 Hello and welcome to this Hangout on Air about the next ALT strategy. Before we get started, we're going to introduce ourselves and I'm going to start with introducing myself. So my name is Martin Deepwell and I'm ALT's Chief Executive. And I'd also like to introduce Martin Hoekse who's helping facilitate the session today. Martin, do you wanna say hi? Hi there. Great, so we're going to facilitate the session today for our two guest speakers. And first, I'd like to introduce Vice-Chair of ALT. Sheila, you wanna say hello? Hello, I'm Sheila McNeill, as Martin said, I'm Vice-Chair of ALT. Great, and we're also joined by Martin Weller, Chair of ALT, Martin. Hi, I'm Martin Weller from the University and I'm Chair of ALT this year. Great, so the four of us are going to share with you some progress on ALT's current strategy and then going to talk a little bit about the new strategy. This session is mainly a presentation and we're recording the session so that for our follow-up discussions in the next few months, you can watch this if you can't be watching this live today and hopefully then have a basis for conversation because what we really want to hear from is our members and their ideas. But if you have any burning questions or wanna just give us a bit of input today, you can tweet at us and we're gonna use Twitter as the back channel for this recording. The hashtag is currently on the screen, it's at A-L-T-C, at old C. So you can tweet us now and you can tweet us at any point and we're gonna do our best at the end of the session to pick up those conversations. But now let's get started and tell you a bit about what this session is going to be about, which we're moving on to the next slide of the presentation. So today we're, as I said, going to talk a bit about our current strategy and use that as a starting point for you contributing your ideas. And as well as obviously joining us on Twitter, there are a whole host of ways of contributing your ideas. Firstly, we've got a strategy suggestion box which is an online forum to which you can add any ideas that you have at any point in time. Later this year in December, we're also going to conduct an expanded version of ALT's annual survey, which is going to focus not only on our normal questions about the services that we host and the trends in our community, but also ask you specifically about the kinds of things you'd like your association to do in the next three years. And then Martin, Sheila, and I are going to host online discussions where you can drop in and share with us your ideas, your thoughts, any criticism that you might have in November and December on the 10th and on the 8th respectively. So I'm going to kick us off with what's coming up and talking a little bit about how we've delivered ALT's current strategy, which is on the next slide. So our current strategy lasted 2014 to 17. So it ends in January next year. And we set out an ambitious new vision for the association following feedback from members from across sectors. And it didn't only include the strategic aims we're going to talk about right now, but also a clear articulation of the values of the association and its members. Then two years later last year, we published an update for members that showed examples of the progress we have made delivering the strategy and highlighting also the contribution from our community. But today we'll briefly take stock of where we are and then look ahead to the next strategy. So just as a reminder, before we get started on the next slide, you can see our aims that we set out. So we set out six aims, which Martin Weller in a moment will go through in more detail. But to start with, there were first intelligent use of learning technology, second research and practice. Our third aim was all around strategy and policy. Number four was representing members. Number five was leadership and professional development. And last, but by no means least, communication. And also on the next slide, we'll want to give you an overview of how we articulated our values as a community. Because we feel that Alta is a participative organization working with and for our members and encouraging you to take active roles in what we do. As an association, we're open to all learning and training contexts across the UK, but also internationally. We aim to be collaborative and supportive. Also innovative, agile and responsive, which is really key when your professional area that you support is learning technology and changes at a rapid pace. We want to be welcoming and inclusive. We are independent and self-funded. So Alta's been an independent organization for nearly 25 years. And we're supported by member contributions for memberships and events. And finally, we need to be transparent, democratic and fair. And those set of values that we've articulated, those have enduring meaning to us, regardless of what our current strategic priorities might be, and define how we operate and what we do as a community. But now, and we're moving on to our next slide, I'm going to hand you over to Martin Weller because what we want to look at first and share with you is the progress we've made, set out for the final year of the strategy, which comes to an end in January. So Martin, over to you. Thanks, Aaron. So going on to the first of those aims, this is intelligent use of learning technology. The idea is to promote the intelligent use of learning technology informed by pedagogy and evidence across learning contexts. And there's quite a lot of examples in there both from 2014 and 15 and from 2016 onwards. I'm not going to go through each of them. If there's a particular one that we want to talk about, then either tweet us or come in at one of the later sessions. And one that I thought I was particularly pleased about was the ALTS took over the OER conferences. So I chaired that in 2015. That was the first one that ALTS formally took over and it's now part of the conference umbrella with ALT, which is really great to add a really good conference in Edinburgh this year, OER 15. The annual conferences go from strength to strength. So you won't see