I wanted to take a moment to reflect on today’s Digital Education Team away day.

Overall, I really enjoyed the day. Hannah and Mike did a fantastic job organising the event using the Unconferencing Approach. While I won’t go into detail about the method, it fostered unstructured yet meaningful conversations in a relaxed and informal setting. Despite the lack of rigid structure, the discussions revolved around clear themes and, most importantly, created a space where we could openly share our concerns and opinions. For a moment, it felt like the usual hierarchies were set aside, allowing us to have candid and heartfelt conversations - a feature of the day I particularly appreciated. The approach is worth exploring further, and I’m grateful they introduced it to us.

Key Highlights

Innovation

We talked extensively about innovation—what it means, how we prioritise it alongside our daily tasks, and where the drive to innovate comes from. While innovation is undoubtedly valuable, the current partnership model often positions us as a reactive service, responding to requests rather than proactively shaping impactful initiatives.

As a result, we’ve lost opportunities to demonstrate the value of our work. Schools often view us as a central service filtered through school partners, which reduces our visibility and autonomy. This disconnection stifles creativity, motivation, and the ability to think outside the box. I miss the days when I was recognised as an expert in my field, directly helping individuals with technology-related challenges. How we can reclaim that role and create an environment that encourages proactive and innovative thinking remains an open question.

Team Strategy

I raised the lack of a team strategy as a concern. While I understand that not everyone agrees on its necessity, I believe having a shared vision or strategy—one designed collaboratively by the team—could significantly boost motivation. It would give us a clear sense of purpose and alignment with the university’s broader goals.

A defined strategy would help us recognise how even small projects contribute to a larger picture, clarify priorities, and ensure we are working cohesively as a team.

Tony suggested having a “hidden strategy” understood internally but not communicated externally. I struggle to see how this would enhance our visibility or help us gain recognition from colleagues. A shared and transparent strategy feels more effective for building a sense of direction and purpose.

Topics to explore:

  • “Where Motivations Come From”
  • “Brainstorming initiatives designed to re-energize Digital Education (DigEd) team”

CPD and Knowledge Sharing

Our discussion on continuing professional development (CPD) focused more on internal learning and sharing knowledge within the team than on the CPD sessions we deliver externally. This links back to the earlier points about motivation and a unified vision - if the team lacks a shared purpose, why would individuals feel compelled to share their expertise?

We need to revisit the fundamental questions: What motivates people to share? How can we create an environment where sharing knowledge feels meaningful and rewarding? Answering these questions could help foster a culture of collaboration and development within the team.

Topic to explore: Ideas to encourage sharing

Beyond Tools: Cross-Functional Collaboration

Over the years, as learning technologists, we’ve built expertise in various tools. But our role should go beyond simply knowing and teaching the tools. Tools are a means to drive conversations and foster change, but they are not the end goal.

Our expertise in tools equips us to provide professional consultation and to guide others in understanding when and how to use the right tool for the right purpose. Achieving this requires a deep understanding of both the technology and the underlying problems it seeks to solve. It’s essential to position ourselves not just as tool trainers but as strategic partners in solving broader challenges.

Motivation, Recognition, and Moving from Reactive to Proactive

Motivation was another recurring theme. Recognition—whether through promotion or acknowledgment as experts in our field—plays a significant role in driving us to go the extra mile. However, we need to move beyond a reactive approach and create an environment where we feel empowered to take initiative and shape impactful solutions.

Topic to explore: From reactive to proactive

Final Thoughts

This away day highlighted several crucial areas for growth and development within our Digital Education Team. The Unconferencing Approach proved effective in surfacing genuine concerns and fostering open dialogue about our collective challenges and aspirations.

Moving forward, the key themes that emerged - innovation, strategy, knowledge sharing, and proactive engagement - provide a roadmap for enhancing our team’s effectiveness and job satisfaction. Creating a shared vision, establishing clear recognition pathways, and repositioning ourselves as strategic partners rather than just service providers could significantly transform how we operate and how others perceive our value.

The conversations we had today were just the beginning. The real work lies in translating these insights into actionable initiatives that can drive meaningful change in our team dynamics and professional impact.