Don's Diary

Week ending July 17

Informed that the number of students for my advanced business computing course next academic year should be 56 - double this year's 28. Put in request for a lecture room with SVGA computer display facilities and seating for 70.

Week ending July 24 to week ending Sept 11

Bury myself in Visual Basic for Applications. For once Microsoft does have a logical reason (other than forcing us all to spend a lot of money updating software) for developing the new Visual Basic Editor, which now applies to all office applications including Excel 97 and Powerpoint 97.

With a vocabulary of more than 2,000 words and associated syntax and grammar, I feel like insisting that my colleagues in modern languages should be asked to switch from French to German and vice versa every other year. Trick is to isolate the 5 per cent of knowledge that will allow students to perform the 80 per cent of what is useful.

Week ending Sept 18

Receive timetable with room numbers. Practise what I preach in my "Professionalism in Presentation" lecture and check the room. Seating for 50; no SVGA facilities! Although "timetable now written in stone", insist on a change. Have not used an overhead projector in anger for two years and do not intend to now.

Week ending Sept 25

Informed that course numbers have grown to more than 68. This means an additional computer workshop session. Since daytime slots interfere with student timetables, arrange additional slot for 6pm. This certainly doesn't clash with anything, but won't be popular. Have been allocated an alternative lecture room that seats more than 80. SVGA projector works fine.

Week ending Oct 2

Introduce about 240 freshers to the delights of what is in store in business computing. Was I not told months ago it would be over several dead bodies of senior colleagues that our first-year numbers would go above 220?

Week ending Oct 9

Head for alternative lecture room having sent colleague to previous room to divert the masses. Arrive to find corridor heaving with bodies and some stranger in possession. After brief discussion he decides I have the greater need and retreats gracefully. Possession is not always nine-tenths of the law.

Week ending Oct 16

Lecture room now appears to be ours, but have yet to frighten off a few more students to get down to the magical 3x21=63 to obtain one student per PC in all three computer workshop sessions.

Week ending Oct 23

Three, only slightly over-full, workshops with 21 students per session. Now the real work can begin - as long as no PCs fail and the network holds up. Oh, the joys of offering a band B product at band D funding.

Colin Lewis Professor of operations management, University of Aston Business School.