 Welcome to our session at the week of Vogue Tech. We're so excited to see so many of you here. I'm Marin Debole, the CEO of the Association for Learning Technology. And I have a wonderful co-presenter here today. Hello. Hi, Marin. Thanks. My name's Emma Proctor-Leg. I'm the project manager on the Amplifier for your project working for Alt. Excellent. Thank you for saying hello, Emma, and hello to everybody who's joining us here. I'm really excited that we are first up on Monday, the first day of this week's event. And there is a really big program that we're part of as well. So thank you all for making time to joining us in this session. There is a lot to look forward to. Is there a particular session, Emma, that you're looking forward to during the week of Vogue Tech? Absolutely. So I'm really keen to go along to tomorrow's session on the knowledge shared where we've got one of the sessions being run by Lynn, who's been doing a piece of work for us. Fantastic, yeah. I'm looking forward to that as well. Also on Thursday, I'm looking forward to the Vogue Tech Showcase. This is the first time that I'm gonna be able to see a lot of the projects in person. So I'm really excited about that. But I have to say, I'm also quite excited about what we're sharing today, because today we're celebrating a launch of new research. So if you haven't come across AmplifyFE before, don't worry, we are going to tell you all about it and give you a full introduction in the next half hour. And after that, we're going to invite you to join us for a conversation on Twitter with the hashtag AmplifyFE. So at the end of the session, we'll tell you how to join in the conversation. And hopefully we can have a really good dialogue about the new research. But now onto our big launch. And this is the first presentation, the first preview of findings from the 2022 AmplifyFE Communities of Practice Sector Audit Report. And our focus for this particular part of the report is to look at communities of practice across the sector and think what's changed in FE and Vogue Tech. Now AmplifyFE is in partnership with U of 5 Architect Trust and the Association for Learning Technology. We are the leading professional body for learning technology in the UK and we represent three and a half thousand members from across different sectors, including FE and vocational education. AmplifyFE is a network of networks and we launched in October, 2020 and already connect over 1800 professionals. We work to really connect up the dots between different communities of practice, different interest groups to try and provide stronger networking for everyone in the community, professionals, providers and policymakers to share knowledge and collaborate. And our sector audit is a key part of the work that we do. And each year, we take a snapshot of what professional practice looks like across the sector. And I know, Emma, in a minute, we'll come to you and I know you'll do a deeper dive. But before we dive right into this year's data, I just wanted to highlight that as well as taking a general snapshot of the sector, which is our third one now, starting to provide some nice more longitudinal data, we're also this year having a specific focus on communities that promote inclusion, equality and diversity in the sector. We've looked at specific communities that support research and we've also looked at communities that have a particular subject focus. So today is the first day where we're launching the report and showing you a preview of all the key findings. But subsequently, there'll be a lot more resources coming out, helping you to explore these different aspects of the sector and what's happening in different communities of practice. But now, Emma, I'm gonna stop talking, I'm gonna hand over to you so you can dive in more to our findings. Thank you. So the first thing to tell you is that really that the audit has grown massively this year. So we've added in 146 communities, which is a huge number, far eclipsing what we started with. And that makes up groups that are from JISC and BEERA. We've pulled in all of the ALT special interest groups. So lots of individual tiny communities of practice as well. So all sorts are represented within this dataset. And as we've experienced previously, not only do we add some, but we remove ones that have disappeared and they've disappeared for various reasons. So again, some of those are JISC groups, some from ETF in relation to their SET groups. And then again, communities that are no longer being funded perhaps and therefore we're removing that data so that everything is giving you a clear up-to-date picture of what's happening within the sector. So I'm really pleased to say that there's actually 264 communities of practice within the audit. And you can see that that's more than 100% increase over the two years. So we're really excited by how great a number we're reaching in terms of capturing and demonstrating what the sector is made up of. I think it's fascinating that this is the first time really across FE and vocational education that we're starting to get a picture not only of what communities are out there, but also how they're changing over time. And fantastic to see that increase which really helps provide a more complete picture of professional practice and communities of practice. As we mentioned, ALT is an independent professional body and an independent charity. So we're very excited and grateful that UFI are supporting this research and working in partnership