Working together, learning together: an integrated approach to support

Bergita Shannon, Blackboard Service Manager and Natasha Giardina, Learning Designer, Queensland University of Technology

This session looked at how a central professional support team (including graphic design, programmers, TV, learning design and Blackboard support) can enhance academic staff use of technologies across a large university by working with and maximising the support provided at faculty-level. A large university has:

• A wide divergence in academic staff attitudes to technology
• Variety of technical and pedagogical competences of academic staff
• Limited support resources
• The challenge of achieving lasting, measurable and ongoing improvement

They argue universities need to:

• Foster dept support structure with emphasis on sharing and communication
• Leverage faculty leadership and support networks
• Implement faculty-based and university-wide showcases and professional development
• Use adopter profiles to your advantage (we undertook an interesting activity looking at the profile, support needs, strength and weaknesses of different types of staff):

Adopter:	Profile:	Support needs:	Key strength:	Key weakness:
Innovators	Coding-savvy rule-breakers	Hard to support! Often need advanced programming support	Stretch the limits of the possible	They can break Blackboard!
Early adopters	Enthusiastic, results-focussed, willing to take calculated risks	People-orientated support relationships	Long-term development possible; can inspire others	Risk-taking needs faculty/school support
Majority	Cautious, not very tech-savvy	Good resources and training; prompt support	Use technology in solid ways	Negative experiences with technology can create resistance
Die-hard	Resistant to change and technology; motivated by fear and issues of power	Difficult to support due to resistance	Can highlight basic needs issues	Can foment negative attitudes; often difficult to work with

They outlined their support structure. The call centre/help desks answer all support calls. If query can’t be resolved, it’s then escalated to Blackboard Support, then to the learning designer, onto Sys. Admin/Programmers etc

QUT have a flexible learning initiatives project – showcasing best practice in faculties to promote uptake. And Learning Design Live – a 13-week programme of staff development via Elluminate. These are general sessions, some with a faculty focus. Staff can view sessions again or directed to these to remove and save time on loads of one to one sessions.

Some dynamic site interfaces were demonstrated. Including ‘Assessment at a Glance’ – a way of displaying course/module assessment information. I need to follow this up.