Launch of new social media eLearning materials
13 Jun 2022
Colleagues can access the course to learn the latest social media best practice and understand how our University uses digital channels to achieve communications and marketing objectives
The new Social Media Practitioner eLearning course is now available to all staff via the training catalogue, providing key learning opportunities for colleagues who manage University social media accounts.
The training, which uses innovative, avatar-based learning to provide a personalised experience, is the result of a successful collaboration between the Directorate of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment and Learning and Organisational Development.
Previously, training was conducted in person or delivered online, resulting in lost time, resource and repetition. The development of new eLearning materials will allow the Social Media and Digital Communications Team to dedicate more time to support key University campaigns, projects and strategic work to improve social media outputs.
Alistair Beech, Social Media and Digital Communications Manager, said: “This has been a fantastic cross-team collaboration and I’m extremely pleased with the results. The on-demand materials will save us time and resources which would otherwise be used repeating training activities.
"Staff can learn in their own time to ensure they are following the latest best practicesfor their professional development and make improvements to University accounts.”
Deborah Bunker, Learning and Organisational Development Senior Advisor, said: "The Learning and Organisational Development Team (in particular Jakki Halligan our e-learning specialist) have been delighted to meet the brief, developing an innovative e-learning session.
"Innovation is one of our values within the Our future strategic plan, so we wanted to make the transition from the classroom to e-learning successful. Working closely with Alistair and his team we worked to ensure that the target audience have an enjoyable learning experience.
"The benefits are that they can access all the social media information at any time, and work at their own pace. The communications team will be able to spend their extra time ensuring a high standard of social media is consistent across the University.”
Top five in the UK for digital engagement (edurank)
Social media is an essential part of University communications, allowing us to reach students, staff and wider audiences quickly and effectively. The University’s main social media channels, managed by the Digital Communications Team, have a combined audience of over 850,000 followers/fans. For the 2021/22 academic year, the University has been ranked fifth against 211 university and education providers in the UK and Ireland by the independent edurank dashboard.
- Access the e-learning course via the training catalogue