{"id":13315,"date":"2025-09-30T14:13:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T13:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=13315"},"modified":"2025-10-14T10:51:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T09:51:58","slug":"learning-connections-the-power-of-sector-networks-to-make-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2025\/09\/learning-connections-the-power-of-sector-networks-to-make-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning connections: the power of sector networks to make a difference\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laura Milne, ALTC25 Co-chair <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(especially for conference newcomers) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When first I heard about ALT, I was amazed \u2013 a whole community of people like me, who geek out about the kinds of things I geek out about, and who get excited about the best way to deliver meaningful learning experiences enhanced by technology? These were my people! I had been working as a learning designer for several years in South Africa before relocating to the UK for work, and suddenly my LinkedIn page and twitter feed<\/s> were filling up with colleagues from other institutions and other sectors sharing their passions, their projects and often their intractable challenges for group input. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt, however, that I was somewhat on the outside of this magical space \u2013 unable to quite tap into the community spirit that I could see. That is, until I started being a contributor myself, and building my own network by participating in webinars and attending conferences like ALTc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conferences bring people together <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conferences are a really powerful way to meet lots of people and dispel some of the awkwardness you  might feel about connecting with others. I like meeting new people, but at times get stuck on the small-talk aspect of it. Conferences help this \u2013 you\u2019re co-located (so less awkward than setting up a call with a stranger), you\u2019ve got topics in common \u2013 \u201cwhat did you think about Professor Naidoo\u2019s keynote? I am just buzzing with ideas on how to integrate escape rooms into our induction process!\u201d \u2013 and if you\u2019re speaking or presenting your work, you will find some really excellent interlocuters and possible future collaborative partners! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I admit that I had to overcome my worry that somehow I might be intruding or bothering other delegates, so if this is you, please don\u2019t worry. People will generally be welcoming, and are usually glad that someone else was brave and broke the ice! Remember, people come to conferences intentionally to meet others and network. Though if someone is clearly sitting in a corner with headphones on, it might be best to give them some space; we all need down-time, and some have shorter social batteries than others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sector networks: action groups, spaces to share problems <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, what about the rest of the year, when we aren\u2019t all co-located at Warwick or Manchester or Glasgow? Well, some of my best collaborative and supportive relationships have developed out of the sector networks I am involved in, including ALT North West England Members\u2019 Group, the Generative AI Network, Heads of eLearning Forum, and others. These spaces are intentionally created, usually around a special interest or shared feature (location, role or challenge). In some cases, they run webinars for teams to learn from. I can heartily recommend volunteering to present a project at these webinars \u2013 such a good way to get external feedback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some sector networks and special interest groups that you might be interested in joining: Anti-racism and Learning Technology SIG, Digital Accessibility SIG, ELESIG or Digital Assessment SIG (full list of other SIGs available here<\/a>); Generative AI Network<\/a>; Ucisa\u2019s Digital Education Group<\/a>. It might also be valuable to join some jiscmail listservs, which will give you an insight into some particularly active communities of practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The power of collaboration to bring about meaningful change <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from feeling the warm-fuzzy of community all around you, there are some significant potential benefits to developing your network across the sector. The power of these groups is you will meet people who may be future collaborative partners on exciting projects. These might include funded opportunities (e.g. the QAA Collaborative Development Fund), research, or sector-wide evaluation efforts that help us benchmark our activities, improve our services, and strive for better student experiences with learning technology.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some cases, these collaborative relationships can be almost therapeutic \u2013 all of us experience the similar start of term stress, or assessment week chaos, or the challenge of a tool behaving in an unexpected way. The vent sessions can be just as important as webinars to keep one another encouraged and moving in the right direction. Perspective is easier to find when you aren\u2019t staring into a chaotic inbox. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a digital education leader, sector benchmarking that arises from this kind of collaborative sharing can provide leverage and negotiating power for internal change. While it won\u2019t magically grow budgets, it provides context to senior leadership for impact and efficiency of your own team. It can also help you identify excellent practices in your home context, that you might be taking for granted. I love hearing about colleagues\u2019 innovations where they may not realise how groundbreaking their work actually is \u2013 it\u2019s a chance to encourage them to shout about their success, and to set an example for the rest of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without meaning to be cheesy about it, the ALT community and the broader sector network I am part of has been one of the best aspects of my career so far. I look forward to joining you all at ALTc in a few weeks\u2019 time to share success, hold each other through the challenging times, and celebrate the power of sector networks to make meaningful change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

ALT\u2019s Annual Conference<\/strong><\/a> is one of the UK\u2019s largest conferences for learning technology and digital education professionals. The conference provides a valuable and practical forum for practitioners, researchers, managers and policy-makers from education and industry to solve problems, explore, reflect, influence and learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ALTC25 will take place in Glasgow on 23 and 24 October 2025.  Register closes 20 October 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(especially for conference newcomers)  When first I heard about ALT, I was amazed \u2013 a whole community of people like me, who geek out about the kinds of things I geek out about, and who get excited about the best way to deliver meaningful learning experiences enhanced by technology? These were my people! I had […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2216,2215,1496,1409],"tags":[1258,1415,725,2231],"class_list":["post-13315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-altc25-annual-conference","category-altc25","category-annual-conference","category-events","tag-altc-2","tag-events-2","tag-altc","tag-laura-milne"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/08\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-14.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13246,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/altc25-guest-post-altc-comes-to-glasgow-finally\/","url_meta":{"origin":13315,"position":0},"title":"ALTC25 Guest Post: ALTC Comes to Glasgow \u2014 Finally!\u00a0","author":"ALT","date":"12 August 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"After years of campaigning to bring ALTC, or a related ALT event, to Glasgow, it\u2019s finally happening in 2025. 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