As a Learning Technologist at Sheffield University Management School (SUMS), I am responsible for staff training and development, focusing on the integration of learning technologies with pedagogic principles and strategic deployment (PV1). This specialist area section describes the dimensions of the role I have developed to foster inclusive and innovative digital learning environments, which has earned me recognition by AdvanceHE as a Senior Fellow (SFHEA).
Contextual Design
Designing learning sessions and programmes is a crucial dimension of my role.
My colleagues of the central Digital Learning Team provide generic training and guidance on the use of learning technologies with an emphasis on the features. Whilst useful, this approach lacks context. I translate that information into an applied form suited to my target audience, be they academic, professional services, or student (PV4). For example:
SUMS operates electronic submission of coursework using Turnitin via Blackboard. I provide academic integrity and submission guidance to students; Blackboard group and Turnitin submission setup training to professional services colleagues who administer assignments; Turnitin Feedback Studio staff development sessions to academic colleagues who evaluate the submissions; additional development and support to access information for external examiners, verifying academic integrity, and Assurance of Learning (AoL)(PV1). Embedded within our bespoke development material are conventions which are specific to the policies and practices in SUMS e.g. file submission nomenclature; style of rubrics; marking period between submission and feedback release dates; adaptive release by marking groups, and so on. When onboarding a new colleague whose role spans all of these functions, such as a Programme Administrator or Learning Technologist, the separate sessions interlace into a programme of development so as to deliver the complete overview.
From training academic colleagues on the nuances of peer evaluation to contributing to the design of a portfolio template compliant with the National Apprenticeship scheme, the objective has been to streamline both student and staff experiences, making education more accessible and aligned with requisite standards (PV4).
Strategic Staff Development
At SUMS, staff development is paramount to maintaining and growing our learning technology knowledge-base. Since I joined SUMS in 2001, the number of students, professional services and academic colleagues have more than doubled in number; and this upward trend persists. This growth has led to the pursuit of standardisation and systemisation for gains in consistency and efficiency. While this has been necessary to provide a consistent learning experience and to streamline our administration, and the training I deliver achieves this, I have simultaneously championed flexibility so as to safeguard our academics’ agency, allow for innovation (PV2), and reduce academic burden. The development of SUMS’ departmental Blackboard classic template (Classic) is a good case in point:
Working closely with the Head of Teaching Quality Enhancement, I co-established the SUMS Blackboard classic template, expressly to provide a clear Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for all. The layout reflects, functionally, that of the student life-cycle over the period of the course (PV1) - it begins with the module leader’s welcome and summary, and ends with the assessment and feedback content areas. In between these, a range of possibilities exist for colleagues to rename, modify and adapt the template to develop their sense of ownership. To boost staff engagement and adherence to this framework, I designed comprehensive guidance and training (PV4). It resulted in improved learner competence, a success that I reported and that has had a lasting school-wide impact on our digital learning provision. My continued revision and update of this framework and training - latterly to address accessibility, academic integrity, and employability - ensures a consistent, high-quality student experience.
SUMS’ pilot of the university’s transition to Blackboard Ultra (Ultra) was impacted by this work. In the absence then of an institutional template, I modelled our Ultra template on our Classic template and translated our Classic development materials and best practices into Ultra equivalents (PV4). This strategic change management was the foundation of the pilot’s success. The SUMS Ultra template has informed the university’s institutional Ultra template; and my Ultra training guidance, shared with the university’s VLE Implementation Team, has informed the university’s ‘Train the Trainers’ guidance document which is presented as a contextualised workbook (PV3).
Thus my efforts, which focuses on bringing coherence, consistency, and flexibility to the learners' online experiences across SUMS' modules and programmes (PV1), have come to impact the learning experiences of learners across the university (PV4).
Bridging Cultures
I embrace the diverse culture at SUMS where every development session, whether group workshops or individual sessions, is centred on recognising and understanding the unique needs of staff and students from different backgrounds. My goal is always to recommend the most suitable learning technology, whether it was for large student cohorts or specific programme journeys, considering inclusivity at every step (PV3). (See Core Area Two (b): ‘Tailoring for Cultural Diversity’)
Championing Digital Evolution
Exposure to eye-tracking and immersive technologies/virtual reality (ITVR) have been recent research-led introductions (PV2) to SUMS’ curricula, as initiatives by the SUMS TEL team. I co-designed the contextualising activities of the pilot with the module leader of the postgraduate marketing module ‘MGT6147 Retail and Services Marketing’ (PV1) centred around: direct observation of the outcomes of actual eye-tracking events in a retail context; and, immersive experiences of retail and services marketing campaigns. (See Core Area One (c): ‘Introducing Immersive Technologies to the Learning Experience’)
The successful pilot has led to an expansion in SUMS TEL’s deployment of ITVR in marketing modules (PV4), pilot-designing an immersive auditing experience for an Accountancy and Financial Management (AFM) module, as well as a goodwill pilot in the Department of Psychology module ‘PSY308 Occupational Psychology’.
Conclusion
Innovation is a journey of continuous learning and support (PV3), and my tenure at SUMS has been filled with numerous digital transformations; each providing a learning experience in the training, development and support of my colleagues. As we expanded in numbers and diversity, I endeavoured that every member, from incoming undergraduates to new academic staff, was suitably acquainted with our systems and learning technologies in context (PV4).
With new initiatives by me in gestation or under way (see Future Plans), inquisitiveness about the interplay between pedagogy and technology; its manifestation in practice, adoption and dissemination; and equitability of experience, continue to guide SUMS towards a more fair and digital future.
