To meet the specific needs of University Human Resources Services, we developed a bespoke half-day training session. It was designed as a refresher on creating effective digital content and the fundamentals of EdWeb.

When we began our collaboration with University Human Resources Services (UHRS), one of the first things I did was interview their users of the content management system, EdWeb. This was to give us an insight into how UHRS were managing their content, how much time they were spending on maintaining the website, and any pain points the team faced.

A number of people in the team expressed a desire to have stronger understanding about the capabilities of EdWeb, and digital best practice generally. To help meet this need, UHRS asked us to hold a briefing designed to bring their team up to date on the features and capabilities of EdWeb.

This plan evolved into a half-day refresher training session comprising condensed versions of some of the training sessions offered by the University Website Programme.

Training courses – see the full range of courses we offer.

We held the session twice for UHRS, to enable as many people as possible to attend. Around 30 people attended in total. The group comprised a mixture of people from across the UHRS team and at various levels of seniority, as well as some colleagues from the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

Some of the attendees were seasoned EdWeb users and came for a refresher. Others were subject matter experts who will not be directly involved in publishing web content. These people attended to gain an appreciation for the capabilities of EdWeb, and best practice in digital content. This will make it easier for them to work with their EdWeb editors.

Areas covered in our sessions

Effective digital content

We presented a condensed version of our popular effective digital content training (formerly known as writing for the web). The full version of this session is mandatory if you want access to use EdWeb.

In half an hour, we outlined six key points in a whistle-stop tour of digital best practice. This was tailored with genuine examples from the Human Resources website, and we provided practical tips on how their content could be improved.

EdWeb users had their knowledge refreshed and brought up to date with the latest advice on digital best practice. Subject matter experts gained an insight into how to best prepare their content for their web editors.

Find out more about our effective digital content course.

EdWeb capabilities

UHRS specifically requested a live demonstration of the main features and capabilities of the EdWeb content management system.

We talked the team through key features of EdWeb, largely drawn from the Demonstrating EdWeb website.

Demonstrating EdWeb

We also provided a live demo of how to edit content within EdWeb.

Full EdWeb training sessions take place on a regular basis. This session is also mandatory if you want access to EdWeb.

Find out about EdWeb training and book a place.

EdWeb roles and responsibilities

There are a variety of different types of EdWeb user. This session briefly outlined the differences between each of those roles, focusing on the elevated responsibilities of lead publishers.

EdWeb for lead publishers (requires EASE login).

Pair writing

The final portion of the session introduced attendees to the concept of pair writing. This is a really efficient way of producing high-quality content.

Subject matter experts paired up with content editing experts. Each pair worked to improve a page on the Human Resources website. Some people even logged in to EdWeb to make their edits and publish the improved content to the website there and then.

We demonstrated how quickly you can make major improvements to your content, while developing your skills at the same time. Subject matter experts gained knowledge about digital content best practice from the content experts. In turn, content experts gained additional insight into the subject directly from the subject matter expert.

Create effective content quickly with pair writing – blog post by Lauren Tormey.

Get in touch to improve your skills

Find out more about the training we offer in our training courses section:

Training courses offered by the University Website Programme.

If a bespoke session like this half-day course for UHRS interests you, get in touch with us to explore options.

Contact the University Website Programme.