The Portfolio Review process allows you to extend your certification for another three years by submitting for review some light-touch portfolio updates reflecting on your work since achieving CMALT.
The aim of the process is to ensure that your continued professional development is reflected and recognised in your accreditation, and to enable you to demonstrate the progress you have made at regular intervals, every three years. This is also an opportunity to reflect on your development. Once the portfolio is updated, we will issue you with a new CMALT certificate valid for 3 years. All the information on how to update your portfolio is at https://www.alt.ac.uk/certified-membership/cmalt-portfolio-review-guidance
When I wrote my portfolio back in 2015, I was at a point in my career where I finally had a sense of direction in what I wanted to do. Completing CMALT provided me an opportunity to reflect on what I have accomplished and refocus my energy on developing a clear career path in Technology Enhanced Learning.
At SOAS I played a key lead in developing and leading internal networks across the institution in order to bring about improvements to academic practice in technology. For example, I co-chaired the Technology Enhanced Learning UserS (TELUS) group and the Panopto Working group.
I championed the use of Panopto at SOAS and in 2017 I organised ‘Panopto Forum: To record or not to record, that is the question’ with a range of high-profile external speakers, which enabled colleagues to learn more about good practice from both internal and external peers.
In addition to the above, at SOAS I increase levels of skills and confidence in TEL by developing and delivering a wide range of innovative activities and workshops and aimed at both staff and students. For instance, I worked with the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) team to co-deliver a number of workshops including welcome week BLE study skills tools workshop, Referencing Made Easier, Effective Academic Writing and Tools for Dissertations.
In 2015 I co-directed and produced video project on assessment and feedback aimed at both staff and students provide advice and tips on how to make the most of assessment feedback. The video was shown as part of the second Learning and Teaching Conference (recording of conference – go to 59m30s).
I had always been keen on working collaboratively to develop and support initiatives with BLE (Bloomsbury Learning Environment) partners; for example, as part of the BLE Inclusive Practice project I delivered a workshop and was part of an expert panel (read more about the project here).
In addition I also made two case study contributions to the Assessment, feedback and technology: contexts and case studies in Bloomsbury, which subsequently was released as an e-book.
In September 2016 I delivered a joint presentation on Dealing with technical crisis by sharing knowledge, resources and experience and co-ran Risky Business workshop to discuss what happens when learning technologies vanish without trace for the ALT Conference 2016.
My time at SOAS was transformational as it allowed me to explore, experiment and collaborate unlike other institutions where I have worked which often limited my opportunities and capabilities. I thrived on this delivering a number of projects and activities that helped me develop a reputation as an experienced TEL member both internal and external to the institution.
With my efforts and achievements, I had hoped that I could be regraded and be given the title of Learning Technologist; however, with the impending restructure and a freeze on roles I was left with no choice but to move on in order to progress in my career.
In March 2018 I joined the Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning (CTEL) as a Learning Technologist (Faculty Liaison). The role as a Faculty Liaison involves working closely with Academic Faculties and Departments to support and drive the implementation of the King's Technology Enhanced Learning - ‘Transformation in Digital Learning’ strategy.
In addition to this I support the management and delivery of multiple projects aimed at both the development of academics’ pedagogic understanding and the practice of technology enhanced learning. For example, in 2018 I was part of the TEL Benchmarking project team, which collated and analysed Faculties and Services’ response to produce reports to assist them to determine what and where improvements are needed, so they can utilise this information to improve performance and help to support the goals of the Education Strategy.
I played a key role in the implementation and roll out of Kaltura video streaming service across the institution, creating identifying and training key contacts within each faculty and service. Due to a relatively modest uptake of Kaltura within the institution, I have recently developed new workshops Getting Started with Kaltura that I will be delivering over the academic year to increase the awareness and use of the tool.
I am currently involved in developing Faculty Action plans with the aim to:
Increase exposure of TEL related technologies, support and training to
facilitate engagement with TEL initiatives/projects and increase the use of King's technologies.
I am also involved with developing bespoke sessions and co-design, for example I am currently working alongside my colleague with King's Academy on a curriculum development workshop for BSc Neuroscience and Psychology which was delivered 26th September 2019.
One of my duties is to contribute and oversee our Digital Education Blog, which is utilised to identify and share good practice across the institution.
Being part of a larger TEL team, my role and responsibilities are a lot more different than those that I had at SOAS- where I needed to know and do a bit of everything. Whereas at King’s, I have been able to focus and hone my skills to develop greater expertise in certain areas. In SOAS, it was more or less multitasking on various responsibilities; however at Kings, roles were more internally defined by collaboratively working with TEL colleagues. In addition to this- working within a larger team has helped me to work on projects and initiatives utilising a greater pool of expertise.
In 2016 whilst at SOAS I had successfully obtained funding for the Staff Development Erasmus programme (one of three places available in the institution) to attend a one week course in Cyprus entitled ‘Train the Inspiring Trainer (read blog post).
The course provided a useful insight in exploring ways to create an ideal environment for my participants, as well as how to engage with different personalities. I felt it was very useful to be able to reflect on the current training methods and think about ways that I can change parts of it to include more interaction between participants.
Following on from my attendance of the Erasmus programme, I was approached by the trainer to explore the possibility of delivering a TEL related programme myself.
In 2017 we initiated an Erasmus partnership with Inspired Learning Centre Ltd, which involved me designing and delivering a week-long programme ‘Innovative approaches to improving learner engagement’ in Cyprus to range of people from various working backgrounds from around Europe. I was able to deliver the workshop to two cohorts, one in early October and the next in early November 2017.
