007-12-11T13:19:00.000Z2007-12-11T13:32:54.648Z

With a little idle time on my hands, I was browsing second-hand books in Oxford the other weekend and thus combining two things I have learnt to love as an adult. In Oxfam in Summertown I had looked over, with head in permanent tilt, the spines of all the books. The very last one caught my eye. It was "The Empty Raincoat", by Charles Handy. I'm now a believer that our thoughts focus what we do

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-71399461101062368442007-11-30T17:25:00.000Z2007-11-30T17:29:04.014Z

Hello all, I realise that it is now two years since I joined Henley and so a good point to look back, reflect a little, and then look forward. As many of you who spend long hours with your noses pressed to the rock-face in study and assignment writing will know, it is difficult to find the space to step back from the myriad details and take in the bigger picture, both for yourself and your

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-91799972330856871562007-11-09T20:06:00.000Z2007-11-09T20:09:43.893Z

Like the proverbial London bus, just when there seem to be no doctoral supervisors, along come two!Lancaster (bless 'em!) have responded with the news that I now may be taken on by two academics for my PhD. A few hurdles remain to be jumped, but I will have an interview next week with one of them and I suppose I shall know from that whether it's a goer.

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-77487611092302165612007-11-07T19:51:00.000Z2007-11-07T20:03:17.370Z

Two months after applying, this afternoon Lancaster sent me almost the first email in the process concerning my PhD application. Theirs is not a university that likes to keep foster the impression that they are pleased to see you and are hungry for applicants. Unfortunately, the email was to inform me that "We regret that after careful consideration we have been unable to find a suitable

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-68070101713224446462007-10-31T13:49:00.000Z2007-10-31T13:53:00.485Z

Dear all,If you're not new to study at Henley, you will know by now that in my newsletter opening paragraph I use all sorts of (cunning) ploys to reflect on a link between the environment of the College and one or more aspects of your journey as adult learners. More often than not, these links are informed by metaphors. The best of these are those that work for you on other levels, preferably

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-56636093835686815162007-10-27T13:16:00.000+01:002007-10-27T13:31:47.010+01:00

Today is the October graduation here at Henley, and I am between ceremonies right now. This morning's was very interesting, and featured many getting their degrees from the International Network as well as those studying at Henley. No doubt I will make reference to it somehow in October's newsletter, but for all its solemnity and pomp, the graduation is a really satisfying ritual to watch from

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-63048702091661279602007-10-12T14:28:00.000+01:002007-10-12T14:55:38.839+01:00

I'm very happy to announce that Giampiero is safe and sound!If you don't know who Giampiero is, it won't mean much. If you have met him, you will at once be very relieved to know he's fine, as well as instantly curious as to what could have happened to him.Giampiero Favato is, he won't mind it said, a larger-than-life Henley faculty member who runs engaging and very well received workshops on

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-8970684434187340442007-10-04T11:17:00.000+01:002007-10-04T11:27:28.700+01:00

It's a line from a Hank Williams song, but it kind of sums up a couple of things at work lately. The first was an invitation issued to existing MBA programme members to attend a trial workshop of for a new module. The response was pretty overwhelming and rapid, and a number of people found themselves on a waiting list. It's probably one of those irreconcilable aspects of a Distance Learning

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-34642515552439128842007-09-30T20:39:00.000+01:002007-10-02T14:58:19.116+01:00

Dear all, It's an autumnal end to the month here at the College, with a mix of days alternating between bright and blustery and misty and overcast. Somehow the grounds seem to shine in all weathers, though it's not without a lot of work done unseen in the background. Our Principal's face was equally ebullient yesterday with the news that in the 2007 Economist MBA rankings, which uses our

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-34275121923222060842007-09-27T20:24:00.000+01:002007-09-27T20:49:02.786+01:00

