 Oh, I love those little videos. Welcome everybody to this fabulous workshop, introducing Kate Malloy who's going to be presenting familiar faces and shared goals, evaluating the impact of an open community during the COVID-19 pandemic. And I know you're here, Kate, representing a team of people. I am so excited to hear this because, you know, you were doing something anyway, and then the pandemic. So, you know, lots of learning from us all. I ought to introduce myself if you've not been in a session with me before, I'm Lou Mycroft and I'm introducing Kate, who is the part of the NUI Goalway Project Enhancing Digital Learning Team. So, wow, over to you, Kate. Thanks very much, Thu. And I'm really happy to be here today, folks, representing the team. So, as Lou said, we're going to talk about some work that was happening pre-COVID and how it adapted to the crisis we were in, but also helped us to build an open community. So, like Lou said, I am a member of the Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning Project team. And that project was up and running in 2019. I think I joined sometime in that summer. And it's funded through the HGA Innovation and Transformation Program. So, you can just see from the logos here that there are seven institutions across the IUA. And what the project, just to give it a bit of context, set out to do was enhance the digital attributes and educational experiences of Irish students in university. But in order to do that, what the project had to do was aim to mainstream digital teaching and learning and those activities that happen in Irish universities by addressing the professional development of all those who teach or support teaching and learning. And we're particular about that language, at our national forum for the enhancement of teaching and learning use. So, for all those that do teach or that support teaching like learning technologists, librarians, educational developers, et cetera. So, the project was already up and running pre-COVID. And it was a very different project at the time. So, there were four essential pillars that we stuck to in the early days of the project that we knew coming into it that there were a variety of team members from across the institutions that had been working in roles similar to myself. I'm a learning technologist. We knew that we weren't starting from zero, that, you know, there were great things happening in the universities, but we were hoping to mainstream more of these activities. We certainly were taking it from the approach of pedagogy first, is that we wouldn't be selling technology and selling techno solutionism, that we would be focusing on good practice and good pedagogy. What many of the team were doing and doing quite well was working with specific disciplines, schools, colleges, program teams, and working with small groups. So, just even in my own context, I was working with a very small group of staff prior to the pivot that got a lot larger after the pivot. And one of the most important pieces, and you'll see this evidence on our slides, I think in our next slide, is that we really wanted to include students as partners. So, eventually we did hire many student interns across the project, across the institutions, but the inclusion of the student voice and that partnership was core to those values that we set out with. And, you know, those values are still largely in place, though the project has taken a different shape. So, as you can just see here, evidenced with the team that was built. So, I said I'd come along in the summer. Obviously, you know, it can take a while to build teams across seven institutions, but what you can see the breakdown of here is team members from across those seven institutions. In the green, we have the project resources, the project manager Sharon Flynn, but in the black there we have listed all of our student interns across the institutions. So, we have a very dedicated group of students working with us. We have our intern Rory that works with the IUA team directly and the students that are out across the different institutions. So, that student voice has really been included and really valued throughout the project. So, a time just over a year ago when we were still meeting in person and still thinking about where to take the project in terms of staff development and staff support and building community. When the project team was more or less fully formed in January 2020, by February of 2020, we decided to establish this IUA Dig Ed community and we thought about our webinars that we would have regular webinars that would take place on Mondays from 1230. We would have them every two weeks. The topics would be mostly varied based on certain activities that either were taking place within the sector or expertise within the project team. I remember some of these early ones. They were very informal. They were based on our own practice. They were very much ports and all. They were not polished. We presented on topics like work and learning design or virtually connecting. I did a couple of those, but very informal and just very focused on sharing and sharing practice. So, we focused on conversation and questions. Discussion was encouraged and the way these worked, it wasn't a typical sign-up that we sent an email notification to a community list. So, we asked folks to sign up to a list and they were notified ahead of time and all of our resources were made openly available. So, at that time, considering that we were just before a major pivot, we were more or less guessing and anticipating that the folks that would be coming to these sessions would be largely those who support teaching, maybe more than teachers, tutors, academics. Just given the nature of what we were talking about, that the topics would be quite relevant to those that work in learning technology or education development or student support, librarians, et cetera. Obviously, really relevant to those that teach if they wanted to improve upon practice or really have some discussions within the community. But for the most part, we thought and could see from the folks that were coming along that it was more those who support teaching. So, then the storm brewed and on March 12th, we, I remember listening to the announcement myself, our teacher, Leo Radker, announced that schools and colleges were too short. And we didn't have much time to anticipate that change. And it came as, you know, quite a shock to a project that was already focused on enhancing digital teaching and learning now that all teaching and learning was essentially going to be digital. But we had expertise in the team and we had the strength and numbers to do something about that. So it was really important to the project team to regroup and refocus. So one aspect of that, and I suppose it came before even that the open COVID pledge