this year as a really good conference. And there's lots of good blogging discussion that it promoted. And we run another, so there's also the Winter Conference and they've become a regular part of what we offer as well as kind of regular hours and strategic project work. So I don't know if you wanted to talk about any of that more sort of steering group strategic stuff about what we've been working on. Yeah, I think one good example of how we've been working with partners across the community is ALTS role in blended learning essentials. So that's an open course on future learn funded by the U of I trust. And as we say, led by a consortium for UCL Institute of Education, the University of Leeds, a number of sector bodies and also colleges. And that course is specifically designed for vocational education and skills practitioners. And one of the areas where ALTS has been able to add some value is in the pathways to accreditation, where for example, we've piloted a pathway to C mold from blended learning essentials. I think that's a really good example of the kind of work we've been doing with partners. Good, thanks. So I think those, the conference action are actually a really important part of the kind of tech landscape in UCL as well. But that's really good to see. So going on to the next slide, aim to research and practice. My idea here is to strengthen learning technology, research and practice through collaboration, sharing the networking nationally and internationally. A lot of that's driven through the journals and research and learning technology. And that's been really expanded in the past couple of years. So there's a new strategy for the journal, the editorial team and works on the platform. There's also been lots of work around the UTSU blogger which sort of transitioned from the newsletter and trying to get those two things to work together, particularly the blogging and the journal. So I think providing that outlet for people particularly moving from UTSU, the conference into formal publication is a really useful thing for how UTSU brings together that research and practice elements. I don't know if there's anything you wanted to add about that. I know we're in discussions about the journal at the moment now. I don't think so. I think you've covered it all. Good, thanks. So if we go on to the next one. So aim three, strategy and policy. So that is provide authority of input to education leaders to help create the development and use of learning technology. So we work through a number of areas here, Feltag and Etag. If I was to pick up one thing, you probably wouldn't surprise you that I think it's a very important champion of open lives and open approaches now. And actually there's not many people in the space who are doing that. So I think that's a really important thing for all to take on that kind of managerial pushing idea of open practice to politics in particular. So from 2016, there's been work, particularly in Scotland, but I might ask Shiva to talk about that. Do you want to talk about the Scotland policy? Yeah, well, just briefly, I think one of the things that all does really successfully is that it's a truly UK national organisation, but it doesn't forget about the differences in particularly with devolution. And education and the direction of education has always been managed, but separately from the UK as a whole. And it's been really interesting and very positive that Scots Alt is making more of a contribution. And last year we had a policy board meeting where we brought very stakeholders from across the Scottish landscape from HE, FE and schools and different organisations. And that was really positive. And I think that's something we definitely want to move forward in and making sure that we have a strong voice for our membership across the UK. And we're working with governments at every level. So that's been a really positive progression, I think, in the past year. Thanks, Shiva. Yes, I think just the input into things like working with the Department for Business Innovation, skills has been very important. And they've become quite a trusted voice, I think, in that sector, partly because you mentioned earlier that we are independent and self-employed. I think that's very important, because it's a very kind of objective and independent voice, I think, in that field. Let's move on to the next slide. Representing the members. So listening to and representing our members is the authoritative voice on learning technology's central role in learning. So we've come back to the survey. So we've revamped the survey and then ran the survey this year. So if you haven't had a chance to look at the findings of that survey, I highly recommend you do send some really interesting things that come out from that. You can see, I think partly it shows the diversity of members and their interests. Also lots of interesting things for us to think about. We've worked with a number of new member groups. And so if you haven't had a chance, look at that, the bottom link, see if there are special interest in member groups near you. I think you've pretty much got national coverage now, lots of new member groups setting up and lots of key areas of interest. So not in one of those groups. Please have a look, there's lots of good ones happening there. And we're also at links back in the parties to the previous side as well. Consulting on things such as the TEF and this digital economy. So again, the voice of autism is quite important in those new areas, I think. Don't there's anything you wanted to add to that? Section, Marilyn? I think that the digital economy consultation is one that stands out for me because I think it was a really wider consultation but it was important to have alt members' views and then learning technology angle in that. We were actually invited to give further evidence on that at the House of Commons. And I think there is real value in having an independent voice as a professional body and being able to contribute to those kinds of consultations. Some of them are really far reaching about social and economic changes and realities that