At Carleton’s Teaching and Learning Services, we’re one big family. But, you wouldn’t know that at first glance.
Our department is made up of three units that work together to support the university’s teaching and learning activities: Carleton University Online, the Educational Development Centre and Instructional Media Services. But these three groups are spread across campus with offices in different buildings, making it difficult to keep the internal lines of communication open.
And sometimes it can be an even bigger challenge to communicate this fact externally, to our clients, who for so long have had no concept that these departments are even linked, when in reality, we’re so interconnected.
Let’s say you’re a faculty member who wants to design a blended course. Sure, you need to come to the EDC and speak with an instructional designer. But maybe you want to create an introduction video for the course. Well then, CUOL is the place to be. And if you ever run into a technical issue during the in-class portion of the course, the IMS team is there to help.
Each department has a role to play and so many people are involved in making a project come together. Now it’s just a matter of communicating that fact.
But, we’re working on overcoming the challenge. This past year, we created Teaching and Learning Services as the umbrella group and the link that ties all three departments together. We’re really making a push in all our marketing and messaging to ensure that everyone understands that while we each bring our own skill set to the table, one thing we have in common is a genuine passion and dedication to making a difference for Carleton’s educators and students.
Have you ever faced a similar situation? What techniques did you use to try to overcome the challenge?
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 