Outreach and Debating Tutor, Hena Pagoo, shares some advice for working effectively in Outreach online. Over the summer, Hena worked on a number of our test projects, helping us develop the online curriculum we are currently delivering in schools and colleges across Kent and Medway. Here are some of the things she has discovered.
Working online has been a very interesting experience! It has been extremely important having to adapt to platforms such as Zoom or Teams, which were completely alien to me at first. The experience taught me to be prepared for anything that goes wrong or requires attention. As a Debating & Outreach Tutor, there were a number of work opportunities that I was able to get involved in over the last few months, including testing materials, as well as delivering elements of the debating module. Working online has its challenges but it has been a fantastic way to remain productive, to familiarise myself with online platforms and effective online communication.
Although, I am still trying to get used to the unreliability of technology & Wi-Fi! Communication was amongst one of the challenges I faced whilst working online. Technology can easily let us down and adapting to such circumstances was essential to successful sessions. There were often occasions I would be unable to view the Chat function on Zoom for example (very inconvenient) whilst sharing my screen! Occurrences like this one made for a very blank-faced moment. Low participation levels also caused some difficulty. We have to understand that students may not be familiar with the online setting. My experience when observing audience participation has been that students are not always confident with asking or answering questions, perhaps as it is different to the classroom. It is important in those situations to be patient as they may just need time to adjust; a delayed response may just equate to a slow message coming through via the Chat.
Whilst working in this new way had its challenges, there were positive elements of being involved. I appreciated working with staff members virtually, as this is not necessarily something done when delivering work opportunities in person; it was a team effort. I was able to keep in touch with members of staff and discuss work materials that were essential to the work opportunities I was involved in.
My advice for working online would be:
- Prepare for your meetings in advance: write the date in your diary, be familiar with lesson plans and always have a pen and paper with you (it comes in handy)!
- Ask questions in advance: There’s no such thing as a silly question!
- Make use of what you have: things can go wrong online. Prepare to make use of what you have, such as involving other ambassadors when the Chat function stops working for example.
- Adapting: students may be from different year groups and there may be different levels of participation. Being able to adapt to the group you’re supporting/working with can really help as it helps them become more familiar with you (have your camera on if you can).
- Trust that no role is small or inferior: there may be limited work opportunities going forward but remember that no role is small. All roles are valued!
Read on for feedback from other Ambassadors who have done online Outreach work over the last few months
Feedback from Ambassadors working online
- I found that as I commute to campus the online content enabled me to fit more events around my timetable
- The type of opportunities obviously changed but I enjoyed the change and thought that as Ambassadors we were more involved in the training and making of workshops than we would have been otherwise… I do believe that I now have a better understanding on what goes on behind the scenes and so am prepared for most events because I know the process of perfecting them
- While during normal work placements I was regularly in communication with the PDO staff, there was a stronger sense of partnership during the lockdown as we were learning the technology together and working to complete the task…The exposure to Zoom and other sites such as Wetransfer has allowed me to acquire the skills needed to navigate these sites, which then came in handy during virtual work experience
- I agree that the student ambassadors have been more involved in the planning behind events since they’ve moved online. We have been able to develop new skills & gain an insight into what the outreach ambassadors do
- I feel that I have been able to make an active contribution to PDO activities, both developing resources and with students. I’ve gained a greater understanding about the processes new sessions goes through during development. Working online has been a good practice for next year.