A presentation from our joint building digital capability and digital experience insights community of practice event May 2021. Presented by Professor Helen Laville, provost, Kingston University and Professor Mark Stubbs, assistant director, learning and research technologies (LRT), Manchester Metropolitan University.

1. Pandemic Response: Today’s Storytellers
Academy
ISDS
Professional
Services
Prof. Helen Laville
PVC Education
How we responded for our students
Prof. Mark Stubbs
AD LRT

2. Pandemic Response: Season One (Jan – May)
• Once upon a time there was a University that taught mainly on campus and supplemented its
face-to-face teaching with digital learning materials
• Every day, staff and students would come to the University to work and study (and socialise) and
visit its digital systems for extra information and some assessment
• One day, a global pandemic caused the country to lock down
• And because of that the University had to close its campus
• And because of that everyone at the University suddenly had to carry out their work and study
(and socialising) online
• And in the end (of Season One), the University was able to carry on because it had most of the
digital systems it needed and most of its staff and students could access them and had formed a
resilient, supportive community that was able to adapt

3. Season One: behind the scenes
EPISODE MAKING-OF SUMMARY
START University-wide VLE with personalised assessment & timetables + responsive IT partners
Mature IDAM & Helpline capabilities
Mature, well-embedded TEL function with good intelligence on staff & student experiences
Effective education leadership
JAN-20 Gold Incident Team formed (Wuhan ‘heads-up’)
FEB-20 Scenario planning: scale VLE, increase online assessment resilience & support remote working
MAR-20 Plan activated: ‘keep it simple’ async recommendation but some sync tool panic buying; rapid triage &
position communication – student access, alternative assessment, software licenses, TEL support & training
scaled up & new ways to engage with the team introduced
APR-20 Moodle VLE migrated to the cloud; Campus IT reallocated to boost digital education support; planning started
for coming year
MAY-20 Peaks in online assessment handled; block teaching and blended delivery scenarios explored & approach
approved; new timetable project deliverables reprioritised & hybrid timetable prototyped; formal Digital
Education Project mobilised

4. Pandemic Response: Season Two Trailer (Jun - )
• Opens with the University community interacting online, feeling tired & facing significant
uncertainty about the coming academic year and how thousands of new students might join -
aware that starting a new year predominantly online is different to switching mid-year and that
competition for home students amongst UK universities could be fierce … Autumn is coming
• Scenarios suggested new digital capabilities and new ways of working needed that recognise:
• Learning communities need to be formed and nurtured  comms/collaboration/groups
• On-campus and online mix may need to change at short notice  hybrid timetabling
• Not all students will be able to come onto campus  remote access
• Quality of experience will be paramount  monitor engagement & adapt support

5. Pandemic Response: Season Two Poster (Jun - )
Autumn is coming … University response
• “Our solution is to move to an intensive block teaching approach for the coming academic year.
We will create ‘study groups’ of students who learn together. Groups will undertake one unit at a
time, each with timetabled online teaching and materials. With appropriate social distancing
and safety measures in place, we are also planning some on-campus delivery.”

6. Pandemic Response: Season Two Themes (Jun - )
• Moving at pace to boost communication, collaboration and remote practice capabilities, guided by
senior academic leads
• Structuring online spaces around academic delivery decisions embodied in timetabling, so we can
flex between on-campus and online delivery
• Recognising challenges academics face in adapting their teaching – providing solutions, support
and reducing the admin burden where we can
• Building on tools with which academics are already familiar (Moodle) and adapting digital
workplace tools (Teams) to extend university-wide capabilities
• Providing solutions that aren’t static – improving through the year as software improves and
experience with new ways of teaching grows
• Working in partnership with the University community

7. Season Two: behind the scenes
EPISODE MAKING-OF SUMMARY
START University working remotely via Skype for Business; Digital Education Project mobilised
JUN-20 Block teaching briefings; Timetable-Teams integration spec & intense multi-vendor PM; virtual labs
procurement started; Getting Ready to Learn induction planned; block Moodle areas & exemplars created
JUL-20 Intensive Timetable-Teams-Moodle-Portal development, testing & awareness; ‘Coming soon’ briefings plus
unprecedented engagement with TEL support & training sessions; Teams introduced for staff with Meeting -
Maker workaround for Macs; Student Portal consolidated, Student Engagement Dashboard & non-face-to-
face Photo ID verification developed;
AUG-20 Microsoft pushed to extend Graph API; Meeting Maker extended to provide Teams Breakout workaround;
Timetable-Teams integration & hybrid on-campus+online Confirmation & Clearing go-lives; software
packages confirmed for initial blocks & free download centre + LeoStream chosen to provide remote access;
new Moodle areas made available to students include Getting Ready to Learn induction area
SEP-20 Timetables, Teams, virtual labs and software download centre all available to students for start of teaching –
a blend of covid-secure on-campus sessions and online organised as 6 weeks teaching +1 week assessment
And so teaching begins …

8. Season Two: behind the scenes – 1 of 2
EPISODE MAKING-OF SUMMARY
SEP-20 Unprecedented digital usage: 1.8M Moodle hits, 20,000 Teams meetings created, 79 packages for download
Some enrolment problems & large Helpline backlog took time to clear; some abuse of Presenter/Attendee
rights; some urgent performance tuning … and then …

9. Season Two: behind the scenes – 2 of 2
EPISODE MAKING-OF SUMMARY
SEP-20 Unprecedented digital usage: 1.8M Moodle hits, 20,000 Teams meetings created, 79 packages for download
Some enrolment problems & large Helpline backlog took time to clear; some abuse of Presenter/Attendee
rights; some urgent performance tuning … and then …
Emergency move of all foundation & first year teaching to online & creation of wellbeing & PAL online support
for self-isolating students
OCT-20 Engagement Monitoring adapted for track and trace; Moodle engagement and submission tracking tested
And then… all UG & PGT moved online
Growing interest in tracking Teams attendance; LeoStream drop-in access to unused lab PCs released;
ongoing refinements to Teams integrations & online assessments; rapid procurement of teacher training
videos; Block 1 assessment set new record of 2.5M Moodle hits/week; Exceptional Factors backlog built up &
first fix applied; Beta Graph API enabled Presenter/Attender enhancement to Timetable-Teams for Block 2
NOV-20 Assessment deadline EF enhancement; Student Engagement dashboard released (after SJTP-related
delay); ‘Block and blend’ Internal Student Survey run; solutions for next term’s practical sessions explored
DEC-20 Class-lists released; ISS sentiment & machine-learning analysis; classes moved online to complete the term

10. Pandemic Response: after the mid-season break
Winter is coming …
• Understanding what’s working and what needs to change (46,000 comments to analyse)
• Accelerate
• Faster cross-department problem responses
• Earlier access to insights on student engagement
• Consolidate
• Tools for making sessions more engaging & interactive
• Targeted training
• Teams integrations
• Prepare
• Increased capacity for off-campus access to specialist software
• Solutions for off-campus delivery of practical sessions

11. Pandemic Response: writing the longer story arc
University Road to 2030 …
• Capable & committed people, an outstanding campus and strong infrastructure to deliver high
quality student experience & success and excellent research with impact
• Opportunities for staff and students to contribute to the roadmap, e.g. for digital …
Block, blend and the new normal …
• Deciding early that 21/22 will follow 20/21 block model in order to create space to listen & reflect
• Consultation being planned
Six seasons and a movie?
• The engagement question for a blended future
• The value question for a blended future
• The challenge of using Pandemic data to plan a post-pandemic future