with us to really provide independent reports for the sector where we can chart from our perspective and for our members in the wider community how things are changing. There are a couple of key findings, reports coming out as well. So hopefully you'll be able to dive in inspired by today's highlights. Now, I'm not talking of highlights and I know we've had a look at different aspects of how the communities are active but where is this practice being shared? What did we actually audit? So we looked across a lot of social media platforms and I can report that as we found out previously that Twitter remains the most popular platform. So there are 109 Twitter handles that we've reviewed and that communities are continuing to expand into different social media platforms. So Instagram, for instance, has increased in numbers. We found that there's a massive increase in terms of mailing list use. We've got growth on the Facebook pages and groups as well. So closed groups on Facebook, LinkedIn is popular as well and this year for the first time we've had a group that is using WhatsApp as their main platform which I find really interesting in terms of whether people are choosing to use kind of more personalised platforms or whether they're going for something like Slack or TikTok which gives you a completely different audience. And again, for the first time this year we found communities that have grown out specifically out of Instagram which again I find a really interesting way of people sharing. So it's not just kind of your traditional platforms and both Teams and Zoom are popular because of continued need to do online meetings and actually that those aren't going away because it remains valuable to be able to connect with people easily. Absolutely. And that's one of the things we saw in 2020 in the first order that we did is that the use of Zoom and Teams as platforms it's very strongly linked I think to the emergency response and it's interesting how much these are now store words of kind of communities of practice online but talking of things that aren't changing and things that are remaining popular. I know that we have some more maybe traditional forms of technology and communication that are continuing to be very popular. Absolutely. So mailing lists and email newsletters are not going away. They're very kind of easy ways for people to share information with a wide group of people. And within this we looked at not just mailing lists but also those that are using just mail lists. So we found that they have continued to increase as well. And so we've got a total of 34 now using just mail lists. The interesting thing around it though is that actually there's subscriber numbers to some of those just mailing lists are reducing. So although it is a popular platform that people are using, the numbers don't remain and obviously that I think reflects how people are managing and dealing with a digital communication and if you're suffering from overload in your inbox then you can completely understand why mailing lists might be the first thing that you remove. Right. That's definitely something that we can all identify with overload on inboxes and notifications. But as you say, there's also other tools, social media tools that are being used for communities of practice and for CPD. What did we learn about Facebook communities in this year's order? So again, we found that there's more groups using Facebook groups. So opposed to just a Facebook page where you might be sharing sort of information out. So most of those are kind of closed groups. And although we've removed four of the original ones from the audit, so three of those were run by set and one was an AP Connect group. The removal of those relates to the kind of funding certainly for the AP Connect group. But we've seen that there's kind of massive growth in terms of the numbers using that platform. And actually some of the groups are very large but also we have a very small one. So the TeachHort UK group only has 10 members whereas the Microsoft education group is got 11,217. So massively different and showing the two sides really of the audit data in terms of a very big group run by an organisation and a very small group run by a group of practitioners who are teaching horticulture and other education. I'm always fascinated by how changes in communities of practice reflect changes in sector funding. So last year obviously we saw big departures of sort of really large communities and groups as business models were changing with the TES groups being all closed down and their forums closing. This year we've seen some of the AP Connect group and some of the SET groups to be closing. So it is a real reminder how much turmoil there is in the sector and how much things are changing for practitioners. And that is really one of the questions we're going to put to you later in our Twitter chat when you joined the conversation. So we're gonna want to discuss and learn more from you here in the audience. What are the motivators and barriers for you to connect with and engage with different communities of practice? And what really do you look for in a community of practice? Hopefully we can help find right ways to connect for you if you haven't already started to. So there's help at hand if you don't know where to start at all. But I want to dive a little bit deeper into how the conversation is growing. So Emma, tell us a little bit about the amplify FE hashtag. So it's grown massively in popularity over the last