Future Plans

My main plans in the short and medium term are focused on my current role as eLearning Project Manager in the The School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University. This means a focus on ensuring a high-quality student experience for the CPEL Programmes with the priority for the next academic year (2016/17) being student support and engagement . Alongside this I aim to increase my role (and that of the eLearning Team) in the wider School of Social Sciences, beginning with a series of projects in the summer of 2016 that will enhance the online student experience across the School, particularly around the VLE.

In terms of personal and professional development Project Management is an area of focus for me and I hope to explore opportunities in this area over the coming months and years, including potentially Prince2 and Agile.

However, more important will be to develop myself as a more fully rounded eLearning Professional, and in particular this involves working on my networking skills. Within Cardiff I am initiating a networking group for learning technologists that I hope will build on the networks I have already created and help embed a strong peer-support community in the University as the profile of learning technology begins to grow in the institution.

I also would like to extend my networks beyond the University, and as well as keeping in touch with former colleagues from Birmingham I will attend more conferences, starting with ALT-C in September 2016. Indeed I hope membership of ALT will help kickstart my engagement with the wider HE learning technology community.

Similarly, on a practical level I will continue maintaining a portfolio in some shape or form, and will use this CMALT Portfolio as the basis for this, maybe building a revised version in Cardiff University's new Mahara implementation as a useful training opportunity. This can also form the basis of recording and reflecting on my experiences going forward, to ensure that I keep track of the good work I have done, reflect on the lessons learned, and have a useful resource I can draw on for my future practice.

Overall, I am keen that the CMALT process and membership of ALT is a continuation of my professional learning and progress rather than an end-point in itself and I will work to remain engaged with the Technology Enhanced Learning agenda and community.