Outputs of the engagement

Feedback from participants was very positive and many commented that they felt better briefed through this form of engagement than would otherwise be the case and that this context would help when considering future investment decisions. This met the broad aims of the engagement but there was also a strong commitment to have tangible outputs from the event. The four key themes going forward were:

• academic staff roles in the digital age: recruitment, induction and staff development (led to formation of a HR/LTI working group to take this forward)
• e-learning: baseline engagement and student expectations (actioned as a paper to Academic Development Committee - 22 May 07)
• information and interaction fluency skills and support (led to establishment of institution-wide Digital Fluency Initiative and appointment of a Principal Lecturer in the LTI to lead the initiative)
• technology and the broader student experience (supporting the further development and exploitation of the shuspace environment extending its scope along the student lifecycle and making greater connections between marketing materials and e-learning activities)

An update on progress for each of these key themes was reported to the University Executive by the Pro Vice Chancellor Academic Development on 22 June 2007 with further updates scheduled for early summer 2008.

In addition to the four themes above, a number of follow up events have taken place including:

• attendance at the monthly meeting of Pro Vice-Chancellor Academic Development and Assistant Deans Academic Development
• an adaptation of the workshop for team leaders in the Departments of Marketing and Communications
• an adaptation of the workshop for the Faculty of Development and Society Management Group
• an adaptation of the workshop for University Systems Group Executive Group