20-30 students each year 50/50% gender mix 50/50% UK/Non-UK 24-54yr age range Designers & non-designers Recent graduates at the start of their career Mature professionals changing career
time = 1 day/week F2F is intensive Project work in students’ own time away from campus Staff team are full/part-time Support is online Co-ordination important
Web design is in flux Too much new stuff for the individual learner Staff + students = the learning team Teams need to communicate But there are problems…
Private Archival/transient Official* (university) Usage = in decline (esp. by younger students) *Confusion over university vs. personal email addresses
synchronous chat component Public + private forums Archival + transient (chat) Official (programme) Usage = reluctant We have been running an online forum for the programme since it began in 2000, long before Moodle was introduced. Although initially popular, use has declined.
Private (group) Archival Official (programme) Usage = reluctant In 2013-14 we introduced Google Groups as a platform on one course. Students did not take to it.
Public/private Transient Unofficial Usage = popular (mostly) We have been encouraging students to use Twitter as a way of connecting with the world outside of education.
Public Transient/archival Unofficial Usage = in decline Students set up their own Facebook group a few years ago. It’s a good way to keep in touch with alumni.
Private (group) Transient Unofficial (exclusive) Usage = secret! WhatsApp and other direct messaging services like Telegram and Kik are favoured back channels for student communication.
Synchronous and asynchronous Public and private Archival and transient Official* Permanent/not subject to trend *Students will/should find their own unofficial “back” channels
on private server) Skype (on PC text only) Telegram (on phone – waiting for PC beta) Facebook (for organising events) Tilly Text (SMS) Snapchat (on phone) Facebook (on phone/PC) Kik (on phone) Q: What are the most important channels when communicating with your friends Now available WhatsApp (on phone) Messaging only Changes in the last 6 months
in channels Convenience Immediacy (real-time/synchronous) Transience Exclusivity (unofficial) These are not necessarily the qualities that make for good staff/student communication in further/higher education.
Some of our part-time tutors had experience of Slack working in a commercial environment. After some trials during summer 2014, we introduced the platform to students in September 2014. Initial indications are good…
number of interactions on the programme forum in the 2013-14 academic year. The total number of interactions on Slack in the first term of 2014-15. * * Quantitatively this looks good but need to consider quality too.
“Slack is team communication for the 21st century.” It was launched in August 2013 and quickly became popular. In October 2014, the company raised $120 million in venture capital. Slack is free to use for up to 10,000 messages with paid options above that. It integrates a lot but is simple to use…
landscape is diverse and fluid. Ultimately, Slack is just another channel. We have to be prepared to pick up new channels when they work for us and drop them when they don’t or when something better comes along. Slack is better than what we had last year, it’s not the solution to all our problems.
future students will want to engage with any of the communication channels we are familiar with or those which we sanction and the very fact that we have a preference for a particular channel may actually deter students from using it.