Site news

Are you having problems registering?

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:34:38 GMT

by Jon Bolton.

Deborah has said that some new students have reported that they cannot create accounts on the VLC with email addresses that include aol.com and hotmail.com.

The most likely explanation is that AOL and Hotmail are blocking the emails from our server and marking it as spam.

So the first thing to check is your spam folder. It can be called different things, perhaps AntiSpam folder, or Bulk Mail folder.

Occasionally, a legitimate email may be moved to your spam folder. If that has happened, you can usually move the email back to your inbox and remove it from the spam folder, and mark it as 'Not Spam' to ensure that you receive emails from us in the future.

Spam is unsolicited email or newsgroup postings usually advertising some product or service. Spam is cheap marketing, sending messages to millions of people for very little cost.

The Virtual Learning Centre has a very simply policy about Spam. We dont send it and we dont support people who do. We will not abuse the confidence and trust that you place in us by sharing your information with others. We do not rent or sell information about you to anyone. If you provide contact or other information to us, then that information remains in our strict confidence. You can read our full privacy policy at www.baillie.org.uk/privacy

If you want a free email address, we can offer you a free email account on YOUniversity.org.uk or socialworker.org.uk. We have been able to partner with Google.com in developing an email system that is totally hosted on their servers and utilises a similar web interface found in their offering of Google Mail including Google Chat, Google Calendar and searching capabilities.

You'll get more information at www.baillie.org.uk/email

Note: Anyone can request a YOUniversity.org.uk email address, but the socialworker.org.uk email address is only available to qualified social workers, and we will check the Register of social service workers for Scotland before allocating an email address.

Scottish Social Services Council gets five new members

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:51:20 GMT

by Jon Bolton.

The Scottish Minister for Children and Early Years Adam Ingram has announced the appointment of a new Convener and five new Members to the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).

The new Convener is Mr Garry Coutts who runs a training company offering media and other communications skills courses to clients in public, private and voluntary sectors. He is also the current Chair of Highland NHS Board, a Ministerial appointment which is part time and attracts a salary £28,280 per annum. Mr Coutts was previously an elected councillor in both Edinburgh District Council and The Highland Council, where he held several senior positions including Chair of Housing and Social Work committee. He resigned as a councillor in 2004.

The Minister said:

"I am delighted that Garry Coutts has agreed to accept the position as Convener of the SSSC. His knowledge and skills will benefit the SSSC in its key role in implementing 'Changing Lives', the report of the 21st Century Social Work Review group and the National Review of the Early Years and Childcare Workforce.

"I am also delighted to announce that 5 new members have also been appointed to the SSSC."

The new Members are:

Michael Cairns - worked in social work as both a practitioner and manager. Previously held Director posts in Age Concern Scotland and RNIB Scotland. Seconded to the Scottish Executive for 3 years to assist in review of community eye care services. Now a freelance consultant, specialising in the organisation of services for people with visual impairments. He does not hold any other ministerial appointments.

Elizabeth Carmichael - recently retired as Head of Community Justice Services, a senior civil servant position with Scottish Executive. She was responsible for policy on management of offenders, community sentences and supervision and framework for delivering criminal justice social work services working with Scottish Prison Service and Association of Chief Police Officers. She has also worked in areas of covering voluntary sector, Finance, Education and Health. She does not hold any other ministerial appointments.

Karen Croan - currently HR Director of Quarriers following 15 years working in NHS. An HR professional with 19 years generalist and specialised experience at senior level within care and health sector. A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and Psychology Honours graduate. She does not hold any other ministerial appointments.

Maureen O'Neill - worked primarily in the voluntary sector for 25 years. Previously Director of Age Concern Scotland and Director of RBS Centre for the Older Person's Agenda at Queen Margaret University. Currently a non executive Director of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, a ministerial appointment which attracts a salary of £7,620 per annum and a Scottish appointee to the European Economic and Social Committee. Also involved in issues relating to age diversity in employment and the spiritual needs of older people.

