Learn Ultra User Groups: Engaging with Professional Services colleagues, session 1
In late January 2023, after some months of planning, the Learn Ultra Professional Services User Group had its first meeting on the topic of the Learn Ultra rollout. While a Learn Academic User Group has convened in the past, the Learn Ultra project team saw some renewed need for user fora as the change in virtual learning environment unfolds, and thought a distinct space for Professional Services colleagues to communicate was highly warranted.
The core idea of the User Group is to bridge communication gaps between learning technologists in central Information Services and the actual teaching and learning happening on the ground in classrooms and tutorials. Those working in School and Deanery professional services roles are fundamental and essential to that engagement. Colleagues from all across the Schools and Deaneries elected to join the User Group, with about twenty people in attendance.
Once we agreed a Terms of Reference, we moved into the main activity of the session, which was to break into small groups and work through making a chart of the opportunities, considerations, and challenges of the move to Learn Ultra.
The three of us facilitators, all on the Learn Ultra project team, made our own chart as well, so we could compare and contrast our perspectives with the others. In general, as we moved through an open discussion about the VLE transition, some overall themes emerged from the academic-aligned group members.
Completed charts covered a wide range of issues, some of the same topics falling into different categories depending on the small group. Discussion Boards and their notifications came up several times, as well as batch editing options and the possibilities for relocating student or programme hubs and other non-course Learn pages.
Consensus around time pressures and workload capacity was, perhaps, the most notable part of the discussion. Given the many shifting workflows and processes, as well as the requisite migration of course content, the User Group agreed that the most critical part of the rollout will be protecting space at the School and Deanery level to ensure dedicated time to complete the necessary work.
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