year or so. So in total, since October 2020, we've had 25,893 treats using that hashtag which is just, you know, to think of that from where we started is just amazing. And the hashtag is now being used across Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. And during the audit, we took a snapshot of how the hashtag was being used over a period of time in relation to other hashtags as well. So we know that hashtags that are using amplify FE as well as joy FE, UK FE chat, ed tech, teacher training, CPD community. So all things that we want to be associated with our hashtag has actually been used in those conversations. So it's really exciting to see that growth. Yeah, absolutely. I will remember, you know, when the hashtag first started to exist. And I wanted to zoom in on this image because that's one of the prints of visualization of the conversation. And if you head over to the amplify FE website, you can yourself explore this visual in an interactive simulation and see how the conversation is developing. But what I think is particularly fascinating and why this graph is so dense with so many user handles and so many connections, particularly if you focus in the center where there's sort of just gray lines intersecting. It is because it isn't a broadcast hashtag. It's not where people are just following messages or information. It's really where a whole conversation has been evolving for over two years now. And I don't know, but when I look at that, I can kind of see a wonderful messy, wibbly, wobbly ball of connections and conversation happening. What do you think? Absolutely. I just think it really captures how a community of practice in a network really works, that there are some big key players in there and they're having conversations and connecting with all of these other handles. So it really is just fascinating. And if you get two minutes to just go and have a look, you'll be able to kind of dig into that data and see how it's growing and expanding. Yeah, absolutely. So talking a little bit more about how the network is growing, I know that we do audit a large number of different hashtags and conversations and I'm sure there are many people in the audience today who really don't know where to start, who may be not that familiar with Twitter or just don't know where the conversation is happening that they're looking for. So Emma, what kind of can you offer as a waypoint what are kind of good hashtags to start the conversation with and maybe to check out when you're completely new? So I think when you're starting out, you just want to connect with different practitioners. So UK FE Chat is always a really good starting point in terms of it's a Twitter chat run once a week. So it's a very easy way in and you can just observe that. Obviously using our hashtag will get you connected with different people. If you've got an interest in research, then have a look at the FE Research Meet hashtag. If you're joining us from higher education, then you may want to have a look at the LTHE Chat, exploring different subjects. So if you are an English professional or a math professional, then English FE, Maths FE, they're always good options. So the hashtags that we've got on the screen in front of us at the moment are basically ones that have been added to our map. And I would encourage you that if you get an opportunity, if there's something that you think we should be aware of that hasn't been added yet, then add your hashtag to the map because it's forever growing and expanding. And yeah, just come and explore some of the hashtags that have been shared because they are being shared by communities that want to connect with other practitioners. So do explore that further. Fantastic. And yeah, that's one of the things, I guess, we ought to mention as well. There is opportunities to add yourself to the map. So as you can see, our collection is growing and we try and signpost different conversations for different subject areas and for areas of interest. But if there's something we're missing or maybe you have a network or community that you've discovered or you've started, do let us know and we can add you to the map, literally. We want to make sure that the findings from our communities of practice sector-ordered are useful to you. They are made for our community and individual practitioners can use our findings to help find support and build personal learning networks. You can find communities of practice on a variety of different platforms as we've just had a look at, including email, newsletters but also Facebook group, LinkedIn groups, all social media groups. And no matter what you're interested in, there should be a community or conversation where you can start, find the resources and join that conversation. If you are a provider and you're looking to either engage with communities of practice in order to explore market research, maybe test, get teachers input or look to just learn from and with teachers and practitioners and trainers, you can connect via our network and join the community space. But you can also use the data from the audit such as this one and our research report and insights reports to help baseline your provision. We're talking to teachers and practitioners and experts across the sector each year and publish our research findings openly for you to use. Data from our audit can also help inform strategy and policy, provides an up-to-date overview of practice as well as the crucial, the gaps in the provision. And some of the