Kingsley Thomas - employed as Manager of Criminal Legal Assistance with Scottish Legal Aid Board. Previously an elected Councillor to City of Edinburgh Council from May 1992 to 2007 and non Executive Director of NHS Lothian from 2001 to 2007. He chaired Lothian and Borders Community Justice Authority and the Edinburgh South Community Health Partnership from 2005 to 2007. He does not hold any other ministerial appointments.

These appointments will be for three years and will run from September 1, 2007 to August 31, 2010.

You can now create questionnaires and surveys

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 17:54:30 GMT

by Jon Bolton.

We've added a new service to the VLC!

You can now create questionnaires and surveys. Whether you are writing a dissertation, want to gather market research on your customers or simply want to quiz people, this questionnaire builder is just what you need.

You can see an example here

Unlimited number of question groups in a survey
Unlimited numbers of questions in a group/survey
Unlimited number of participants to a survey
Multi-Lingual Surveys
Supports open and closed questions
20 different question types, eg. multiple choice, multiple selection, text input and likert scale
Creation of a printable survey version
Ability to set conditions for questions depending on earlier answers (branching the survey)
Anonymous or open surveys as well as closed surveys
Sending of invitations, reminders and tokens by email
Option for participants to save answers to continue survey at a later time
Enhanced import and export functions to text, CSV and MS Excel format
Basic statistical and graphical analysis with export facility

You don't need to be a member of the VLC to create questionnaires, and your respondents don't need to be members either. You can get the results sent to by email as well as being able to download them. If you want to know more, email us at webmaster@baillie.org.uk

Vulnerable Witnesses Act hits the road

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:17:18 GMT

by Jon Bolton.

A series of roadshows plans to raise awareness of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004 and what it means for those working with witnesses in civil proceedings.

The events are being held in association with the Law Society of Scotland, Faculty of Advocates, Family Law Association, Witness Service and the Scottish Executive.

The fourth and final phase of implementation of the Act is due to come into force for child and adult vulnerable witnesses in civil proceedings in the Court of Session and the Sheriff Court, including Fatal Accident Inquiries, with effect from 1 November 2007.

The Act aims to improve conditions for vulnerable witnesses by extending the definition of vulnerable witnesses and increasing support to help them participate more fully in the justice system.

The Act requires significant procedural changes throughout the court system and will depend heavily on practitioners for its effective application ensuring vulnerable witnesses needs are considered. The provisions of the Act are already available for child and adult vulnerable witnesses in High Court and Sheriff Court Solemn cases and Childrens Hearings court proceedings, and, from 1 April 2007, for child witnesses in Sheriff court summary cases. Adult vulnerable witnesses in Sheriff summary cases will be covered by the Acts provisions from 1 April 2008.

The roadshows are:

24 October - Dumfries
31 October - Edinburgh
7 November - Inverness
14 November - Aberdeen
~~21 November - Glasgow~~ - fully booked
28 November - Dundee

All events are 4.30 to 6.30pm.

To book a place, contact Update, Law Society of Scotland, Tel: 0131 476 8201.

Linux Web Server Administrator required

Mon, 21 May 2007 17:26:36 GMT

by Jon Bolton.

The VLC is looking for a committed volunteer to act as our Linux Web Server Administrator, to work with us on an 'on occasional demand' basis to help us ensure the health, uptime and performance of our services.

We need someone with solid communication, analytical, and teamwork skills, as well as the ability to work independently. Oh, and a solid understanding of Moodle architecture will be viewed favourably .

If you know someone who might be interested, or who might know someone who might be interested please let them know!

We're running a Linux box with Fedora 6 i386.

Our main requirements are for you to:

Maintain site servers and hosted web applications, ensuring uptime and site responsiveness
Troubleshoot problems and issues
Communicate system and network events and root cause analysis after resolution
Diagnose and resolve Linux server, OS, network and other failures

Essential Skills

Relevant tertiary qualifications or equivalent commercial experience
Ability to operate with minimal supervision
Ability to complete tasks to deadline
Ability to work as a member of a team
Good communication

Technical Skills

Good knowledge of Linux system administration
Apache, Perl, and PHP skills
Good knowledge of MySQL and/or PostgreSQL database administration
Familiarity with using the UNIX shell

Interested?

Please send your details to Jon at webmaster@baillie.org.uk