A couple of days ago we had a Royal visitor to the College and I was one of those who was selected to stand in line to be presented after the ceremony unveiling the official opening of the River House Executive Learning Center (not to be confused with a retail business selling children's toys). The Royal in question was HRH Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, cousin to the Queen (the last bit I

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-56955593622149895882007-09-24T16:16:00.000+01:002007-09-24T16:32:49.960+01:00

Today is my birthday. It's not one of those landmark numbers which seem to sit in the collective pysche like gift-wrapped elephants-in-the-room. It's just 44, which is not so far down the forties to hint at 50, nor so far away from 40 to threaten the need to stop listening to the Clash or looking at members of the opposite sex. But still, it is a good age to reflect on some things. I am currently

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-35685843462039709892007-09-18T08:55:00.000+01:002007-09-19T15:25:02.839+01:00

There are a number of major sporting events going on at the moment. The Rugby World Cup, of course. The Women's Football World Cup. 20/20 Cricket. Champions League and Euro 2008 Qualifiers. The Henley Annual Softball Tournament outranks them all.This is traditionally a hotly contested and sometimes testily fraught nail-biter, with ten-player teams drawn from every section of the College. It is

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-62615020277511897482007-08-31T14:55:00.000+01:002007-08-31T15:03:13.266+01:00

I finally finished writing my application to start a PhD. It's taken months! That's not because it takes me an age to fill out a form, but rather because I felt I needed to present a decent case for my proposed area of research (which I've blogged a little about quite a while ago). What I thought would be a 2,000 word document, including references meticulously referenced the Harvard way,

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-33063786444972744032007-08-29T17:18:00.000+01:002007-08-29T17:20:43.558+01:00

Dear all,How was your summer? Our world now goes by us so rapidly, and the Henley community of programme members is such a diverse group that I doubt any two of you will have had exactly the same experience. It does sometimes feel as though you need to force yourself to slow down, take stock or simply reflect. And you do. What's more, when you reflect, research shows that you should be writing

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-86655126894592928532007-08-24T13:16:00.000+01:002007-08-24T13:34:24.206+01:00

I have not posted to this blog for quite a while. That's not for the want of things to say, just the weight of other things going on. Aside from holiday, August contained a number of workshops at Henley and I also took some time out to draft my application proposal to start my PhD. That's actually not yet complete, but it's almost there so I hope to post it off to Lancaster before the start of

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-8354929319109655572007-07-30T16:59:00.000+01:002007-07-30T17:03:36.385+01:00

Dear all,This month has been one of the wettest on record in the United Kingdom. At Henley we've seen the river Thames swell and accelerate past the College, though not burst its banks, and we've been deluged by news stories about flooded middle-England streets, disrupted public services and ruined crops from reporters standing in rubber Wellington boots. Even though it is the media silly season,

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-92174551267420442242007-07-23T09:30:00.000+01:002007-07-23T09:44:45.379+01:00

Friday was a weird day the College, as it must have been for many people in the south of England. Torrential, persistent, cats-and-dogmatic floods of rain came down for most of the day as some anti-cyclone span relentlessly overhead. The roads, lanes and paths in the Thames Valley around the College took on more the look of the Thames than the valley and, for once, it felt much better being on

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-35180486250801472072007-06-28T20:21:00.000+01:002007-07-03T08:46:28.230+01:00

Dear all, Many years ago I used to enjoy listening to the live football commentary on the radio on Saturday afternoons. I can recall that at a certain point during the early part of the second half the commentator would always say "welcome to listeners on the World Service". This didn't really mean anything to me until I myself went left the UK to work abroad in 1987. Behind the Iron Curtain,

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-18003161612987882872007-06-28T08:50:00.000+01:002007-06-28T09:06:42.821+01:00

Although I occasionally love to insert the witty, humorous or quirky sayings of others in my communication, I've always mistrusted the use of quotations for enlightenment because it's difficult to avoid coming across as either too folksy, too esoteric, or simply just 'kitsch' or corny.Nevertheless, there was one thing I found in a book called 'Everyday Tao', by Deng Ming-Dao, which has been

