by Chris O’Reilly, Learning Technologist

Sadly, my time working within Educational Enhancement (EE) as a Learning Technologist has come to an end, coinciding with the release of this blog post. And strangely enough this is the third time I am leaving Sussex. I first started here several years ago in the languages department, SCLS, and had four stimulating and rewarding years there. Then, after Covid I started working for the Student Experience team redeveloping the Skills Hub on a twenty-month contract which was very exciting as it called upon my creative design and video production skills. However, I now find myself reluctantly leaving having not completed a full year in my current role as a learning technologist.

So, what will I take away from this rather short Educational Enhancement experience? You may feel that I might reflect on the exploration of the technical support resources and the specialist advice we give to enhance the use of learning technologies, or our involvement of curriculum development or the delivery of our online distance learning courses. I could also talk about our ongoing Events workshops and Seminars, or our regular self-paced online training sessions for academic staff.

But alas no, I am instead going to highlight and give an insight to the way we as a team are motivated and encouraged as technical educationalists to deal with the new and higher levels of demand within our sector.

The week starts every Monday morning with a 9.30 Teams meeting…
Tired Monday morning eyes and yawns are quickly replaced by keen alert minds as we are taken through various aspects of new software, policies, live issues and forward-thinking concepts. An online game is generally thrown into the mix to help make our responses gather speed for the rest of the day. The team collective energises us individually, and after we absorb the motivation and rise to the challenges of the day knowing we have the support and backing of each other.

…and every week finishes with a 9.30 Friday morning Teams meeting, discussing the issues and successes of the week… highlights of the weekend approaching are shared, which also adds to EE family bond.

Each day the EE Teams channels, of which there are many, are activated constantly with ‘Status Updates’, ‘LTs Discussions’, ‘Inclusion and Accessibility’, ‘Panopto’, ‘Apps’ and ‘AI’ for example, but this is not exclusive, we also have ‘We are sport EE’ and a ‘Music Friday’ channel. Daily Tasks are given and signed off on a regular basis and occasionally balanced off with images of a burnt first attempt of baking a cake or an image of one of our fellow colleagues receiving a Sussex Education award. For me, the EE Teams communication platform was a lifeline where I could ask for support from my fellow LTs about how to find and locate a ‘Missing Assignment’ or how can I assist in advising on ‘Submission points’ and various aspects of Canvas… the list goes on, and always there comes a ‘ping’ followed by detailed instructions on how I can proceed followed a smiling emoji.  

Write a blog! Yes, each one of us on a regular basis writes a Blog post. Our specialist subjects and interests are encouraged as well as describing details about the recent conferences we have attended or outcomes from various institutional presentations or the emerging fields within education. Last month (June), ‘Bridging the Gaps: Insights from Digital Accessibility Conference 2024’ was posted by Mark Thomas (a fellow LT) which was an insightful post not just on the topic itself but on the process of delivery, a ‘distributed conference’. And there are of course the regular up to date posts on AI including Sam Hemsley’s (Academic Developer) ‘Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice’ blog which encompasses a whole range of AI information including ‘Courses’, ‘Publications’, ‘Webinars’ and various other AI software that we are piloting such as Jamworks.
Writing a blog also encourages us to delve more into our research interests, it enriches our knowledge and potentially adds to our CPD. An additional outcome comes after our blogs are published online, this knowledge is shared within our team and of course the wider university and in some instances investigated further. Many of these blogs are often instigated directly from the Schools in which we are associated with, this also allows us to integrate more with our school colleagues and aids the support we offer.

Actively Involved

This indeed conveniently takes me to my involvement in the USBS Festival of Sustainable Education held in May of this year. Setting up an introductory online short course ‘6 days of AI’. This initial concept has now been progressively developed and used for a variety of purposes within our department to support newcomers to AI and beyond.

We recently housed the Playful Learning Conference here at Sussex.

The approach and inspiration behind this ever-growing conference is underpinned by robust research and working practices. The conference provided a space where teachers, researchers and students could play, learn and think together. If you missed this year’s conference, remember to look out for next years…

We have also recently held the Second Sussex Education Festival, which was an event for anyone involved in delivering education at Sussex.

This Festival consisted of several different session types, including panel discussions and interactive workshops, we focused on themes such as alternative assessments, student engagement and wellbeing, Generative AI and environmental sustainability. Each year we plan to encourage more and more staff to participate in our yearly Educational Festival to help share expert knowledge and participate in open discussion.
Prior to this, in December, we launched our AI Community of Practice live event on campus. Professor Michael Luck, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at Sussex and founding Director of King’s College London’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence gave a whistle-stop tour of the recent history of Artificial Intelligence along with his own impressions of how Sussex was embracing the technology from his perspective as a new member of our community with particular interest and expertise in the field. For further information regarding this event please access Helen Morley’s (another LT) blog post The University of Sussex Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice Launch Event.

Team Vision

So, enough about our conference highlights and day to day work, an area that has created a huge impact on me personally is the awareness to focuss on our impact on the environment. From the power it takes to create an AI generated image to the power we consume in our own working spaces.

You may have seen ‘Sussex in Focus’ last month on the Internal Comms recently, our approach to creating a welcoming office environment, and the blog post by our amazing Simon Overton, Embracing Sustainability: The Journey to Our GrEEn Office.

From this we have created a welcoming environment for our area in which we work. This has spurned us on individually, and as a team, to be more aware of the impact we have in our home and working life situations. So much so that we were rewarded with the universities Gold ‘Green Impact Award’…

With this ethos guiding us, as well as the Green Impact toolkit, we embarked on a journey to transform our office into a shared workspace we could be proud of, each desk dawned with an exotic (well maybe not that exotic!) plant.

Team Fun

Karaoke nights, silent disco, games day, potluck picnic’s and of course Christmas and birthday celebrations are just a few of the events we have on a regular basis, with new events added appropriately, like the current Olympic sweepstake. Of course, these events are all organised using Excel spread sheets, Teams Calendars, Padlet and various other forms of technology. 

So, what will I take away from this rather short Educational Enhancement Learning Technologist experience? Well, many things, firstly however, I feel that I have learnt more in the last 10 months than I have learnt in the last 10 years! But more importantly for me, personally, I have found the working environment, although very challenging at times, being rewarded with copious amounts of genuine support and encouragement. The self-satisfaction of achievement, if I can speak for everyone in my department, is an achievement shared by all, we celebrate in all that we do and all that we can give each other. The working camaraderie and the knowledge of having made new friends is what I shall take with me.