changes in funding that we were talking about earlier are causing gaps in provision and they are causing a lot of changes in the sector, which I know many of us are very familiar with. This is a long-established problem, but this audit data gives us an opportunity to track how these changes are affecting practice and how the conversation and how practice is changing. Now, there's more than hashtags and mailing lists. There are also a lot of resources and activities in the Amplify FE community space. And Emma, tell us more about the space and how we can get involved. So, yeah, we would love to get you involved in the community space. So it's a place to share and learn from each other, increasing access to learning technology expertise, digital pedagogy and professional development opportunities. And we'll talk and expand on that in a minute. We champion the use of accessible inclusive learning technology and we're trying to engage with FE groups and communities of practice and researchers. So working really across the whole of the further education and training sector in its widest terms. And we want to amplify the voices of professionals in strategic developments across the sector. It's all about connection. It's not at all about competition. So it really is like come and join with your community of practice and let us help to spread the good work that's going on. Yeah, I think that's a real call to action. And I know that you have more to share, but I just want to emphasize that I think one of the key reasons why we exist and why we do the work that we do is that there is a real lack of connection between different groups, between these little silos of expertise and insight. And with the current pressures that are on everyone in the FE and vocational education sector, we really want to make sure that if you do need help, if you are looking for know-how and expertise, you can go, you know, where to find it and you can connect with the people who can help. So how can we get involved and connect them? So we run lots of different opportunities to get involved, including twice-termly meetings where we run a spotlight on a particular practitioner. So if you want to come and share or talk through an idea with a friendly group of people, then, you know, this is an ideal spot, but equally, if you're a project and you want to come and talk and just get a feel for some feedback from FE practitioners, then, again, it's an opportunity for you to get involved. We offer a blog, so if, you know, presenting and talking on camera is not your thing, then we can do that with you. We do a podcast as well. And if you want to run a webinar, so if you've got 20 minutes of something that you would like to share in terms of what your community is doing or that you want to demonstrate something that you've been using in your own teaching practice or your project and you want to talk about what your project is working on and how it can help people, then that's an opportunity. And as you know that later today, we're going to be doing a Twitter chat, so we're getting involved with these as well. And just to signpost that our next community space, meeting date is the 2nd of December, so if you're available, then we're more than welcome you to attend. Excellent. Well, we hope to see many of you there and I'm really looking forward to what's in store for next year as well. And talking of what's next, mentioned that we have a lot more findings to share with you and obviously in a half an hour and in such a setting, we aren't able to share with you the full data and all the really rich insights that come from the report. This is only the first of a number of resources and data that we're publishing. So do head over to our website to find out more and get the report and also look forward to the next number of resources that we are publishing. But before we say goodbye, we really want to invite you to in about five minutes join our conversation on Twitter. We'd love to hear from you and I'm going to let Emma explain how to join. Yes, so hop on over to Twitter and then search for the Amplifier V hashtag. You'll find that we will be posting regular questions, so they'll be going from between 4.30 through to about 5.30. And yeah, come along, join in, use the hashtag when you put your reply in and be part of the conversation. We really hope that you join us and tell us what your questions are about how communities of practice are developing in FE and vocational education and also share with us your perspective. So come and join us using the hashtag Amplifier V on Twitter. And if you'd like to download this first report from the sector audit and if you'd like to learn more about the resources and research, please head over to amplifierv.alt.ac.uk forward slash audit and explore from there. I'm afraid we're nearly out of time, Emma and I've really enjoyed this session here at the Week of Rock Tech. Any final comments for you? Just to say it's been wonderful to have the opportunity to share this and looking forward to seeing all the other things that are being shared in the Week of Rock Tech too. And see you on Twitter. Thanks for joining us here, Emma. Well, on behalf of everyone at Amplifier V and the Association for Learning Technology, I just wanted to say a big thank you for all for joining us here at the Week of Rock Tech and we look forward to seeing you just in about five minutes here, joining the conversation. So for now, it's goodbye from Emma and goodbye from me. Thank you very much.