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-38222691702150306512007-06-25T09:56:00.000+01:002007-06-25T10:11:41.861+01:00

There is a lot being said (which, cynically and ironically, one might simply describe as a lot of hot air) about global warming. Yet somehow, although it is on the minds of many individuals here at the College, I'm not sure it has manifested itself with equal force in too many of the courses and programmes we run.Something I heard on the radio this weekend started a thought in me about this. Our

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-12918062397872365632007-06-20T12:00:00.000+01:002007-06-20T15:02:18.527+01:00

As a trainer I have never felt more alive than when running (sometimes literally if I was with a group that was late, or lost) outdoor team building events in the countryside. Not only is there something inherently 'natural' about using all the many levels of metaphor to be found in our surroundings in personal and organisational development, it was a great way to make the connection between mind

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-41648550100392776082007-06-11T16:39:00.000+01:002007-06-13T16:17:53.401+01:00

I confess! I am now preparing a proposal to undertake a PhD.I imagine that this, in educational terms, will compare to my MBA Dissertation rather in the same way that the Hobbit compares to the Lord of the Rings. What I sense lies before me is the dubious honour of sacrificing every free moment for the next four to six years in the selfish pursuit of, first, a thorough background understanding in

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-75251875753004293092007-06-07T14:50:00.000+01:002007-06-07T14:51:43.057+01:00

A man walks into a bar and asks for a double entendre.So the barman gives him one.

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-32473037909943461732007-05-31T13:24:00.000+01:002007-05-31T13:29:02.176+01:00

Dear all,The poet Robert Frost is attributed as saying "By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day." It does sometimes seem that the one thing you can be sure of at the start of the MBA programme at Henley is that your life is about to get busier, not quieter. For all sorts of reasons.Yet we ask you in the midst of all that speed not only

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-26997898437317061212007-05-28T10:17:00.000+01:002007-05-28T13:24:44.408+01:00

When a person undertakes an MBA, there are several paradoxes of learning they must deal with.The big one, no doubt, is the 'old' versus 'new' in adult learning. Unlike children or younger learners, managers come into the programme with a sophisticated knowledge base constructed around many very well established beliefs and strategies. They've had, in fact, years of experience. Since they are

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-47338948650436617452007-05-18T11:26:00.000+01:002007-05-28T10:17:13.149+01:00

Sometimes I arrive at work in the morning and, fresh and full of energy, open Outlook and say to myself "today's the day I reduce this pile of x emails [this morning, my inbox had 516 entries, 14 of which were new] to zero!"And yet, each time this happens, I fail to succeed. It's not that more emails arrive, though they do. I fail because:1. Rather like the person who rips up the old carpet to

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-85937647643574888952007-05-02T15:55:00.000+01:002007-05-02T16:14:12.577+01:00

Drove up from Oxford to Telford to the University of Wolverhampton (Telford campus) for a one-day workshop 'Podcasting made easy on a PC'. Luckily, this did not involve any police constables.I got three things out of the day:A much better definition of what is and what is not a podcast Experience searching for and subscribing to different kinds of podcasts A little bit of practice in making one

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-11996193461540777292007-04-25T10:49:00.000+01:002007-04-25T10:53:42.404+01:00

Dear all,Yesterday evening several of us went to central London for the MBA fair organised by AMBA. If you have ever been along to a fair, you will know they are somewhat bizarre (or perhaps just bazaar), a hotel ballroom with jumble-sale tables and the crazy presupposition that a manager will compare, select and even decide on which MBA to take on the basis of short 'visits' to the various

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-47317646257618750712007-04-12T12:51:00.000+01:002007-04-12T12:59:05.489+01:00

