Edited by Olivia Rowland, Sunday, 21 Feb 2021, 20:40
Thank you to everyone who posted questions. Here are my responses:
Is it all you doing this? What roles and tasks do other team members take on?
Yes, it is all me doing the admin and organisation, although colleagues take on the roles as facilitators and speakers. I asked a few colleagues if they could help with the organisation and they all said they didn't have time, which was disappointing.
My next plan is to ask the most recent new starter if he can help out, with the reasoning that it'll be a good way to help him get to know people and understand his role better.
How transferable do you think this model is to other teams? I mean, does this work because it’s a learning tech team?
I think it would be very transferable. There's nothing particularly different about it given its use in a learning design team - although it's possible that in other teams, people's roles are more clearly defined, they're not rushed off their feet and might engage more. Some teams might struggle with the technology (we use MS Teams, which seems to be being constantly updated) but I think everyone's struggling with it slightly at the moment.
what reaction have you had from your colleagues?
Initially people thought it was a great idea and were enthusiastic, but as time has gone on, excitement has waned. The last meeting was not good because hardly anyone turned up, so I expect to see continued mixed responses depending on how busy people are.
I plan to speak to the team manager fairly soon to get his reaction to the group. I rather feel that I shouldn't have had to organise a community of practice - it's a manager's job to make sure staff know how to do their jobs and have the resources to do so, not an employee's - and ideally I'd like to hand some of this over to someone more senior.
how do you find sharepoint as a hosting platfrom?
I prefer Sharepoint to Teams - at least you can organise things in it - but there are baffling gaps in its functionality that frustrate me. However, I'm grateful every day that I don't have to use Teams for hosting content as I find that almost impossible to use.
Has your team gained any new members of staff since the pandemic started and if so have they found this community of practice helpful as they become familiar with working in the team.
Yes, we've had one. He has found it helpful and, as noted above, I'm hoping to rope him into helping me with it. Our job isn't very clearly defined and it's quite easy to find yourself doing things that we aren't meant to be doing, and one of the benefits of the community is that it's helped me identify some of the boundaries of the role.
Responses to conference questions
Thank you to everyone who posted questions. Here are my responses:
Is it all you doing this? What roles and tasks do other team members take on?
Yes, it is all me doing the admin and organisation, although colleagues take on the roles as facilitators and speakers. I asked a few colleagues if they could help with the organisation and they all said they didn't have time, which was disappointing.
My next plan is to ask the most recent new starter if he can help out, with the reasoning that it'll be a good way to help him get to know people and understand his role better.
How transferable do you think this model is to other teams? I mean, does this work because it’s a learning tech team?
I think it would be very transferable. There's nothing particularly different about it given its use in a learning design team - although it's possible that in other teams, people's roles are more clearly defined, they're not rushed off their feet and might engage more. Some teams might struggle with the technology (we use MS Teams, which seems to be being constantly updated) but I think everyone's struggling with it slightly at the moment.
what reaction have you had from your colleagues?
Initially people thought it was a great idea and were enthusiastic, but as time has gone on, excitement has waned. The last meeting was not good because hardly anyone turned up, so I expect to see continued mixed responses depending on how busy people are.
I plan to speak to the team manager fairly soon to get his reaction to the group. I rather feel that I shouldn't have had to organise a community of practice - it's a manager's job to make sure staff know how to do their jobs and have the resources to do so, not an employee's - and ideally I'd like to hand some of this over to someone more senior.
how do you find sharepoint as a hosting platfrom?
I prefer Sharepoint to Teams - at least you can organise things in it - but there are baffling gaps in its functionality that frustrate me. However, I'm grateful every day that I don't have to use Teams for hosting content as I find that almost impossible to use.
Has your team gained any new members of staff since the pandemic started and if so have they found this community of practice helpful as they become familiar with working in the team.Yes, we've had one. He has found it helpful and, as noted above, I'm hoping to rope him into helping me with it. Our job isn't very clearly defined and it's quite easy to find yourself doing things that we aren't meant to be doing, and one of the benefits of the community is that it's helped me identify some of the boundaries of the role.