How to develop outreach online

Access Academy Training

This course will support providers and Uni Connect partnerships to develop and produce online learning materials, identify effective practice in delivery and evaluate impact.

What does the course include?

The course is made up of five sessions. Each session is delivered virtually and in an interactive way.

It is predicated on a community of practice model. Participants share progress in their work at each session to both share practice and improve their current approaches. This helps to build participants’ knowledge exposing them to a range of different platforms and pedagogies .

The areas covered throughout the course includes:

• Delivering outreach online – opportunities and challenges: An overview of the key issues to be faced in online delivery looking at the broader theory and practice. Delegates consider the effects moving outreach online has on different groups of learners and reviewed some of the platforms that are available. They also consider the various safeguarding measures that need to be in place in order to ensure both young people, and higher education professionals, are protected. Delegates discuss model online safeguarding policies, and procedures, and the importance of having those in place before taking outreach online.
• Building a blended learning outreach offer: Delegates work to align strategic aims in outreach work with a blended model of face to face and online work. This will enable delegates to consider the most effective ways to deliver certain types of content and how online content can be embedded within future widening access programmes.
• Evaluation and understanding impact: We review the importance of the evaluation process and why this needs to be considered at the outset of developing online interventions. Throughout the course delegates will look at, and consider, different methods of evaluating online interventions to ensure that practitioners can monitor the take-up by their targeted learners. Delegates also consider how they are able to understand the impact of their activities.
• Producing content and getting it online: Delegates gain an understanding of pedagogical good practice in online course delivery. They discuss the pros and cons of various online methods of delivery and how to ensure that learning outcomes can be met.

The first two sessions give delegates the skills needed to immediately start developing and delivering content. The second two sessions considers some of the challenges they might encounter and how these can be addressed. The final session involves getting delegates to critically evaluate the interventions that have been developed and enabled them to revisit key themes of the course in relation to their own outreach online.

The dates of all five sessions are:

• Session 1 – Thursday 18 March
• Session 2 – Friday 19 March
• Session 3 – Thursday 25 March
• Session 4 – Thursday 15 April
• Session 5 – Friday 7 May

Regrettably, it is not possible to book on to individual sessions. Delegates must book the complete five session suite.

Price
Membership organisation rate: £495
Non-member organisation rate: £795
If you are unsure if your organisations is a NEON member please click here.

Presenters
Jon Rainford, Digital Learning and Development Officer, University of Bedfordshire

Martin Webster, Operational Consultant, NEON

Feedback previous training – What did delegates like?

• The interactivity with other professionals and chance to discuss has been invaluable.
• Being able to chat with others and building a mini network was so helpful.
• It was great to have access to the resources and learn about the research around pedagogy. I think overall it was useful time to be reflective and to also gauge if we are doing it right (or not!).
• The first two days run by Martin and Jon were the best – very well planned, covered good content.
• I really enjoyed being able to speak with individuals from different institutions and to share ideas and to collaborate.