from ALT was launched was that we did decide firmly that the resources would be made openly available. So anything that we did create would be on edtl.blog on the project website. And, you know, I suppose as the course of the year has gone on, we've really amassed quite a lot of resources. But Sharon Flynn, our project manager, on behalf of us did sign the open COVID pledge with the blessings of our steering committee with the project to make all of those materials that generated from the community webinars and other such work open. So it was very important to the core goals of the team. So our topics changed slightly. If you keep in mind that we only had about a month or so in between that we had really been planning these webinars for a very different space. We wanted to respond to the crisis and we wanted to support folks. So what we had a campaign around HE and isolation where folks really just went out there with their phones, they're out in their gardens or out with their desks and showed us their workspace and how they were coping and all of the stuff that we all went through. We had some very frank discussions on assessment and maybe step back a little bit from technology and talked about practice and approaches. We had some honest discussions with staff and students about assessment online in that crisis period. I'm sure many of you remember, you know, how we had to adapt in this year amount of work that went into changing that tide and really, really responding to moving things online. So we responded in those kind of early days, I suppose spring and summer after everything shut down to really focus on the crisis as it was and to really support anyone that was coming to these sessions to feel heard and listen to and become part of that community. So just to give it a bit of context in terms of numbers. So by last May, the general projection for the year, what the hope of the project manager was, is that we would have roughly 130 members signed up for the community in 2020 whole. And what we ended up with by mid-May last year as we had 136 members signed up to that community. And the breakdown, as you could see there, was largely split between education development and learning technologists. But with, you know, a decent representation, 51 there of those that identified as teachers. And that was, you know, maybe roughly kind of what was expected. We never thought it would it would vary too, too much that we thought it would mostly be around those that support teaching. But really importantly, that we were starting to see some interest from those that identify as teachers. So the numbers grew just ever so slightly throughout those months in 2020. So I had said that in May we had 136 members, as you can see through June, July and into September, we grew to 560 members as of September 2020. And as of right now, I believe when we checked it were roughly around 720 members of the IUA Dig Ed community that are actively receiving these resources, these emails and the invitations to these, these lovely conversations that we have. So how the demographics changed. So I've been focusing a lot on those who support teaching versus those that do teach. You can see where the numbers shifted slightly with that September bump that we had, at that stage, 340 folks that identified as teachers and essentially the numbers, you know, were really, really heartening to the project team to see those that identify as teaching or academic roles that, you know, really, really interested in coming along to this community that it wasn't just the people we expected to come or the people that would be interested in these topics that we were really reaching out. And by diversifying that demographic and even including folks from abroad and folks, you know, from outside the IUA sector that just anyone that was interested, we were really enriching that conversation and broadening those horizons, you know, for the conversations and really making some truly meaningful resources and content from those conversations. So another piece of work we did is just a frame how we aligned, aligned the webinars going forward that we were very, very careful, you know, throughout all of this that there weren't just webinars for webinars sake that there, you know, resources for resources sake, that there was intent. So the team worked really closely together and really intently, or I can even say intensely, to create what we call the EDTL approach. And these infographics are actually available and remixable. There's this is the general EDTL approach. There's EDTL approaches to programs and assessment and a variety of other topics. But we decided on these pillars around content and activities, engagement, assessment, reflecting. And we created a load of different resources under these pillars that we reused and remixed content that we've been using open lessons, open guides, anything that we could do to simplify things for our staff that we're thinking throughout the summer about what to do next, about how to remix and revise and redesign modules and, you know, teaching for a very uncertain September. And what's important about this aside from the fact that the resources are there and to point them out to you is the webinars then going forward, once we launched the EDTL approach, we're clearly aligned then to those pillars. You can see in the screenshot here that we have the webinar assessment and feedback, communication and engagement, content and activities. So the project team was able to not only create those resources that were available to staff, but then hold live sessions based on those resources and those approaches and clearly align things. And what this also helped to do, I suppose, in terms of creating open resources, is that the more recordings that are available and the more stuff that's literally available on the website that we were able to tag things and make things searchable and have a much more coherent structure of resources that are largely available, obviously asynchronously after the live sessions. So the most important part really of this session is really just to talk to you about the feedback and what this meant and what this meant to staff that were seeking this help and seeking a new community and a new network. So this is some informal feedback that we'd received, just even via email, that folks found the sessions really valuable, that they can follow them in their own time, that they really praise the work of the group. And despite having calendar clashes or not being able to get to the sessions, they liked really having access to the recordings and resources in their own time. And they were really, really, really interested in sharing a lot of that work with colleagues when they'd see something or see something useful and we got a lot of feedback around that as well. So just some more feedback