The beginning of our journey with eLearning kicked off in early 2015 when we were contacted by Chris Edwards, Assistant Vice President for eLearning Technology. He had been tasked with leading an eLearning Initiative to grow the program from its current state. eLearning is campus-wide at the University of Cincinnati, however it has a stronger presence in some colleges as compared to others. Due to increasing diversity in the community, demands for new and innovative approaches to learning and the desire to enhance the educational experience, it was time to initiate a campus-wide movement to make eLearning a priority. Knowing the quality of work performed by M E Clarke Consulting, the eLearning team decided to partner with us in creating a process and strategic plan to ensure the growth of the program on a campus-wide level. After creating the plan, the biggest challenge remained in analyzing the information found along the journey to create a cohesive mission, vision and objective that embodied eLearning’s anticipated growth around campus.
Process
Kick starting the initiative, we held planning meetings with Chris and a few of his team members regarding their expectations and goals. Reviewing the strategic plan of a successful eLearning program at a competing university, it was obvious that a large-scale participatory strategic planning process would need to be put in place. An initial survey, to gather information on the current state of eLearning, was dispersed to a diverse number of individuals from across campus who are users and advocates of eLearning. The data was analyzed and reworked into a SWOT analysis, which was to be presented back at the initial meeting. Gathering a diverse set of representatives, we developed and facilitated a strategic planning design session. Conducting conversations on the SWOT analysis, a plus/delta exercise, and a reimagining session we were able to fully engage all participants and draw key ideas and goals, while creating the next steps in the process. After re-grouping with Chris and his team members, we set up several stakeholder focus groups to gain perspective on the visions for eLearning at UC. From this process, we wanted to understand the goals that stakeholders felt eLearning would accomplish.
Resolution
By gathering constituents from across the campus, we were able to draw from
diverse experiences and see eLearning from multiple angles. The exercises performed during the strategic planning design session allowed the participants to get creative and build from one another’s ideas. This coming together of minds resulted in a plethora of poster boards covered in a colorful array of ideas to take eLearning to the next level. We were able to use emerging common themes to create ten goals for the eLearning initiative. Following the creation of the ten goals, we surveyed stakeholders to comprehend the level of importance that they placed on each goal and what they determined would be the proper next steps in the process.
Outcome
The strategic planning design session created a reinvigorated passion for those within eLearning. Seeing the potential and creative minds involved in the project lit a fire for the people involved. As we continue designing the process with eLearning, we created a large-scale participatory planning process for the vision, mission and objective that led to the cohesion necessary to bring the eLearning initiative to life. We identified common themes throughout the focus groups to encapsulate the spirit of eLearning at the University of Cincinnati. Learn more about the eLearning initiative:
Bringing the Conversation to the Enterprise Level Chief Information Officer’s Report.
