OUseful Info

OU eLearning & Semantic Web Job Opportunities

Okay - here's another OU recruitment round-up post prompted, as ever, by a job ad I saw in today's Technology Guardian supplement for a Product Development Manager.

As we go about "re-defining elearning" (as what, I wonder?) the Product Development Manager will help manage "our move from print to the web as a primary delivery medium".

[I'm always twitchy as to how well that fits in with the Widening Partcipation (or even, widening participation) agenda (there are several posts open that programme too - check out the general recruitment site for more info). Because I'd be very surprised if the majority of OU students have sole, quality access to broadband connected PCs (and I use the 'PC' term advisedly...). But that's an argument for another time and place...]

Anyway - the Product Development Manager:

will be a proven innovator capable of managing staff in a creative environment and have expertise in modern publishing technologies. Experience of software, print and web production processes, and appreciation of the role of new technologies in developing high-quality, value-for-money multi-media materials is essential.

To see where the post is in the wider scheme of things, you could always take a look at the OU organisational charts (available under the Freedom of Information Act, for some reason, here). In particular, check out the organisational chart for LTS. Slide 13 of 25 (?!) is the one I think you want... if these charts do accurately describe the current organisation of LTS, that is:

If you go for it, it's probably best not to mention you saw the ad here ;-) That said, as one of the duties is:

ensuring that staff involved in media production are kept informed about new pedagogic and technical possibilities across the range of media for learning and teaching, and that best practice is transferred across the University

I'll probably add you to my mailing list if they haven't thrown me out before then... ;-)

However, please do give me a plug as to where you saw the ad if you go for either of the two Research Fellow positions on "Semantic Web Services, Creating the Next Generation Web":

- Research Fellow: Semantic Web and Grid Services, Creating the Next Generation Web to undertake research in the area of semantic web and Grid services - applying semantic web technology to support the management of web and Grid services. This work takes place within the context of our EU-funded project Living Human Digital Library (LHDL) which will create the technical infrastructure for the Living Human project.

- Research Fellow: Semantic Web Services, Creating the Next Generation Web to undertake research in applying semantic web services to eLearning as part of the Euro-funded LUISA project.

Both those posts appear to offer a home for Lisp hackers, so if Lisp's your thing, here's a rare opportunity to earn less than the going rate... (does anyone teach Lisp nowadays? ;-)

Just by the by, also from ITJobsWatch [ ... ;-)] here's the trend for Ajax related jobs:

One thing I'd love to spend a bit of time looking at would be seeing how things like IT developer job ad trends correlate not only across different programming languages, but also with book trends (e.g. as explored by O'Reilly Research).

For example, it would be neat if the IT Jobs Watch site could produce charts like this one about Programming Language Books - Relative Trends

and even neater if you could plot both sets of data against each other. E.g. do the books lead or lag the job market?

I suppose there's always Google Trends to look at too, though that data is a) far from complete, and b) likely to be very noisy...

PS the Further Particulars for the Product Manager job state:

The Open University currently requires its academic, research and academic-related staff to retire on the 30th September following their 65th birthday. For this reason, we are unable to accept applications from individuals over the age of 65. Applications will be accepted from individuals under the age of 65, however, individuals should note that once employed they will be required to retire on the 30th September following their 65th birthday.

Nice to know we're open as to age in our employment policy....

From 1 October 2006, new laws protect workers from age discrimination. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations make it illegal for employers to discriminate against employees, trainees or job seekers because of their age and ensure that all workers, regardless of age, have the same rights in terms of training and promotion.
...
All employees will have the right to request to work beyond the age of 65 or any other retirement age (if there is one) set by the company, and employers will have a duty to consider, although not to accept, such a request. This will involve an employee meeting with their employer to discuss the request. An employee will have a right of appeal if they are dissatisfied with the outcome of the meeting. This policy will be reviewed in 2011.
Age Discrimination Legislation - information and help for employers and individuals

Err...? How does that work then? Maybe I'm missing something... Can you be considered to have considered something, even if you know beforehand what answer you are going to give?

Posted by ajh59 at November 9, 2006 08:42 PM