WST21: Programme – Thursday 11th March

Detailed Programme – Thursday 11th March:

Description Presenters
10.00-11.00: Different ways of doing ‘Lean’ – stories from Higher Education and beyond.  Panel discussion.

In UCD Agile we say that the kind of things we support are about helping making it easier to be successful in delivering supports, services, processes, operation. This is the win-win from ‘improvement’ work we all look for. But of course there is more than one way to bring about ‘improvement’ – more than one methodology, more than one way of doing ‘Lean’. This session is a chance to hear four different takes on the ‘making it easier to be successful’ journey, bringing insight and inspiration, perhaps, to your own journey in your own context. This session will bring together John Hogg from the University of Strathclyde, Michelle Nelson from UCC and Michael Sinnott from UCD, along with a planned panellist from industry, to talk about what they have been doing in this broad space, how they go about it, what they are trying to achieve. There is more than one path – how do you find your own?

John Hogg, University of Strathclyde, Chair of the Lean HE European Committee, University of Strathclyde

Brian Clancy, Process Improvement Manager, An Post

Michelle Nelson, UCC, Service Improvement and Change Manager, UCC

Michael Sinnott, Director, UCD Agile

The Panel will be chaired by Lorna Dodd, Associate Librarian, UCD Library

11.00-12.00:  Using Power Query to improve your work

The session will focus on how to use Excel’s Power Query feature to do certain types of work much more quickly and efficiently. It will focus on how to draw together information from different sources (Including student connector forms, Infohub data and more) to make much more effective reports, a process which, if done correctly should be easily repeatable. The presentation will aim to be accessible to non-expert excel users but will also hopefully be useful to those more comfortable with the programme.

Michael Garvey, China Joint Colleges Office
12.00-12.30 UCD ‘What It Takes’ Employability Series
Spring/Summer 2020 was a time of great upheaval due to Covid-19. We heard from our students and alumni that one of their main concerns, apart from health fears, was uncertainty around employment futures. Industries were in flux. Employability events and internships were cancelled. But there were still opportunities, if you knew where to look.How were we going to support our students and alumni through this turbulent time?Working with UCD Careers Network and alumni volunteers, we set about arranging lunchtime Zoom sessions for UCD students and alumni facing uncertain employment futures. From May to August, every fortnight we hosted ‘What It Takes…’, covering everything from “What it takes to land a job during COVID-19,” to remote work tips in “What it takes to set boundaries working from home.”It was such a success that we ran a once-off “What It Takes” for the class of 2020, and are now halfway through our second season, the Spring 2021 Series.
Camille Rogers, Alumni Relations and Marketing Officer, UCD Alumni Relations. Michelle Coen, Career & Skills Consultant at UCD Careers Network.
12.30-1.00: Thank You For The Music

We welcome you all to join us and learn how UCD‘s Community Choir adapted and undertook to successfully stay together and bring positivity to people’s homes and working environment.

UCD Community Choir: Musical Director, UCD Community Choir:
Caoimhe O’Neill has directed the Choir since its inaugural event in 2016. She is Principal of Encore, School of Performing Arts:
Contributors on behalf of UCD Community Choir’s Committee: 
Gayle Baird, Elena Keany, Ian Millichip – UCD Registry
Conor Buggy- School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Sports Science. 
Maria McDonald – IT Services. 
1.00-2.00 Google Currents – Networking opportunities and view Posters    
2.30-3.00: UCD Online: A collaborative journey to improve customer journeys

In 2020, in response to market demand, the UCD University Relations marketing team collaborated University-wide to overhaul and re-launch the UCD Online website which promotes a selection of fully accredited UCD programmes, available through online learning.
The site www.ucd.ie/online had strong potential for marketing these accredited UCD courses to prospective students but, with few updates since 2013, it was in need of modernisation, in particular optimising for mobile.
At this session we will outline how we overcame project challenges including:

  • shaping customer journeys and simplifying lead generation; integration with Sisweb for enquiries; minimising duplication of course content; a limited budget for development; a need to use and build upon existing UCD web templates; to test & learn in relation to course-specific promotion.
  • We will detail the importance of consultation with Schools, UCD Graduate Admissions and the Curriculum management team, as well as regular collaboration with IT Services to ensure full compliance and integration with UCD systems.
  • We will share initial results of the site and its pilot marketing campaign since November 2020, as well as plans to continue collaboration across the University to optimise performance.
Lisa Flannery, UCD Marketing Manager, Niamh Boyle, UCD Marketing Manager , Cillian Motherway, UCD Marketing Executive
3.00-3.30: Bringing the Educators programme online

At the UCD Innovation Academy we run the Professional Cert / Diploma in Creativity & Innovation for Education.  In the classroom environment this was a highly interactive and experiential learning experience – impossible to replicate in the online teaching & learning environment…? NOT TRUE..! Together with my colleagues we curated a content and a new approach to the delivery of the programme which has had hugely positive feedback. Due to the success of the transition from classroom based to the virtual delivery, we have now engaged a new international audience of academics which adds a rich learning ingredient to the overall student experience.

Alan Morgan, Entrepreneurial Specialist,  Innovation Academy.

Alan is an Entrepreneurial Specialist & facilitator at the UCD Innovation Academy and Programme Director for The Professional Certificate/Diploma in Creativity & Innovation for Education. Alan is an enthusiastic & emotional academic with 8 years teaching, learning and academic management experience. Alan is passionate about education and eager to work on developing a new way of learning through the concept of Entrepreneurial Pedagogical Methods. He shares the belief that everyone requires an entrepreneurial mind-set to overcome the challenges we all face and to capitalise on the opportunities to succeed in work and life both today and into the future. 
Alan holds an MBA from Liverpool John Moores University, 3rd level Teaching and Learning Diploma’s from TUD & UCD and is currently studying and researching for a Doctorate in Education (Ed.D) at The University of Wales Trinity Saint David.