The External Study office is decorated using a ‘winter wonderland’ theme and there is a feeling of excitement in the air as the team prepares to finish for the Christmas holidays. The office will be closed from the evening of 23rd December 2008 until the morning of 5th January 2009.
The holiday season means that Rosie spends a well deserved five minutes with her feet on the ground in London before setting off to Hong Kong in the New Year. As I am sure you are well aware Rosie is the Director of LSE External Study and has spent many years, since 1986 in fact, advising External students and their lecturers. Rosie travels around the world quicker than Santa it seems, not on a reindeer but by plane, visiting the colleges and institutions that teach, or who would like to teach for the University of London External System.
Rachel has recently been appointed as Rosie’s personal assistant, and is settling into the team nicely after leaving her position as PA to the LSE director Howard Davies. In addition to supporting Rosie, Rachel liaises with the colleges and institutions supporting students for the University of London qualifications through the External System.
John will finally have the chance to take a breather, celebrating Christmas at home in Cambridge after a hectic first couple of months in his newly appointed position of administrative manager. John is responsible for managing the External Study office including its key financial management, operational, administrative and quality assurance processes.
Kate, the publications and projects co-ordinator and Catherine, the fountain of External Study knowledge, also known as administrative assistant will spend Christmas with their families in London. Catherine works tremendously hard answering all of your queries among other tasks such as writing references, so be nice to her! Kate who has worked extremely hard this year to review the curriculum and syllabuses that you are currently studying and has developed the subject guides and other learning materials which are essential to your studies. Kate is responsible for organising events such as the forthcoming Study Weekend and we look forward to seeing many of you then.
Nancy, the administrative officer, has recently taken her annual trip back to New York to celebrate thanksgiving and of course, shop! Nancy is now back organising the processes involved in the examinations conducted by LSE for the External System.
As for me, I am looking forward to spending Christmas in my home town of Coventry. I am responsible for managing and administering the educational resources with the Moodle VLE and provide frontline support for students, teaching institutions and developers. I would say that I hope to hear from you soon but that would not be the case because that would generally mean you have a problem! I do however hope that you feel free to e-mail me (externalstudy.vle@lse.ac.uk) or post on the discussion forum any feedback you have in regards to the VLE, or any suggestions for future developments.
Happy Holidays to all!
Craig
Posted by LSE office for UOL International Programmes 