As I look back on my personal development, in the training and developing of others, the most prominent aspect which strikes me is how much it has changed in breadth, colour, and depth. Since I first joined SUMS, its number of students and staff has more than doubled, and its engagement with digital learning tools has evolved at what feels like an accelerating pace (PV1). The growth in scale and internationalisation of SUMS has impacted my student and staff pedagogic practice (PV3) to an extent which distinguishes it from that of my fellow learning technologists.
What began as single sessions on standalone applications has evolved into proficiency-tiered workshops and gap-filling consultations. The staff development I deliver in learning technologies has acquired greater strategic dimensions, in order to provide the efficiencies and consistencies of performance demanded of SUMS as it increased in scale (PV1). The training practices transformed from being generically feature-centric, closely aligned with my centrally-based peers, to task-focused step-by-step bespoke guidance incorporating SUMS policies and practices, to ensure that our development outputs aligned with our needs (PV4).
Simultaneously the needs of my learners are held paramount. For instance, electronically-available guidance is also easily printable - a practice which has yielded unexpected benefits. It has:
Accommodated colleagues who perform best working from hard copy i.e. they were not disadvantaged by being restricted to a digital format;
Facilitated easy annotation thus allowing my guidance to be further tailored, so my guidance has become their guidance;
Given each colleague a sense of ownership and autonomy over their own development;
Provided the space for user-augmented practices to be created and disseminated among peers, giving rise to champions and advocates as ‘Satellites of best practice’ (PV4); and,
Accelerated the attainment of proficiency, and therefore created the confidence and cognitive headroom (PV1) to take advantage of any feature-based training.
It is my observation that those who preferred hard-copy were also more established in their careers, their augmentations were nuanced which gave valuable feedback to me on how to tailor future training sessions (PV3), and their practices were an important source of perspective and support for earlier-career peers (PV4).
Although SUMS’ change in scale necessitated new approaches to our training, one aspect I have fought to preserve is the feel of being part of a small, collegiate, school. I privilege one-to-one and very small group training sessions whenever possible. Beyond the vital function of making psychologically safe environments to bridge cultures, the richer interpersonal relationships cultivated have grown a network of trust.
And trust is the currency of innovation (PV2).
The adoption of a new technology or the creation of an initiative, demands the taking of interpersonal risk. I can proffer all the support in the world, but that leap of faith is taken in trust. On reflection, it is this preservation of a practice from an older era which has contributed the most to accumulating the personal capital essential - earning each other’s trust - to permit the risk-taking essential to innovation (PV1) in the adoption of novel technologies and approaches, and concomitantly the training and development of our students and staff (PV4).
PDF of the certificate issued by AdvanceHE certifying that Loo Yeo has achieved the status of Senior Fellow (SFHEA):
Loo Yeo - Senior Fellowship.pdf
MS Word Document of Loo Yeo's step-by-step guide to setting up a Turnitin Assignment submission point in Blackboard:
SA2-02 Blackboard_setting_up_a_Turnitin_submission_point Accessible.docx
Screenshot of an MS Excel Spreadsheet detailing the staff development training workshops and target audience, which was to be delivered during the team contraction period:
SA2-03 Training Calendar Semester One 2023-24.png
Screenshots of an email, jamboards and example learning outcomes, generated and considered, during the design phase of SUMS' Senior Leaders Apprenticeship Portfolio transition to Onefile at AMRC-TC:
SA2-04 Designing SLA portfolio template assessments and learning outcomes accessible.pptx
PDF of Ethics Application by the Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching and Loo Yeo for the collection of primary data to inform the design of the SUMS Blackboard Course Template:
SA2-05 SUMS template development Ethics Application (anonymised).pdf
MS Word document by Loo Yeo detailing step-by-step guidance to academic and professional services staff on how to populate (and administer) the SUMS Blackboard template:
CA2-a1 How_to_populate_your_SUMS_template.docx
MS Word Document of Loo Yeo's step-by-step guide to learning about Ultra's core functions in the context of populating the SUMS Ultra Template:
CA3-b1 Blackboard Learn Ultra Core Functions and Populating the Template.docx
Screenshot of an email from the central VLE Implementation Team to Loo Yeo in consultation about SUMS' precedent guidance and training development as pilot department for Blackboard Learn Ultra:
CA1-b3a Screenshot email providing support to VLE Implementation Team.png
Screenshot of the VLE Implementation Team's "Train the Trainer" Ultra workbook, "Module Overview" section illustrating the similarity in layout of the institutional template and training style to that of SUMS:
SA2-06 Train the trainer workbook example page 01.png
Screenshot of the VLE Implementation Team's "Train the Trainer" Ultra workbook, "Learning Materials" section illustrating the similarity in layout of the institutional template and training style to that of SUMS:
SA2-07 Train the trainer workbook example page 02.png
Screenshot of a video with eyetracking data overlaid on a static two-dimensional display, a demonstration designed for learning activities in the module 'MGT6147 Retail and Services Marketing':
SA2-08 MGT6147 Loo Yeo eye tracking in retail.png
Screenshot of a presentation slide incorporating a testimonial from the module leader of MGT411, demonstrating an expansion of Immersive Technology/Virtual Reality activity in SUMS:
CA1-c5 MGT411 module leader quote.png
Screenshot of an email from the Faculty Director of Education in congratulations on receiving SFHEA recognition and for a "sustained record of leading or influencing the practice of those who teach and/or support high quality learning":
SA2-09 Congratulations from Faculty Director of Education.png