here that folks were really liked the hour format, that there was a lot packed in, that it was useful, it was a useful hour of their time, it was well spent. And I particularly liked that comment around that it felt like an informal online course and how you teach online. That there was no pressure, it was light touch, but really when these sessions are being held regularly with familiar faces and familiar names coming into the sessions, obviously you do start to build that sense of community and it does start to feel a little bit like a course if you attended on, let's say, all of the webinars around the EDTL approach, you're getting something quite coherent and cohesive out of that. And just in terms of other feedback that just remaining positive and embracing the challenges, so I suppose that the vibe that came out of the group really was that we did soldier on despite everything and it's not that anyone wasn't going through their own personal issues throughout a pandemic, but I think that community of care and that the warmth that the project team really came through in some of those live sessions that maybe wouldn't have come through in just creating resources and putting them out on the website. So it's just been really heartening to see folks outside the project team, I should say as well, that come in and share their expertise and share their time so generously. So in terms of evaluation, getting on to our last piece, we sent out an evaluation about the community at the end of last year's, open I think through January, we received 37 responses, but the really heartening piece of this is around the engagement that if you just take a second to look at the breakdown here, have you engaged with the community? So we all know we sign up for things and you know, we don't always get to them or we don't always engage and it happens, people are busy. In this case, you have a pretty even breakdown around those that said they've either attended the webinars live or they've watched the recordings or I've accessed the resources or I have recommended webinars to colleagues, none said they hadn't engaged and I hear a lot of informal feedback around that as well at NUI Galway that folks that can't come or have a clash or maybe don't work on a Monday, you know, people watch them back, take some notes, look for some resources that are associated with it. So it's always nice to know that, you know, even if folks can't attend the live sessions that the resources are meaningful and that they're having an impact for staff that may be feeling like they're a little bit lost, trying to find their way as they redesign their teaching. So we also asked how useful are the webinars and resources to you and out of those responses, the average number was quite high 8.59 that anyone that had engaged found the resources really useful. And just in terms of question five that how would you was based around, have you changed your practice or is there anything that you would change about your practice based on coming to these webinars. And really, really hearteningly, you know, what have you learned or put into practice that the main findings that we took out of this report was that staff did say they had increased their focus on the student learning experience. That was, I think, helped and highlighted by the fact that we had such a strong student presence in the webinars, student led webinars, the presence of our student interns that, you know, the presence of the student voice, certainly that they had applied the resources in their teaching practice so that they had, because we I suppose got some stuff out there in good time, but also kept the community going and, you know, stronger and almost building momentum throughout the entire course of 2020 into 21, that there are resources there, there are good resources there, and we're massing those resources to some extent that we modeled good practice in terms of running the webinars at how to run an engaging live session, how to have online presence, you know, how to generate warmth and welcome your participants in an online session. There were comments around that, that they certainly learned something to take away from those live sessions. Our participants noted that, you know, anyone that was supporting staff development noticed that they could take away some of our tips and tricks from those webinar sessions. Others noted that, you know, enhancing their reflective practice, that having those conversations was really, really useful. And the other piece was, and I want to ensure I keep to time, is the membership of the community, is that feeling that you're a member of the community. So just very briefly, the community largely felt very collegial, very inclusive, quite diverse and felt very friendly. Some folks were too busy, time was an issue, they felt they were a bit limited, but we're all strapped for time. The really important piece of this is what's next. We've shortened our sessions to one hour, we're making sure that we're not keeping folks online too much, we know it's a strain, we know that this is very difficult. But in February 2021, and this is my last slide, so I'll keep to time, is we started joining the conversation session. So every second week, rather than having a formal webinar, but at the same time, same place, so that folks know where to come, we just have an informal conversation on the same topic as the previous week. But because it's lunchtime, we just encourage folks to come along, burn their lunch tea, coffee, and chat. And the conversations are not recorded because we don't always want to be on, we sometimes just want to sit back, have that support, have that, you know, that, that networking and that time, and even to vent just to other colleagues and to the project team and just really have a conversation rather than any formal session. And also we've learned from, from shifting to those type of sessions that in some of our recent webinars, we've taken a more conversational approach. So rather than presenting like this at someone for 20 minutes, we've had full on conversations where we're including everyone on the project team, including others, and just taking that more informal approach to these online sessions. So, you know, based on, based on all of that and many, many webinars and building that community, it's been really, really useful for us in sustaining really a lovely open community. And it's been great to work with. So if you have any questions. Brilliant. Kate, thank you so much. The warmth of the whole project really came through that practice and techniques of care. We're out of time, but what's brilliant is that Sharon has been in the chat. So she's been answering questions as they've come up. And maybe take some of that over to this God, but you've been an absolute joy. Thank you so much, Kate. Thanks a lot.