affect all of our members regardless of which sector they're working in. So I think there is a lot more work for us to do in that area but we are making real progress there. Good, thanks, Marilyn. So to go on to the next slide, I'm five, leadership and professional development, creating and supporting leadership in professional development and learning technology. This is largely done through the CMORP programme. And so we have our 335 member fireworks and champagne. I think we send them a badge and a special certificate for the campaign. And I think that's been the kind of recognition of CMORP as a professional certificate. It's been really important now, I think, it's been going to really kind of gain traction, I think. We've also worked in the area of open badges and I think it's been a really interesting area to explore through the OCTEL course and although it's not running at the moment, it's archived and it's created commons, you want to kind of look at that course, it's worth digging into. Yeah, and so open badges link to CMORP and we're now able to link through a lot of the activities. So linking like things such as OCTEL, the journal and practice and the blended learning course all as part of that portfolio of what we offer in terms of professional recognition, I think. In an area that's seen real growth over the past two or three years. I don't know if Sheila or Mairi can speak to them. I think just from a purely personal point of view, I have taken great delight in getting lots of old badges this year and I think that's just a really nice kind of recognition from if you like my community as well. So it's great when you go to the conference that you get badge, when you present, when you get recognised for making a contribution to the organisation and that's really, I just love that. So I just want to add that. I think for my, I also have a personal interest in this area in particular because I put CMOLP through its paces in my own capacity and my leadership role and was awarded it in February after maybe too long that you would admit on this video. But anyway, it was a really rewarding experience and it's given me a whole new perspective on how the accreditation works for different job roles. One of the things that some of my colleagues have been working on this year is the new CMOL portfolio sharing initiative you referred to earlier. And I think that's been really interesting to see different perspectives on learning technology and how it's becoming more of a part of different roles. So I think that's one area for the association that's really interesting to develop in. Yeah, and just I recently submitted my CMOL application and looking through those portfolios was incredibly helpful. So I think, again, going back to some of our values about openness, I think that's a great example of that and just sharing practice because we're such a diverse but related community and it's great to see that and it's really, really useful. So if you are thinking about CMOL, have a look at the portfolios, really useful. Thanks both. So on to the final aim, communication. I'll be here to provide clear information for members, partners, agencies, politicians and the public about AAPS AAPS. I think communication is often one of those roles and tasks that people kind of take for granted but it involves a lot of hard work. We've done things such as stakeholder engagement, so here we link up with other people, there's ASCLI and GIS and I think all representing a kind of national body of that and having international links is very important. And I mentioned the special interest in members groups and we've got a new platform for those to allow them to communicate more easily, improve the use of the ALT-C hashtag which is I think really trending this year and also to try and make that just not a kind of broadcast route as well. It's about in get using forms such as Twitter to kind of engage with the community as well. I think perhaps the biggest thing here is probably something that doesn't make me an awful lot to members every day but with the transition to the CIO that took quite some time and I think it's putting a much better position as an organisation now. So I don't know if you wanted to just talk about that now. Yeah, I think it's a real milestone in the history of the association giving us a much more robust legal structure going forward and also ensuring that we can continue our kind of current governance structures with managed risks associated with being a growing association much more effectively. So I think members have really shown their strong support for that at each AGM in the year and it's a great milestone and sets for our future. So hopefully the next strategy can build on that. Yeah, I think it's a very important thing to get the chiefs of order on. So that's the end of the aims and our work so far on them. So over to Sheena now to start thinking about the next strategy and the initial feedback we've had when we asked people for service. Okay, so there are a number of ways that we're asking for contributions to our thinking for the next year. We've got the strategy suggestion box, so our online suggestion box. So please if you've got any ideas, put that in. As Marin said, we've got our annual survey and this year it's going to be extended a bit so that would be really great. If you're responsible in your organization for filling that in to maybe get some wider consultation in your organization as well or if you don't know who's responsible for it in your organization, find out. But please contribute to that. And also come to the sessions that are going to be run next month and in December where we're going to have a bit more of an interactive session around about that as well. And of course we've got our mailing list so at any point you can add suggestions to that as well. So that's some of the ways you can contribute. You know, if you get any other new ideas, things like a new member service or any other ideas, again you can, as I said, email them or email them directly to Marin. And I might just pass over to Marin to maybe talk a bit more about that as well. And yeah, I think at that point I'll hand over to you, Marin. Sure. I think one of the things that we want to expand on and share a bit with you today as well is some of the feedback that we've had from members who are very involved in the association because many of you take an active role in it, but we also have some committees and working groups of individuals who really shape what we do day to day. So we've started, we're going to come together in October to have a kind of face-to-face discussion day on strategy and we've asked members for some feedback. So I thought maybe Sheila and I might go through a couple of slides just to show with you some initial thinking. And I don't know, Sheila, if you want to kick us off and we can kind of, you know, all join in. Okay, yeah, great. So yeah, some of the initial feedback from the survey is in this diagram here. It's quite interesting to look at it. We've been having a discussion about it just before we started, but I think it's really positive to see at the heart of it those three C's of community, collegiate and collaborative because I think that really does sum up the organization, certainly for me. There's some quite interesting things around about there. Obviously people, I think, appreciate and recognize the professional nature of what we all do and of the organization itself. Our reflective role that we're quite inclusive, that we share and we're supportive. And I think our continuing support around open educational practice is an example of that. Again, we try and make our events as open as we possibly can. Quite interesting sort of juxtaposition here. Recognize for being agile and informed and for being innovative. And I think we do try as an organization with, I have to say, a very small core team. I think the kind of innovative work that we do as an organization is something we should be very proud of. But on the other side, there are some people that maybe think that we're maybe, I don't know if this is just a reflection on me and Martin being a bit old, but we're maybe broad and slow. But hopefully that's maybe someone who has, or that view can be changed. But yeah, certainly there are some things that we maybe have some traditions. So I think it's good to have a conversation around about those sorts of things as well. Obviously our research is important. And I think the way that the journal has developed over the last couple of years, has been incredibly positive. Our new editorial team, I think, have taken on a well-established journal, but they've been agile and innovative and they've moved things on. And I think that's really positive for the sector. And in terms of our practice, I think all is ultimately about sharing effective practice. And it's quite a practical place to go to. And I think most, I mean, I certainly think that a lot of our members and I certainly take this view, we're all very pragmatic. And I think that's very important, particularly in this day and age, when things are changing so rapidly and so quickly. And also, as we've alluded to before in terms of the work we're doing with other organizations on a sectoral level, I think we're becoming recognised as an authoritative, respective and authentic voice for the community. So these are just some of the things that are coming through. But again, we really need to get some more feedback. So as we're developing our new strategy, we're taking in as many views as we possibly can from you in the community. So I think if we, just before we move on to the next slide, is there anything, Marin or Martin, you would like to add to that? No, I think I agree with you. There's a lot of things that we're always trying to get better at. And obviously looking at the strategy, we're trying to be honest with ourselves as an association areas that we can improve. So I think it's interesting, Sheila, where you're leading now for areas that of members have suggested that we could do more in. Yeah, so we've got a number of areas for development. Of course, we do have recognition every year for learning technologists of the year for an individual and for a team. But perhaps we could maybe start extending that in terms of research and maybe have some kind of research prize or recognition on a yearly cycle as well. Another interesting thing, and I think this is maybe coming out of some of the work around the sharing of portfolios for Seamalt is maybe having a mentoring scheme. And I know that this actually happens quite a lot informally. I've certainly spoken to many of my peers as I have probably taken far too long in getting my Seamalt missions done. But maybe formalizing that in some way would be useful. It's something we could look at. And then again, thinking about different progression routes for Seamalt and how we continue to align it with UKPSF and other national frameworks. I think that's going to become increasingly important as more of us have to have those qualifications for a job, you know, they are a requirement. And I think it's great to see that Seamalt is on a par with some of these things as well. So how can we look at those routes and support our memberships in that? We really want to start thinking about our branding and communication. I think we, as an organization, I think we're continually striving to improve that. But if there are any suggestions that people have about how we could improve that, we're always open to that. So any suggestions on that? And I think as we talked through earlier, I think we are now having more influence on national policy and representing our membership at UK government, at Scottish government level, Welsh as well, and in all the devolved countries. So I think any ideas and suggestions about how we can continue to do that would be very welcome because I think that's a really important role in something we do need to focus on in the future. What are the benefits that we can share with members? How do we share the benefits that we've all had as members of all? How can we share that more effectively? One of the ways to do that is think about our member groups. Our membership mailing list is always very active. And in the last month, there has been a number of new member groups being suggested. So we're continually looking at that. But how can we actually support that? Whilst we want to support as many member groups as we can, our core organization and core staff is very small. They do a fantastic amount of work. But if we want to have member groups, then we as members of the organization are going to have to think about how we can manage that and what's the best way to manage that. And obviously, you know, there's kind of that quid pro quo because we don't want to get asked too much of people. And already we know that people go above and beyond in terms of supporting and running groups. But any ideas you might have about that would be really, really welcome. And these are the kind of things that we'd like more of your input on. I don't know, Marino and Martin, if you want to add anything at this point as well or if you think we've covered that. I can only echo what you say, Sheila. We're really open to ideas and this initial feedback from members is really interesting. But I'm sure we'll have a lot more feedback coming in the next few months. Yeah, absolutely. And just to sort of wrap up this section, there are some other things that we want to think about. And we kind of led on from that, you know, thinking about our capacity, our sustainability and what we can actually do because we want to keep doing things well, how we can respond to not just the changing nature of roles that people have, but I think the wider changes that are happening in the political area in terms of FE and HE. And obviously just now, we're living through a momentous period of change around about the UK's relationship with the rest of Europe. So there's going to be lots of changes coming through and none of us know what's going to happen for there. So we need to think about that. And also we need to think about how we interact and how we engage effectively with other sector bodies as they're evolving as well. And of course, as we're thinking about, you know, not just about our closest neighbours in mainland Europe, but we need to think about how we interact with our international partners. Obviously we have Askalite, a very close association with in Australia and New Zealand, and the Irish Association of Learning Technology, but where else can we start making more significant links to help our, as is an organisation, and also to start showing more of our view on the effective impact of learning technology and education and how we can make sure that our UK narrative is being shared as widely as possible with the rest of the world. So I think there's just some other things to think about. There may be more, but I'll hand you at this point, I'll hand you back to Marin. Thanks, Sheila. Thanks, Martin. I think there are certainly a lot of challenges and hopefully part of our consultation process will help tap the expertise and knowledge of our community to help us formulate our future together. So we want to close this session before we take any other questions, just by reminding you about the different ways you can contribute. And Martin, Sheila and I will be online again for open conversations that you're going to be able to be part of, talking to us in November and December, and then the survey strategy box and other opportunities are also there. I think one of the real privileges of serving this association is that a lot of people really feel they have some ownership over what we do and we really want to hear from you. So hopefully this little overview today has given you an opportunity to reflect on what we've achieved together in the past three years. I'm sure we all feel that we could achieve a lot more in the next three. So let's try and build that vision together. But I think we're probably going to say thanks quickly and then have an opportunity to pick up any questions. I don't know if our colleague Martin Hooksey who's been helping me facilitate can give us an update on if we're overrun by questions using the hashtag, but in the meantime, thanks from me. No questions, excellent. Well, we have been so clear and good at explaining that no one's got any questions. So Martin and Sheila, I wonder if you want to have the opportunity to kind of make any final comments and say anything about looking forward to our next conversation about this. Well, really, we just want to hear as much as we can from the membership. I'm quite looking forward to hearing what people have to say. Because, yeah, we just don't know, and there could be just something that you've been thinking about and you think, oh, I wish I would do that, but you haven't had an opportunity to say. So just really looking forward to finding out more for our membership because you've always got great ideas and just allowing us to really represent the membership and take the organization forward for the next three years. And if we can be as successful as we have been for the past three years, then I think we're in a we're in really, really good shape for the future. Yeah, and I'd just say, I think we live in interesting times, as Sheila said. I think both in terms of where higher education is going, but also the role of educational technology within higher education politically and also the strategy, I think, is really important going forward and it's in a very good place strategically to help shape a lot of those debates and discussions. So please contribute. Thanks, Martin. Thanks, Sheila. We've had some nice feedback on Twitter from Moira. So we're going to give her a quick shout out. Thanks for participating. It's good that you're finding it useful to hear us think aloud as a team. Hopefully next time the team will be bigger when we have our open conversations in November and December. And also looking forward to seeing out members in different events and in their institutions between now and January. So I think on behalf of all of us on the whole Board of Trustees and our membership, I want to say thanks for listening and hopefully thank you for your contribution. Please all say goodbye. See you soon.