Retreats are energizing, a day to get away from operations and focus, for the Learning Environment (LE) team, on the next 18 months to two years. But beyond the day away, can you maintain the momentum?
Every two years since 2012 we have held a retreat. Looking back, what we aimed to accomplish has taken an increasingly broad perspective. Our follow-up has matured, too. Perhaps this overview will encourage you to consider a retreat, or if you already hold one, to also think about your follow-up.
A look at our LE team retreats
2012: Hot-air balloon level, high enough for a landscape, but able focus on each building in a small town.
- Plans centered on operations for a new learning management system (LEARN), after moving from UW-ACE in the previous year. Top of mind were support (help, training and partnerships), enhancement requests, and user feedback.
- We followed up on feedback about how well LEARN worked for our users, but much emphasis was internal. LE groups (IST-ITMS, Centre for Extended Learning (CEL), and Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE)) got our support ducks in a row. The LE Operations (LEO) group solidified as the cornerstone of support discussion, and configuration and upgrade decisions. It is mature and well-functioning, with occasional passionate debate to keep it interesting.
2014: Flying a small 4-seater plane, seeing whole towns and the roads connecting them.
- Our retreat focused on growing the learning environment with new tools. How and where do we expand our tools? What D2L partners are of interest? What developments are priorities?
- One key outcome was recognition that governance of educational technology has no specific path at Waterloo. We wanted more “eyes on”, to raise our profile and get more input. The University Committee on Information Systems and Technology (UCIST) was already in our flight path, and for a time we added the Undergrad Operations, but its focus on operations was not a good match. Instead, we formed a new group to focus on strategic initiatives and discussions, the Strategic Technologies in Instructional and Learning Environments (STILE). In truth, we had a few meetings of this group, but did not keep up the momentum. However, it was revived in spin-off topics from the 2016 retreat.
2016: A commercial jet on first descent, seeing Earth’s horizon and overall patterns of land use.
- As the lens for this retreat, we examined the evolving concept of the Next Generation Digital Learning Environment (NGDLE), its five key dimensions, and how those mapped to LE priorities at Waterloo.
- This was our most successful retreat yet, especially broadening campus involvement in outcomes. Four areas emerged on which to focus attention to better understand their strategic potential: “Data, data, data”, Open Educational Resources (OER), Micro-credentials or Badging, and Input and Communications. A topic owner drove activities. We contacted prospective interested parties, and held STILE meetings for each topic within six months. The OER meeting helped identify priorities, and the Bookstore has taken a lead on campus directions. Micro-credentials have pockets of interest, and strands are coming together to kick-start a pilot. We hosted a survey for instructors in July 2017 and of students in February 2018, to ask about satisfaction, what other tools they use, and ideas for directions, feedback that is timed nicely for the D2L agreement renewal this fall.
2018: Keeping with our flight theme, this year’s June retreat stepped way back, perhaps to space! We contemplated our campus role, essentially, why we exist.
- We worked on our first collective mission statement, using an external facilitator, Lena Patterson, a Director in eCampusOntario (thanks to David Bean of CEL). We invited people from four important activity connections: the Registrar, the CIO, IST Director of Information and Integration Management in IST, and Security and Privacy representatives.
This year’s outcomes are in the skeleton stage as yet, to be fleshed out in another meeting. In brief:
- Complete our mission/governance;
- Find more time and attention for exploration;
- Increase engagement with users, include more voices, and raise our profile;
- Follow-up on “connections” (e.g., data exchange between LEARN and Quest, advantageous uses for our data, mindful ethical use);
- Be more agile;
- Begin a new horizon scan of the broad LE future, where LEARN and other tools fit.
To begin work on our mission, Lena posed some great questions for us to consider.
What is our unique value proposition? If we all left town tomorrow, what would happen? Who do we touch/influence in our work? Why is that important?
These are the kinds of questions we often don’t have time to ask ourselves in the busy day-to-day operations, so a retreat is an opportunity to advance your strategic thinking.
As to our evolving mission, I’ll leave the process, other questions asked, and results for now, and come back to them in the next newsletter.
