Introduction
Communication runs through the heart of work as a learning technologist/developer, and has always been an essential skill. How we communicate has evolved rapidly over the past few years, driven by the Covid-19 pandemic. As someone who works remotely, having switched jobs in the last half of 2020, I have benefited significantly from the transition this has enabled. It’s now easier than ever to work collaboratively, even when separated.
I have also worked in a management position as a senior learning technologist, and as an interim technology enhanced learning manager. I am now moving into a leadership role again, having just been appointed as a Grade 8 Senior Digital Learning Developer at Durham University, where I will be in a project and team leadership role for an expanded Digital Learning Development team – a role I will start in June 2022.
Collaborative working
Throughout my career I have worked across disciplines, communicating regularly with varied groups of people including volunteers, medical staff and allied health professionals, professional services staff, academics and students. The ability to work collaboratively is an essential skill of a digital learning developer. As a learning technologist, I bring technical and pedagogical knowledge to the table, but to create accurate, effectively scaffolded and academically relevant learning material requires a deep understanding of the subject material, which we cannot hope to have – certainly not in every subject.
I think that it’s important to have a friendly and open approach when collaborating with teaching staff and professional services staff involved in creating educational material. Without this, it’s hard to build rapport and a trusting relationship – both essential to the honest and frank discussions that can be necessary when working closely together.
By nature, I am quite forgetful — I know that if I don’t write things down, I am likely to forget them. So, I like to take contemporaneous notes to ensure that I don’t miss things, and ask the right questions at the right time. To help with this, I often create small mind maps or outlines that I can add to during the course of the meeting, or use other notetaking tools such as Whimsical. I also have meeting plans for project scoping sessions that outline the main questions I like to ask when fact-finding for a new project. I find these useful not as a means of ‘grilling’ people, but as a way of guiding the question and providing me with useful spaces to take notes. An example meeting plan can be downloaded below.
I often use Microsoft Office collaboration tools, such as the ability to share and work together on the same document. This preserves a single source of truth, that we know is up to date — rather than exchanging multiple copies of documents and getting confused as to which is the most recent. I find having online meetings to be a nicer way of communicating than sending lots of emails, and am more likely to use messaging systems than email.
A current project I’m involved with is the analysis of the Jisc Digital Experiences Insights surveys. I’m working with the team on conducting the qualitative analysis using Nvivo – this software isn’t really designed to be used across a team, and I have helped by working out the problems in the processes we’re using, advising on a version control system, and ways of communicating our progress.
Nic has been a very active member of our Jisc Digital Experience Insights team, asking insightful questions and making valuable comments during meetings and in asynchronous discussions. She has led the way in analysing the qualitative data, implementing strategies for version management and data integrity and quickly getting to grips with a new software package. She has also shared what she has learned through the process with the rest of the team and helped others when they hit sticking points.
Candace Nolan-Grant, Senior Digital Learning Designer, Durham University
Alongside two other team members, I work almost completely remotely, only visiting campus a few times a year as required. This has worked extremely well, causing very few problems overall. Even in the 360° video project we recently completed, we were able to arrange an approach to take, equipment and details of the shoot, media transfer and file management with no issues. It does have an impact on the sense of being part of a whole team and can be isolating. I find the best way to combat this to ensure to schedule informal chats with people and take part in online group events such as Friday socials, journal clubs and other events.
I have recently taken on the coordination of the DCAD development events group, which will be organising online and face-to-face development events for the Department, and also the face-to-face inaugural lecture programme for new professors. An important role of this group is to promote whole team cohesion, and networking opportunities. Despite only a few of us being fully remote workers, on-campus staff are now working to a hybrid model, which limits the number of people who will be on campus at any one time – so online communication will remain an essential part of our working lives. I will be using these lessons to plan regular meetings and networking opportunities for new developers starting in the university within my new role. An overview of my thoughts on this can be seen in the presentation I gave during my interview, available as a PowerPoint file below.