Category: Uncategorised

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Contextual Statement

I have been a Service Manager in the Micro-credentials team within the Digital Learning Applications and Media (DLAM) section, based in Information Services (IS) at the University of Edinburgh since 2022. My current role is focused on supporting the implementation of two new University projects: the open digital badges and the short courses platform.

I moved to DLAM in 2021, as a service coordinator supporting the full range of services the team provided. My main focus was on continuing the work on the Captioning Service Pilot which started in 2019. This is when I became more involved using a variety of multimedia tools, to support and manage a team of human caption correctors processing and correcting automated captions added to public facing videos on the media asset Media Hopper Create.

In 2020 I moved to IS, as a Student Intern Supervisor. This role was aimed at managing a team of student interns who investigated and assessed the quality of our University’s student spaces. Unfortunately, the project came to a rather abrupt end when the Covid-19 pandemic started, as we lost access to these physical spaces and moved most our work in the digital environment.

Prior to my move to IS, my experience in the HE environment consisted of working for three years in the School Office at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. It was in this role that I became accustomed to the wide range of services and platforms used in Learning and Technology at the University. A lot of my work included supporting academic and professional colleagues as well as students in their daily use of platforms such as VLEs (Learn, Moodle etc.), media assets (Media Hopper Create and Media Hopper Replay) as well as registration and enrolment systems. As I progressed through this job I have noticed my capabilities in the digital environment and management.

My background is in linguistics: my qualifications include an undergraduate and a postgraduate degree from University of Edinburgh: (MA) English Language and Linguistics and (MSc) Developmental Linguistics. Therefore when I was seconded to work on the Captioning Service Pilot it seemed like a natural continuation for my career and an opportunity to apply my academic knowledge. It was whilst completing this work that I decided that a journey in the Learning and Technology field would be my chosen path.

I am applying for my CMALT as I feel this will give me an excellent opportunity to reflect on my career so far. The last three years have provided me with a massive learning curve and I think this is the perfect moment to look back on what I have achieved, the competencies I have developed, as well as help me understand what I can look forward to in my future career plans and how I can support myself in developing further.