This was my first attempt at putting together a week long programme, so I sought out advice and guidance from the teaching and learning team at SOAS.
My initial trip to Cyprus was the first time that I had travelled abroad for training and to then follow this up to deliver a workshop which was a challenge outside my comfort zone. For example, travelling to a new country and having limited access to relevant equipment and slow internet made delivery of the workshop tricky.
I have always enjoyed delivering training and helping people to utilise technology for teaching and learning and being abroad to deliver the training was no different.
I had very strong feedback (view a sample of the feedback) from the participants who maintained some form of contact with me after the programme via WhatsApp (view interactions) and Facebook to inform me how they had implemented what they had learned.
The programme is still being promoted (although somewhat limited now) on Facebook so there is yet a possibility that I may deliver the workshop again.
What I regret looking back now is not being able to share this journey to the wider community through a presentation at MUGGL, ALT-C or even a blog post.
Since working at King’s it became apparent that the role of Faulty Liaison had a strong correlation with business analysis and project management. In December 2018 I attended two 1 day courses on Project Management Fundamentals and Change Management Fundamentals (view bookings) which was a useful insight into how on project management as well as how they are specifically implemented at King's.
I was therefore selected to sign up for the 3-day BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis (view course outline) in September 2018. The course provided me with 'whistle-stop tour' of the role of the Business Analyst and how the role acts as a link between business needs, users and IT within change initiatives.
At the end of the course I sat an exam which I was accredited with a pass (view certificate). The exam was a challenge as expected due to studying a large content in a short space of time. On hindsight, allowing myself more time for pre-course preparation would have been an advantage.
I found the course fast paced covering what would normally be delivered in a week but condensed in a few days; however, through the use of examples and case studies I was able to familiarise myself with the tools and techniques that a Business Analyst can utilise to assist them in their role. Overall the course helped me understand business analysis as microcosm of the bigger organisation processes.
Working as a Faulty Liaison it has become apparent that there is a cross over with a business analyst role which includes tasks such as data gathering, needs analysis and reviewing processes to name a few. However, where the Faulty Liaison role differs is that we have the specialism to focus specifically with TEL and working in collaboration.
To ensure acquire the required knowledge for project management and Project Management Fundamentals and Change Management Fundamentals sessions in December 2018.
In early 2018 I joined the Kaltura video streaming project to assist in the implementation and rollout throughout the institution.
Having previously played a key part in the rollout of Panopto at SOAS I was familiar with important aspects to a successful project for example disseminating key information, strategies to gain user acceptance and offering training to name a few. I therefore utilised this experience to ensure that we had a close working relationship with the key stakeholders in each faculty/service.
I co-devised a plan of action to identify and train key colleagues in each faculty/service that would be a Super User, i.e. as a main point of contact for queries or low level troubleshooting.
Due to the size of the institution the roll out took over a year with a phased-out approach implemented to ensure there was sufficient support, guidance and training provided to the Super Users.
I played a vital role in the project to engage with faculty stakeholders to deliver support and training over the course of the project life.
One of my roles as the CTEL specialist on Kaltura is to ensure the Kaltura staff support pages is kept relevant and up to date with each major update, for example I recently updated the user guides in time for the new academic year.
I ensure that I keep abreast of updates by attending a monthly virtual meeting to discuss and explore what updates are available and those that might be useful to push to our users.
I co-chair Super Users meetings, which takes place five times a year to ensure effective communications and engagement with key faculty contacts. View Aug 2019 Skype invite to Kaltura Super Users preparing them for the start of the new academic year.
The meetings have been a useful medium to:
All the meetings are held virtually and recorded. So far, the user group has a strong attendance and CTEL are currently looking at the setup to see if it can be replicated with other core technologies we have.
Uptake in the tool has been somewhat modest and I had hoped that the Super Users in each faculty would have actively promoted the tool a lot more and for that reason I had put together a new 2h workshop - Getting started with Kaltura. In addition to this I have offered all faculties personalised workshops tailored to their needs with the aim to encourage greater awareness and usage of the tool.
I thoroughly enjoyed the level of involvement and engagement with the faculties I had during the project. It helped me gain a greater understanding how a large institution implements a core technology and how challenging it can be to meet changing requirements during the project.
I had some knowledge of project management prior to coming to King's however it would have been useful to attend the project and change management courses prior to starting this project so I had the insight of the workings of the institution rather acquiring this knowledge during the project.
The portfolio review has allowed me to take an opportunity to record and evidence recent activities and work over the past few years. One thing that has been apparent is the continued opportunities that I have had, and been able to acquire varied knowledge and skills in a number of areas.
One area that I have had enjoyed was working with faculties to develop bespoke workshops for academics and professional staff. In the near future, I would like to have the opportunity to focus on something similar but perhaps, the target audience being students. I feel this is an area which currently is not in the remit of my team (CTEL). I want to continue to have a key role in projects which affect the whole institution- for instance, two possible projects which I would be very interested in are virtual classroom and digital literacy.
I wish to continue developing my career professional development by attending internal and external training and events. At the moment I am considering applying for the SFHEA and senior CMALT. Looking forward, my career progression would be to work towards a senior role such as a senior learning technologist and am currently signed up for the King's Leadership Passport Programme in February 2020 (view booking).
I declare that, to the best of my knowledge, the statements and evidence included in this submission accurately describe my practice and are drawn from my own work, with the input and support of others duly and clearly recognised.
Signed: Sultan Wadud
Date: 24/10/19 (updated)