This document discusses a symposium on understanding network leadership in Australasian Tertiary Associations. It summarizes projects conducted by the Network of Australasian Tertiary Associations (NATA) focusing on improving communication and engagement. NATA partnered with organizations like ACODE and ascilite to study contemporary issues in the sector and develop guides on topics such as scoping issues, network engagement, and leadership. The projects aimed to identify best practices for collaboration, communication, and sustainability to strengthen networks in the Australasian higher education community.

1. Understanding
network
leadership
in
Australasian
Tertiary
Associations:
Communication
a
key
element
of
success
The
Network
of
Australasian
Tertiary
Association
(NATA)
1
Presented
by
Mike
Keppell,
Gordon
Suddaby,
Helen
Carter,
Caroline
Steel

2. SYMPOSIUM OVERVIEW
¢ Introductions
¢ Background
to the Network of Australasian
Tertiary Associations (NATA)
¢ NATA
key activities
¢ Emerging
themes
¢ Communication
—
ACODE Activity
—
Ascilite Project
¢ Network
¢ Links
Leadership
& Resources
2

3. THE NETWORK OF AUSTRALASIAN
TERTIARY ASSOCIATIONS
¢ National
Networking project funded by the Office
for Learning & Teaching
¢ Network
leaders: Mike Keppell & Gordon
Suddaby
¢ Network
partners: ACODE, ascilite, CADAD,
HERDSA, ODLAA, AARNet, NetSpot
¢ Key
Foci:
¢
Member Engagement:
¢
Technologies & Communication
¢
Network Leadership
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4. NETWORK ENGAGEMENT
1.
2.
3.
What networks are you currently
a member of?
With which do you feel most
engaged with and why?
What do you see as the value of
belonging to such a network?
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5. NATA ACTIVITIES
¢
Dissemination of the ALTC/OLT Good Practice Reports
¢
GPR eResource webinar launch
¢
NATA Research
¢
NATA Partner Projects:
¢
¢
¢
¢
¢
ACODE: Documenting a process and framework for scoping a
contemporary issue of general concern including a simple how-to
document and template for generating a briefing document
Ascilite: Developing a guide to support and advance network
engagement for members of professional associations and networks in
the digital age
CADAD: Developing an online professional development tool kit on
engaging & adopting social media tools to enhance professional
connectivity
HERDSA: HERDSA Guide – Leading academic networks
ODLAA: Developing a communication architecture that is attractive
and offers value to professional organizations
¢
Engaging with other OLT networks
¢
Network Sustainability
5

6. EMERGING THEMES
¢ Dissemination
within the sector continues to be
problematic: Networks offer possibilities for
helping to overcome some of the barriers
¢ Network communication needs to be fit for
purpose both in mode and message: consistency
and the appropriate use of technology can
support a sense of connection and development of
a community of trust
¢ Network leadership has emerged as a clear
focus for inter-network collaboration: a paucity of
research and resources in this area has also been
identified
¢ Sustainability is only a good outcome if the
continuing network offers value to stakeholders
6

7. COMMUNICATION: A CRITICAL
ELEMENT
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8. ACODE ACTIVITY
¢ ACODE
Project; A Sector-Wide Approach to
Institutional Media Management.
¢ NATA
Partner Project; Engaging Network
Members: A NATA case study of a Contemporary
Tertiary Sector Issue
Project Members
• ACODE team: Ric Canale, Alan Arnold, David Green
• Reference group: Helen Carter, Susan Stoney, James
Sankar, Philip Uys
8

9. PROJECT OVERVIEW
o Use ACODE’s Media Management
project as a case study
o Engage members and develop a guide
to a contemporary issue.
o Key elements for engaging network
members, the factors required to
jointly investigate and to collectively
write a briefing document in a timely
fashion.
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10. RELEVANCE TO OTHER
NETWORKS
Institution
ACODE,
CAUL,
CAUDIT et al.
Institutional
governance
processes
Institutional
policy,
systems and
processes
Councils &
Assoc.
Institutional
members
Sector-wide
scoping of
issues
Discrete
perspectives &
guidelines
Nationalregional
Associations,
agencies,
other?
National
governance
processes
National
policy,
systems and
processes
10
10

11. WHY NOW, WHY THIS PROJECT?
The Media Management problem is
subject to the same drivers for closer
national/regional networking:
o Wider social change driving institutional
change
o Breaking down of silos within
institutions
o Growing need for collaboration among
institutions
o Advances in the management of
technologies
• E.g. Managed services, LTI, Use of OER &
proprietary content
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11

12. ASCILITE PROJECT
Guide to support and advance
network engagement for members of
professional associations and
networks in the digital age.
Dr Dom Parrish and Liz Greener
12

13. PROJECT OVERVIEW
¢ Environmental
scan/literature review
¢ Interviews with 14 key practitioners across
NATA - ascilite, HERDSA, ODLAA, CADAD and
NetSpot
¢ Development of guide that will outline design
principles and engagement strategies for the use
of web based resources
¢ Dissemination of the Guide with NATA partners
¢ Embedding of good practice in ascilite
communication and engagement renewal
strategies
13

14. INITIAL FINDINGS
Early findings:
—
—
—
Capitalise on existing activities
Explicit purpose, facilitated engagement
Issues of time, relevance and importance
“The world has moved on from having a private sort of password protected
area for members to collaborate”
“Looking at what benefits us as individuals and our personal learning
networks.”
Early feedback:
—
—
—
—
“Simple, intuitive, easy to use”
“My primary tool at the moment in professional engagement and keeping
up with the developments is twitter.”
“Digging deeper into topical issues is through blogs.”
“Webinars are particularly valuable for again getting access to key
individuals.”
Lists of technologies and their affordances in our context.
— Yammer, Deigo, Pinterest, slideshare, aggregators etc.
14

15. ‘
Collaboration
approaches &
tools
Personal Learning
Environments
Professional
Association
Communication
networks &
tools
15

16. UNDERSTANDING GOOD PRACTICE
IN NETWORK LEADERSHIP
How do you understand network leadership? Are
you or have you been a network leader? Are you a
member of a network?
1.
2.
3.
What do you see as the key functions or
role of network leaders?
What do you see as the key challenges in
effective network leadership?
What examples can you provide of good
practice in network leadership?
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17. NETWORK LEADERSHIP
¢ Principles
for Good Practice in Network
Leadership
¢ HERDSA Guide – To be launched in 2014
Ch. 1. About academic networks
¢ Ch. 2. The role of the network leader
¢ Ch. 3. The strategic network leader
¢ Ch. 4. Network management
¢ Ch. 5. Developing your network engagement strategy
¢ Ch. 6. Finishing your term as network leader
¢
¢ Tips
for leading academic networks guide – 4
page briefing document
¢
Three phases of academic network leadership
17

18. THE NETWORK OF AUSTRALASIAN
TERTIARY ASSOCIATIONS
Mission:
Improving engagement and practice through
network leadership
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19. LINKS & RESOURCES
¢ NATA
Blog: www.nataonthenet.blogspot.com
¢ ALTC/OLT Good Practice Reports:
http://www.olt.gov.au/resource-library/good-practicereports
¢ Tips for leading academic networks guide
To register to participate in the Good Practice Report eResource launch
webinar, email Natasha.Hard@usq.edu.au with the subject ‘NATA GPR
Webinar’.
Acknowledgement: This presentation was informed by the work of the
Network of Australasian Tertiary Associations with funding provided by
the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views
expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching.
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