Working smarter in a learning organisation

1. Working Smarter
in a Learning
Organisation
a case study
Sarah Elsegood
Academic Services Manager
Birgit Fraser
Content Services Manager

2. Staff Learning and Development at ARU
Library 5 years ago...
• Programme managed by Staff Learning and Development Manager with the
help of L&D Teams at library sites
• L&D programme:
 Weekly learning hours on specific topics
 Annual shadowing programme
 Mystery shopping visits
 Library Staff Conference and library visits
 etc.

3. Driver for change #1
Changing management of staff learning and development
L&D
Manager
Cambridge /
P’boro L&D
team
Chelmsford
L&D team
L&D Co-
Chairs
Cambridge /
P’boro L&D
team
Chelmsford
L&D team
L&D Co-
Chairs
One L&D
team
Assistant
Director
Customer
Services

4. Driver for change #2
Organisational change within the institution
Alignment of Staff Learning and Development Strategy to new
organisational strategies:
• Explicit learning outcomes
• Empowering Learning and Development Team members
• Embedding active learning
• Use of Canvas

5. Challenges
• Team membership isn’t static – loss of
secretarial support
• Empowering the whole team to actively
contribute
• Getting presenters from across the Library
• Delivery of programme across campuses
• Changing methods of delivery

6. Highlights
List of some Learning Hour topics:
• The Active Curriculum
• How to trump fake news
• Collection Development and Management Policy - overview
• Game of Open Access
• Transferable skills: Marketing yourself
• Diversification of the university curriculum
• Series on a theme, e.g. digital fluency, active learning tools, wellbeing

7. Highlights
Learning Hours - statistics
12-month period:
• 44 LHs organised and delivered across campuses
• 401 attendances registered
• 9 attendees on average per session

8. Highlights
Learning Hour feedback
• “Interesting and interactive. Good to hear about all the aspects of it - the work
involved across all the University departments and how the students interact with
the concept and the reality.” On “The Active Curriculum”
• “There was so much to learn about Open Access and the Game was a great way of
doing so. It was good to have had a presentation from [the presenter] earlier,
though, because otherwise I would not have been able to answer any of them. On
"Game of Open Access"
• “Really useful to better understand our collections and how the stock is managed.
Gave me a better understanding of how our processes fit in with other departments.
” On “Collection Development and Management Policy - overview”

9. Learning log
• What is the library staff learning log?
• Review of learning log
• Changes to learning log from booking/authorisation tool
to reflection tool
• Use of learning log for Shadowing programme

10. Looking ahead
• Health and Safety training
• More presenters from across the
University and Library
• Institutional IT changes
• Greater use of Canvas
• Supporting external professional
engagement
• Mentoring / coaching?

11. A learning organisation
1. We learn every day
2. We share our learning
3. We provide the right environment and tools for staff to develop
4. Learning is designed to enable our customers to meet their
needs

12. A learning organisation
We've adapted our Staff L&D planning processes
and remained true to the notion and ideals of the
Learning Organisation!

13. Any Questions
Contact us
Sarah Elsegood – Sarah.Elsegood@anglia.ac.uk
Birgit Fraser – Birgit.Fraser@anglia.ac.uk
Images via Google Images