I am a great believer of collaboration and networking which I try to implement as much as possible in my working career. One of the ways in which I have worked collaboratively at SOAS, is by working closely with the Academic Teaching Developer who is responsible for the training of new academic staff. I found that the method of reaching out to new teaching staff via email, informing them of the BLE support and where to find the training materials and training dates, was not as effective as it could be. I found a great opportunity to publicise the BLE team’s services whilst ensuring that new teaching staff are aware of where to book training, find help guides and who to contact for BLE support, was to deliver a brief presentation during the training sessions.

BLE training sessions are advertised on the BLE site news and staff development training date page. One of the things that would help encourage new starters to attend training BLE sessions, would be to deliver a presentation similar to that done with the new teaching staff, which has been very effective.

Coming from an administrative background I believe I have a strong understanding of what faculty administrators are likely to need help and assistance with during the course of the academic year. Currently I provide BLE training and support to faculty staff as and when required, which works well, but I believe I could be more proactive. This summer (2015) I have therefore initiated and piloted a summer forum with the Law and Social Sciences faculty to encourage a closer working relationship, which I hope will give the team a platform to discuss issues, concerns or request demonstrations.

Having a close working relationship with the faculty admins has facilitated improved communications through the academic year, which has had a new of positive outcomes such as when new staff members start employment the faculty direct the new colleague to the BLE team for training.

Being part of the SOAS learning and teaching team I have been involved in the coordination of termly Learning and Teaching Conferences which explores new ideas, share best practices and look at ways to improve teaching. Some of my specific tasks involve assisting in the identification and request to staff to be potential speakers at the event, creating a poster, setting up online booking forms and sending out reminders to attendees.

In the pilot conference held in May 2015, we explored of some of the ways technology is being used at SOAS to take learning beyond the lecture theatre. Speakers showcased innovative use of multi-choice questions; the Guardian runners-up research methods MOOC; lecture capture and flipping classrooms; an introduction to Skills for Success on BLE; a timeline on BLE to help students with their studies and revision.

Towards the end of the conference, there was a Panel discussion. I was one of the four panellists discussing what was presented in the conference as well as taking questions from the audience.

Considering that the finalised programme for the conference was confirmed less than a month before the event, which may have reduced the potential numbers attending the event, there was a good turnout of academic, teaching and professional staff and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

One of the ways in which the Learning and Teaching Development team aim to encourage a greater number of attendees, is that for the next conference we have decided to work towards confirming the programme and speakers well in advance so that I can publicise the event and start signing up people earlier too.

Working as an E-Learning Officer I am responsible for the dissemination of important information about the BLE service as and when required, so that users are aware of the BLE status, and of events, training, announcements and more. Two of the main ways in which I communicate this information is via our BLE Twitter page and the BLE News Site.

I believe that sharing of information is vital and I try to inform others of any useful resources or tools as and when I discover or create them. For example I recently contacted a member of the library staff to highlight the useful online tools page on the BLE that I had created as well as offer a demonstration of RefMe (referencing tool), which the library staff could promote to students.

One of the benefits of working within the Bloomsbury area is that I have the fantastic opportunity to attend and participate in various meetings with the local E-Learning teams in the area such as Institute of Education, Birkbeck, Royal Veterinary College and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Some of the meetings that I attend on a regular basis are:

BLE Tech meeting - collaborative planning problem solving group

Panopto (lecture capture software) Working Group

ULCC Moodle User Group

In addition to the above, I also participate in the M25 Learning Technology Group (regional) meetings, which is attended by a number of institutions within the Greater London area. Attending these groups helps to network and share best practice among learning technologists and the other interested staff in HEIs who attend the meetings.

More recently I presented at the Moodle User Group London (MUGGL) showcasing my approaches to training and supporting staff at SOAS. Click here to view the recording.

Other forms of collaborations often involve assisting colleagues at the other colleges with solving their queries, with events or testing, for example I recently volunteered to test the upcoming BLOOC (Bloomsbury Online Course), which involved working through the course to check links, activities and guides before it is officially launched.

BLE training sessions on staff development page: