 Yn y gallwn amser, I'm Sarah Knight, head of learning and teaching transformation at JISC. Delighted to be joined by my colleague Simon Burkett, so we're going to do a bit of a double act, but before we start our presentation I do also want to acknowledge Lou McGill's work in this, as Lou's work has been very central, but she's not with us here today. So I want to just share with you a very brief overview of what we're going to be talking about in this session. It was great to have that panel discussion and to hear some of the challenges around implementing digital technologies across such a diverse and large-scale organisation like UCL, so that's warmed you up nicely. We're going to start by asking you to think about what digital transformation means in your context, that's always a good question to get people going because everyone has such a different perspective, and then we're going to share some of the work we've been doing at JISC, working with universities over the past year to really support their digital developments and at a strategic level working with senior leaders to start thinking more holistically about their approaches to digital transformation. Now I'm hoping you'll engage in this activity. We set up a padlet for a previous event where this activity worked really well, and rather than saying, can you define digital transformation? I'd love you to perhaps either think in your mind or scribble on a notepad or just make some notes on your laptop. What does digital transformation mean to you? Thinking about your role, thinking about your context, thinking about your organisation, and if so, what type of animal could it be? Or perhaps what kind of car could it look like? If you are interested in taking part in that or if you just want to have a look at some of the range of images that we've gathered through some of our previous events on the padlet, please do. But I think it does show that wherever we are, wherever our role is, we will have a very different perspective of what that means, but also the agency we have over being able to make that strategic change within our organisation. And of course the audience of OLD has always been very much at the heart of driving forward those developments. We at GISC have built on the definition that was published back in 2020 by EduCourse, and we like this definition in particular because it really focused on culture, it focused on people, and it was a lovely yesterday morning to hear Anna-Marie talk about people being the real engine of digital transformation. And I think we often forget that at the heart of what we do, we have our students as we heard this morning so eloquently. We have ourselves who all have a role in driving forward that change in order to enhance, to improve the student experience. So yes, we need to be thinking about the technology, we need to be thinking about how we're using it, but we also need to be thinking about workforce development and the real culture change that needs to go along with that. So for us when we're talking about digital transformation, it's how digital is impacting on all those different aspects in that model there. First and foremost it's about people, it's about expectations, capabilities, experiences, and how we gather not just our student views but our staff views of their experiences. We also need to be thinking about how we take forward our leadership around digital and that was an excellent presentation and discussion that we heard from Tim and his colleagues around that leadership role and the different types of roles that are needed within an organisation to move that forward. But we cannot also ignore the investment, the strategic planning, and of course underneath that ensuring that we do have that robust and reliable infrastructure that needs to be there. But I think again we've been hearing throughout the course of today and yesterday that the influence that space has. I mean we're standing here in this very beautiful lecture theatre today. We're here face to face but we also have our colleagues participating online and we need to be thinking more about how we start building that blend of the in place and the virtual and looking at the ways in which we can move those together. And we have got a fabulous new publication that I'll sign and just to hold up and wave and do you get from I Just Stand when you have a chance. And Helen Beatham and Sheila McNeill have produced an excellent set of resources which Helen is going to be running a workshop on at 345 which goes into more detail about our space, place and modes of learning. So what does digital transformation look like in your organisation? Thinking back perhaps to the picture you might have in your mind of an animal or of a car going back now into your university or into your college. What does it actually look like? Some of those questions and prompts there have been quite useful in the discussions we've been having with the work we've been doing with our working groups and universities just to start thinking about the skills, the digital capabilities, absolutely fundamental really the building blocks of enabling an organisation to move forward. How about how are your senior leaders engaged? I have to say through the work we've been doing over the past year senior leaders are far more engaged now in recognising the need to have that holistic strategy for digital and making that investment but also thinking about the curriculum. We've been hearing some fabulous sessions putting the focus back in on learning and curriculum design, assessment design, thinking you know parking AI outside the door and really going back to those principles of what does good learning look like. How do we start making that blend? How do we start having and exploring and experimenting and rethinking the ways in which we can design our assessment? And underpinning all of that, sometimes the elephant in the room still is the data that needs to be there to really ensure that we can link up the data and the learning between our technical systems. So a year ago Nick Skelton and I stood here and we shared some of the very early findings of the research that Nick was doing around digital strategies in the UK. And we published that report earlier this year and that's a really great read to look at how universities are tackling and developing their digital strategies. There is no one one way. There are very many different approaches that universities are taking but it gives some really good guidelines around the principles and the sorts of areas that we should be exploring. As I've said we've been very fortunate through the work we've been doing to have high level engagement from senior leaders across the sector and we're seeing new roles come to the fore as well where senior leaders are being appointed at provice chancellor level or dean level for a focus on digital transformation. Again pulling together all those disparate strands across the organisation into one. And recognising as well that this is not a one-off. It's not something that we are going to be probably ever achieving because technology is always evolving and so is the practice around it. But thinking more strategically about the process and the iterative process that we should be going towards going through. Whether that be thinking of our senior leadership perspective whether it be in the roles that we all have but thinking about the ways in which we are looking to the future we are baselining we're evidencing our practice. We are looking at the ways in which we can strategically think about how we are implementing our digital technologies across all areas of the university. And that really led us on to thinking about a more strategic way for us to support the sector with digital transformation. We published our framework for digital transformation which Tim alluded to in his presentation in March and that really has set out a structure for being able to identify the dimensions or criteria that we should be considering when we're talking about digital transformation. Simon is going to share more around our next area of work which is to develop a maturity model so that we can baseline where we are at with our digital maturity. And also look at the areas for improvement the areas where we need more investment and to have some sector-wide baseline and benchmark statements that we can use as a sector. And then looking at how we can take that forward into achievable action plans for each dimension. So a very complex landscape in which we're working in and our framework has Tim said yes there are 80 pages in there because it shows within an institution that digital transformation is complex and we may only be interested in the areas that we are focused in but we do need to recognise that we have to join up those other areas across the organisation. You'll see that our framework there has digital and physical infrastructure at the heart but equally there's a very large wedge as we call it for organisational digital culture because that is where we really need to be having the investment. It's there that we're looking at the leadership the digital capability the wellbeing aspects the ethical aspects around technology. And then we have our four core practice areas which relate to the areas of what we do within an organisation whether that be research whether it be learning and teaching and assessment the way in which we are using the management of information and knowledge and data and also looking at the ways in which we exchange knowledge and work in partnership. So we hope that framework can start to give a shared vocabulary for understanding what we mean by digital transformation and helps to bring together those different stakeholders within the organisation to work collaboratively to move our sector forward but first and foremost it focuses on people it focuses on practices and not just on process and technology. So a screenshot just of one of the areas if we're thinking about knowledge development which obviously isn't an area very relevant to our audience here today we are thinking about curriculum development and design we're thinking about the learning and teaching assessment that takes place and importantly we're thinking specifically around our learner experience and all those areas that our students were we're talking about this morning. So I'm going to hand over to Simon now to talk through our next stage of development our model for digital transformation. Thank you Sarah. So as Sarah has already mentioned the consultation that we've undertaken with this work has been absolutely far reaching we've involved as many people in this process as we can our working group our senior members working group is currently over 200 strong and we have consulted with a range of professional bodies a range of professional societies and as we've looked at the various strategies already in place to inform our HE version of it you can see that there's been extensive conversations we've been working very closely with sector bodies so Alts have been involved in this conversation from the very beginning and we've been working very closely with USISER as well around their HIRM model and their BTS model to ensure that what we produce when it's then interpreted within an institution is familiar to work that might have already have occurred or aligns to some work that's already there. Our models are in isolation we do have a range of other models that you can tap into that cover the elevation tool AI and the organisational capability maturity tool this slide deck will be shared afterwards so if you can't quite grab all of those QR codes given that together you'll be able to do that afterwards so assessing the levels of digital maturity Sarah talked about being able to identify where you are as an institution and what those opportunities may be where your strengths and weaknesses sit what the culture might be like within the institution so being able to use our maturity model to give you some sort of benchmark will enable you to work out how far you've got to travel how far you may have already travelled if you've already started this journey but it also allows you to look at how you benchmark against other institutions to give you an idea of what those next steps may be A lot of the work that we've been doing around this area is about sharing best practice and towards the end of the slide deck I'm going to share some of the events that we've been running which we've got others in the pipeline as well and they've been a great opportunity to help people start to assess it's been conversational but now that we've got the maturity model in place that gives that formality to that process which is really important so within the maturity model we've gone for a three-step approach which is emerging to established established to enhanced and enhanced to mature so this is really important I'm not going to read all of the bits underneath but basically it splits into three if you're in the emerging you might have a slightly distributed approach with pockets of specialist activity pockets of really good practice as you start to move to the established area things are becoming a little more strategically aligned your funding starting to fall into place people are being recognised and practice is being recognised for its benefits and then you start to head into the final one which is that enhanced and mature and it's been really interesting to listen to some of the presentations over the last couple of days and I don't know if anybody was in Peter's presentation this morning but you can clearly see that the investments that are going on and the practice and the cultural changes occurring in Peter's institution is certainly sitting in that lower area but this is really important that you've just taken that into note because we'd like to use our friends from Vvox are going to run a poll now and we would like you to tell us where you think you sit as an institution in those three areas so emerging to established this is also and obviously totally anonymous as you can be very honest established to enhanced or enhanced and mature and obviously for our colleagues online it'd be great if you could take part in this as well there's a QR code okay can we have a look at the result cool oh that's interesting that's really good well that's very encouraging for us to see that the vast majority of you are sat in that central area of being established to enhanced so you've already got some really good things going on in your institution there is recognition there are probably funding streams there is some sort of strategic conversation going on about practice infrastructure and all of those supporting aspects that pull it together thanks very much guys can we go back to the slide terrific so one of the benefits of having both the framework and the maturity model it gives you some steps to to think about taking to head towards maturity so it's about those strategic decisions it's about recognizing what's good what's valuable the practice that you want to amplify and and support within an institution it's also about looking at systems how you use data what practice is good and listening to the the heartbeat of your institution and this enables us to then start to bring together the framework as a something to work towards and the maturity model to help you measure as to where you might sit within that now if some of this has been of interest to you Sarah did mention and I've just mentioned as well about our working group I think we've probably got quite a lot of you actually involved in this already if you're not involved we would have seriously liked you to to do so if you use that QR code that lands banging my own email box and I will get you into there's a team site it's quite an interesting time at the moment because we've got a lot of practice we've got a lot of information that's currently being shared all of the work that we're doing is kind of coming to a little bit of a head at the moment so if you would like to please do and it would be great to have you on board and yeah that's just saying the same so there are other opportunities to get involved we are now looking to pilot the framework and the maturity model for real and for life within institutions so we are looking for partners in this particular area so if you are interested and would like to come and have a conversation with us would you please just track us down afterwards or drop one of us an email like contact details are widely available and we will be able to work out how you can get involved with us going forward and obviously the pilot of it will then reinforce some of the really good bits about the framework and also help us refine some of the bits that still need further development and I did mention this earlier I think one of the greatest things about the work that we've been doing is actually running the events in institutions so we ran four events in the last academic year sorry we've got a transition we're having trouble getting rid of here and they were really positive they were very engaging and we actually have terrific feedback because you're actually hearing the authentic voice of senior leaders and leaders with institutions about the change that they've delivered what they've been through what the challenges were and what they might do differently next time so they're very honest and they're fantastic forums for exchanging information the resources are all there there's a podcast associated to each of the events there's also a member story and then for next year and this information will be published via our working group we've got five events in the pipeline at the moment that cover a range of things from infrastructure strategic development and the whole range of things around curriculum design flexible learning that are in the pipeline so please keep an eye on the if you do join the working group keep an eye on the working group and it'd be great to have you along to come and share some of your practice and I think we've probably got a couple of minutes now for questions if all guess our final plug is on all the desks there's a flyer with the QR carried for our maturity model and digital transformation framework and the new guide that will be launched sort of later September so just do pick up one of those as well cool thank you thank you very much Sarah and Simon and again I'm hoping that we've got some questions on Vvox that you could that you could answer as well oh we haven't got any anybody in the audience got any questions no Nick I was going to repeat what Nick was saying but I will take the microphone to him if you drew digital transformation what would you draw shall I go for it I'd do a really bad car to be quite honest with superchargers all those sorts of things that enable you to take things off take things off when you need to and be a little bit flexible but I have to say my drawing skills are appalling and I wouldn't want to share it so he's not so much we've got another question from Tim we'd love to see the drawing that you've put down Nick brilliant thanks my question is about the what your vision is for how the transformation framework and then later the maturity model are going to be used because in the past at UCL we have engaged with maturity models like A code and other things and these were all in the context of almost top down even though the information collection involved a lot of colleagues from different parts of the organization it was very much a senior leadership tool and the results were effectively I would classify them as top down recommendations and then you talked about organizational culture a lot so I'm wondering I mean it's not your job to implement it but it's kind of you've taken on developing this framework and I suppose just has always been good and providing additional guidance so I'm wondering what type of guidance will come out and will this also address layers above the senior below the senior leadership layer that's a great question Tim and I think you know we are very much aware that we need that this is not one person's responsibility or one group's responsibility so much of this has to engage the organization and staff within it and students within it in order to be able to look at where to give an accurate accurate measure of where that baseline or benchmark is that you're starting from but it's also an opportunity I think as well to actually recognize the practice that is going on within an institution and to start breaking down those silos that do tend to still exist you know if we're thinking of well research is over there international oh we don't need to worry about international because that's over there but actually you know all of this does need to have a seamless flow through in terms of the curriculum the student experience the you know the underpinning infrastructure the spaces so we need to be starting to have those broader conversations across we envisage the pilots to work together with us and some of you and I know because you're in the room may remember some of the previous programs that we ran at JISQ where we brought projects together to actually share that practice and I think one of the things that we have been as Simon mentioned what we're seeing through those events that we've been running is that it's again giving people that opportunity of learning from others because everyone is at a different place on that journey but being able to share what's work what hasn't worked so well and to be quite honest and open around that and then for us to be able to start to record those models those approaches that different universities are taking because not one size fits all as we know and we will know that there will be very different ways we've already had universities come to us to say actually this is going to help us work out what needs to to go into a digital strategy that we might be writing so again I think it's very dependent on where that institution is on their digital transformation spectrum or journey as to the approaches that they may take but hopefully it will start certainly making organisations realise the complexity and the variety of roles that need to be involved not just solely learning technologists or IT that are then supposed to solve the problems for everyone There's some questions have come up on VVox now which I'm sure you can see Do you want to take the bottom one first before that disappears so as a member of academic staff can I join the group yes yes please so although there's a whole range of senior staff in there it's also influenced by people that are actually doing the work and are at the front line and it's very important that we get those voices as well so yes please you're all very welcome to join the group Shall we start at the top Does maturity always mean more embedded and integrated or might there be mature models that are highly devolved I think that picks up on that previous point around it depends on on the organisational culture we know that in some universities there is going to be a very devolved culture and hence you know with the model we were thinking that some universities may just want to look at it by faculty or by department even to accelerate some of their digital developments we know that there are cases and examples of universities that are having that more integrated approach Simon have you got anything to add on that one Yeah I mean I guess this is the thing it's dependent on your institution without doubt but I think this goes back to the demonstrating digital transformation events where we're choosing people that have delivered change and successfully so so that's quite often a route in to help with this approach of embedding, integrating or whether you have a diverse model I think the thing is it needs to have that strategic approach so that everybody knows where they're going everybody understands what the end game is and how you get there and the values and the benefits and that the cultural side of things are addressed within the framework the overarching piece of work is around culture and having listened to many of the presentations about compassionate leadership different approaches to technology adoption that people are the most important thing it's not the technology Okay the next one do you think this type of assessment or model will work in an institution whether term digital or digital transformation is a bit of a dirty word and do you think that it can be used to get buy in from academic staff and senior leaders? I would say that we don't that if digital is a dirty word or digital transformation is how are we going to really ensure that our organisations are keeping up with the expectations from our students from a global workplace you know one of the things I think you know we need to keep it the forefront of why we're doing this is actually to ensure that our graduates leave with the skills they need to be employable that might be the digital skills it might be the awareness of the latest industry trends but we really do need to be keeping up with what is happening in the commercial world and outside of our walls of the university Senior leaders I don't think have got an option not to recognise that this is an important part of their agenda this week colleagues of ours are at UUK where again our CEO is going to be addressing the vice chancellor is around digital transformation we've got a lovely quote from one vice chancellor who said if this is not on vice chancellor's agenda they shouldn't be a vice chancellor so I think certainly there is more buy in from a senior level and for academic staff we really hope that this gives you the agency to make the changes that you need to be making within the classroom within the work you're doing whether that be supporting staff or whether it be at the forefront of working with students in their learning we cannot get away that digital is there and we really need to be using it more effectively and more appropriately and having the investment to support that and the staff development of course to support that too I think we've got one more question does digital maturity align more with top down or bottom up drivers for digital change that's a really good question I'm not going to give a definitive answer because I think it's a combination of both going back to the previous question if digital is a dirty word if your practice is seen to be effective, innovative and it's driving recruitment of students that starts to become something that they may want to adopt at a higher, more strategic level and to emulate that best practice so I think this is a combination of the two I think there's probably some really interesting research between the tipping point between bottom up top down and working out what those drivers may be so thank you for that question and I think we wouldn't be here without the work that adults and the art community and others have done over the past 30 years to get us to this point so I think we also have to recognise that the ground up has had significant impact on taking forward the digital change within our sector and I think also just to say that we're constantly thinking we need to do better but we've had a lot of international colleagues wanting to join the work reflecting that the work we're doing in the sector in the UK is innovative it is leading the way in many many cases so I think we also need to be recognising you know that what we do we are doing a fabulous job and you are all doing a fabulous job in your organisations thank you and on that very positive note thank you very much to Sarah and Simon if you can everybody show your appreciation