I have made mention in some previous posts that I participated in Henley's Virtual Tutor Course (VTC), a certificate which is a prior necessity for anyone active in Henley's virtual learning environment.Part of the evaluation for this course is to summarise my own thoughts from my Learning Journal, a kind of blog-within-the-course, and Ithought I'd add those here to share.In Henley workshops I go

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-62458373051635271842007-04-03T11:44:00.000+01:002007-04-03T11:46:41.747+01:00

Dear All,March has come and gone and I have failed to deliver my usual monthly newsletter in time. I ask that you overlook this, and I plead an agenda that had me out of the UK for much of the last two weeks. For the very curious, some inkling of where I have been can be found (along with this newsletter) on my blog.So April may well bring you two newsletters for the price of one. It has

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-90287742703699158092007-04-01T18:49:00.000+01:002007-04-01T19:00:14.465+01:00

Just returned from my second foreign assignment for Henley in as many weeks. This time, the privilege to run the first half of the Starter Workshop for the latest MBA intake in Johannesburg, South Africa.The visit was pitifully short, really, lasting only three days. Enough to fly from the UK overnight, land, settle in and set up and then work for 1 and 1/2 days with the new group, some 80

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-59861948244542563572007-03-23T09:02:00.000Z2007-04-01T18:49:02.454+01:00

It's coming to the end of the study trip to Budapest with the part-time Henley MBA group. It's been a very good programme of visits, presentations, activities and stories. Knowing the environment for so long (I do not say 'so well'), it is also interesting for me to reflect on what has changed and what has remained the same.Of course, a lot of what I now see and experience in Budapest is another

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-30923973485342130902007-03-16T20:06:00.000Z2007-03-16T20:20:15.385Z

Off next week for a week to Budapest with the Modular and evening MBA students as part of their international study trip. Budapest is where I spent 18 years from 1987 to 2005, so I am curious to see what has changed. I will try to blog whilst there.I will be checking carefully also to monitor progress on the four international intakes recently started or about to start the MBA at Henley. As part

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-21946482540570976802007-03-11T15:13:00.000Z2007-03-11T15:17:29.558Z

Hope you won't mind, but here is a link to another school's web site - a smattering of pride in having a poem accepted for publication and inclusion as a poster on a Brookes Bus during March.

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-42893844990203143262007-03-11T12:12:00.000Z2007-03-11T12:22:31.377Z

Last week we launched the first intakes on Henley's revised MBA curriculum. Preparation for this event - a blend of new module content, new elearning environment and desire to create a distinctive and life-changing experience - has been the most stressful work project I have ever been involved with. Some colleagues, long in service at the College, told me that Henley has the knack of 'making

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-33430599662127438912007-02-28T12:34:00.000Z2007-02-28T12:35:59.586Z

Hello all,It's a short month, so a short newsletter.New IntakesThis month saw the launch of both our 34th Intake on the DL MBA and the 2007 Full-Time MBA programme. Involved in the delivery of the opening day on both, I have been reflecting on how interesting new starts are, and how the College should be making the most of all that is going on inside your heads as you come into the MBA. If you

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-91356832735918712972007-02-25T21:46:00.000Z2007-02-25T21:59:12.359Z

This weekend we took some old friends who were staying the weekend out on a tour of the Oxfordshire countryside. We visited Blenheim Palace (getting in the free, but legal, way) and then went on to Great Tew, a lovely little village full of picture postcard thatched cottages and Porsche 911s.After popping in to the pub to avoid the frequent rain showers, we walked back to the car. On the way I

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-1206055806072210082007-02-20T14:02:00.000Z2007-02-20T15:31:19.214Z

Henley has been looking back to look forward. The research into and publication of a new book called "Henley and the Unfinished Management Revolution" (I keep thinking this sounds like a synth-pop band from the 1980s), coupled with a whole set of changes in curriculum, faculty orientation and operational structure have meant we are now very conscious of the heritage of the past 60 years.Yesterday

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-54110190066867369802007-01-30T16:52:00.000Z2007-01-30T17:12:35.966Z

