The journey project

Well there were a few hiccups ahead of time – morning tea was cut short AND ran late, my internet key failed me and the embedded video wouldn’t start.  I’d like to say no one realyl noticed but I was on Plan ‘D’ by the time my talk started – never mind A, B or C.

I’ll upload my thoughts, the slides* and some notes in due course but will tell you now that the UWA Registrar sauntered into the room just before I started, sat in the front row and even took a few notes while I was speaking!  I tried not to focus on the fact that BOTH my bosses were in the room and was bouyed by the Registrar encouraging me to seek additional funding from him if I needed it – Just Ask he said!  Watch this space! 

Dr Lisa Cluett. Senior Project Officer for the Online Student Journey Project at UWA presented a session entitled ‘Training professional staff in Web 2.0 – a program developed by UWA Student Services via the ‘Online Student Journey’ project’ on Thursday 23rd April 09 (11.45-12.25) at the ATEM Student Services Centre Conference, Fremantle, WA

I think the session went really well – it’s resulted in an invite to Brisbane to talk to staff at the Southbank Institute of Technology anyway (thanks Graeme)!  An audience poll at the start of the talk showed a variety of knowledge levels about web 2.0 but I was really only interested in that to know what terms I could use without explaining them – because this talk was about a training program which is of course, about PEOPLE.  Slides available here via Slideshare and now in *.pdf format Cluett_osj_atem-sscc-09_20090423

BIO – Lisa has a number of roles at UWA including developing interactive online tools for Student Services and coordinating the staff Web 2.0 community.  She writes about the role of professional staff in online student engagement and is also the liveblogger for this conference

ABSTRACT – UWA Student Services offers programs, resources, advice and support to students during their entire journey – from prospective student to graduation.  In 2008 a project commenced to initiate and integrate a layer of interactive web tools to the Student Services programs.  This recognition of the importance of our web services and the ways that students engage with materials online has led to the development of a range of tools from blogs to online video, from wikis to online photo albums.  A pivotal part of this project, however, has been the significant staff training component.  This paper will outline the strategy used by UWA Student Services to gauge staff skill levels, raise awareness, stimulate interest and conduct training in Web 2.0 tools.

Also presented during this timeslot:
o    Expanding tertiary access for TAFE students by the collaborative development of dual learning pathways which guarantee entry and credit by Mary Hassard, Manager, Credit Transfer and Articulations, Griffith University
o    Not Just a Number by Carmel Langdon, Stephen Baker and Sonia Ryall Managers of Student Central, ECU