It was universally felt that availability of learning technologists is very good across all campuses and they are very supportive with good training and on hand to respond to queries. The drop in system works well but seems limited to staff who are already engaged in using technologies and there are concerns about the impact on support if uptake was higher by staff and students meaning current support systems would be inadequate. Access to learning technologists is critical for supporting lecturing staff.
Training is good but the opportunity to share effective practice and see inspirational examples is limited. Training and online staff development resources on the learning platform would be good but some staff are not confident that they would be used unless organised officially/traditionally rather than leaving it up to the individual to use and explore. Dedicated staff development slots e.g. “Workshop Wednesdays” would be useful.
VLE training should be part of the induction of all new staff. Video tutorials and a mechanism for exchanging effective practice and exemplar courses would be useful along with an FAQs section.
It was suggested that administrative staff have training in the preparation of learning materials (which is vey labour intensive) for the VLE which might help to overcome some of the time pressures on teaching staff.