Following an earlier post, one of the DL programme members came back to me with thoughts on why people drop out and don't complete their MBA.The question raised went back to why students embark on an MBA in the first place. Is it because (a) they feel they ought to or (b) because they want to. The follow-on question was whether drop out rates are higher for those who were in the first category.I

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-67228254797480520312007-01-27T16:51:00.000Z2007-01-27T16:53:55.543Z

Hello all,Two 'thank yous'This month I'd like to start by thanking all of you who responded to my mid-month email drumming up leads and contacts for future DL intakes. You generated 22 names and they have all been passed on to the marketing and recruitment teams. I'll be hosting a DL information seminar here on the evening of January 31st and I hope that a few of those new names will also be able

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-50927611590770279832007-01-17T11:44:00.000Z2007-01-17T11:59:57.297Z

There have not been many posts made lately - my defence (mostly) being that I am still participating on the Virtual Tutor Course at Henley, and that contains its own Learning Journal - an internal blog - and most of my energy has gone into posting entries there. I doubt too many of those would make sense outside the context of the course, so I have not duplicated them here.However, it is

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-55307177142267285522006-12-18T16:34:00.000Z2007-01-17T11:43:52.227Z

Dear all,Last month I led with news of my collision with that deer on the way in to work. Several of you wrote back to report similar accidents, and one person shared some pictures from Greenland of having shot one. This feedback is added to various replies to the e-newsletter that I received during the year (all encouraging, I'm glad to say), so thank you.Aside from it being very interesting to

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-72964936709429974982006-12-14T09:29:00.000Z2006-12-14T09:35:51.332Z

At the beginning of the week there was a two-day conference for tutors who will be involved in delivering the first stage of the new MBA curriculum from next year. It was an intensive and very useful event. Aside from the progress we made on many questions to do with programme delivery, management and design, I did notice two things:1. Standing up in front of 102 tutors is a lot scarier prospect

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-85833100960170506362006-12-05T22:30:00.000Z2006-12-05T22:32:19.690Z

Passed my coaching assignment, and the course, and am now eligible to join the posh-sounding Henley Register of Coaches.Feels good to have completed something, and also something that I got a lot out of in terms of learning new things.

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-1052675771802782892006-11-29T21:13:00.000Z2006-11-29T21:16:22.847Z

For some time now I have been mulling a question. Why do so many of those who start their studies via the distance learning mode not actually make it the whole distance and graduate?Or perhaps the question could be, how does % that make it, make it?Obviously, some don't make it because, despite trying, they fail to pass the minimum assessment criteria. But that is not actually a high number. One

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-4378432968991995922006-11-23T13:18:00.000Z2006-11-23T13:20:35.623Z

Hello all,The other morning I hit a deer while driving through the countryside to work. It really mucked up my day. According to Defra, there may are between 25 and 50,000 road traffic accidents involving deer each year in the UK. There are a lot of cars on the roads but since there are also apparently more deer roaming wild now than there were in medieval times, it is not at all surprising to

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-64535571787061282542006-11-20T14:45:00.000Z2006-11-20T15:00:41.333Z

I am now into week two of the Henley Virtual Tutor Certificate course. I am one of about a dozen participants, several of whom are colleagues at Henley, so we have the slightly odd sensation of being on an online course, but sitting together at lunch...It's already been quite an interesting experience. It's much more difficult to be active with a group of people that you don't really meet face

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30735119.post-43857257529923306232006-11-14T16:46:00.000Z2006-11-14T17:15:42.089Z

Today I have been in the process of setting up a Wiki. I hope that I've succeeded in the first part, which was to find a suitable site - one where access is restricted to invited members only.Now all that remains is the hard second part, engaging with a small community of staff and faculty from Henley around the world to create a shared document. Watch this space (well, only if you're invited!)

Chris Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05376356525546001399noreply@blogger.com0