Transcript

SAS AMOAH

So, I think there are one or two programmes during the pandemic that we started using a lot more of, and that includes Teams and Zoom. But we also started doing a lot of online only podcasts, as well. And I think, actually, it was really interesting to see members of my team, not necessarily myself, adapt to those new forms of technology and being able to capture academics and discussions purely online to create content that we needed for our website. So, I think, actually, what will be really useful for me is to really start to get my head around those new forms of technology when it comes to capturing media online in a really effective, useful, concise way, so yeah, I think taking a lot of the skills that I've got now and just translating them to an online space.

I have a good idea, I think, of the responsibilities we have working online. At the OU, we do have cybersecurity courses, as well as GDPR courses. And because I'm working in the online space with the public, we're really mindful to be sure that we follow the rules and procedures.

But I suppose in addition to that, we're quite mindful about levels of accessibility, as well, and what the rules and guidance is there. We have lots of training courses that we can go on as part of the OU. But there's also additional subgroups within our unit, which tend to focus on specific areas. So, they tend to communicate with us frequently and give us updates if we need any.

I think I have a good level of understanding when it comes to managing my digital skills and digital spaces. However, I think there's always a need to keep on learning. The digital space evolves so quickly. And even if you did a course last year, actually the landscape could have changed so quickly that you need to update all the skills that you've had. So, I think I'm in a safe-ish space at the moment in terms of my knowledge, but no doubt, I should keep my training refreshed, and I'll have a new course to do, surely.

I think probably the Open University – maybe in particular, because of the nature of the way the University works and being a distance learning organisation – but organisations in general would probably benefit from just making that type of training and digital skills training mandatory. You can't really give people the option to dip in and out when it's such an integral part of the way people work and likely to be a more important part of the way people work looking forward in the future. Maybe one of the key things any institution could do is just to make it mandatory to ensure that people do engage with the training, because they have no choice.