This year’s Digifest at the ICC in Birmingham was bigger and better than ever. A big part of our team’s experience of Digifest involves hosting our Community Champions – with the programme now in its fifth year. Each cohort of Champions are celebrated with a VIP experience at Digifest, with travel and accommodation, and a celebratory dinner.
This year, we also had a spot on the main stage on day two for our panel discussion of Champions alumni, facilitated by our head of community and engagement, Natasha Veenendaal. The panel discussed how they encourage collaboration, engage communities and make shared learning happen.
The panel members were:
- Chris Melia, Collaborative and digital practice lead, University of Central Lancashire (2022 Champion)
- Jo Fletcher-Saxon, Assistant principal, Ashton Sixth Form College (2023 Champion)
- Puiyin Wong, Head of digital education, University of Birmingham (2024 Champion)
- Louise Woodhouse, Head of digital education, Weston College (2022 Champion)
- Richard Beggs, Interim head of centre for professional practice enhancement, Ulster University (2022 Champion)
- Jacinta Jolly, Deputy head of library services, Grwp NPTC Group (2024 Champion)
What are the key ingredients for successful collaboration?
All of our panel members are incredibly active in their professional communities, spanning digital education, library, academic development and teaching and learning leadership roles. Being part of educational communities is highly social and emotional. We are wired for this kind of connection and collaboration.
From their wealth of experience, we asked our panel members what they thought were the key ingredients for good collaboration. Their answers brought out themes like: a sense of belonging, motivation, nurturing, listening, sharing, connection, perseverance, friendship, accessibility, humanity, energy, trust, respect, and passion.
They also acknowledged that it is ok to fail! We can’t innovate or experiment without trying things out and this doesn’t always go to plan. Starting small and experimenting is one thing we always advocate for when advising our communities. Everything has to start somewhere, and can only develop if you take the first step and give things a try. Also, providing cake to your members when meeting in person – something we definitely support!
Making collaboration happen is hard work
In a world where technological change moves so quickly, educators are often challenged to keep up with changing trends and adapt their teaching and learning methods. One theme that seems to cut through all of the talk about tech is how much our communities value the opportunities to connect with each other on a human level to share learning and support each other.
Creating spaces where members feel a sense of belonging and trust and have the motivation to get involved and stay involved is hard work. Our panel members and other community managers we work with are usually doing this on top of busy and demanding day jobs.
The panel talked about how organisations could support their employees by formally recognising this type of work. Panel member Chris Melia provided a good example – his work with the DigiLearnSector community is formally acknowledged within his job description as an essential part of this role. In an environment where things seem to be changing at such a fast pace and can get overwhelming, it’s important that the skills required in bringing communities together to learn and connect with one another are valued by employers.
What are often referred to as the “soft skills” of effective communication, sharing, accommodating others and creating psychologically safe spaces for diverse and varied contributions are not always seen as valuable. Community building can often be perceived as something that can be done quickly and “efficiently”, rather than taking a long time to cultivate and sustain. It’s vital for organisations to value the human effort and contribution that goes into this work and to understand that building relationships and safe spaces for learning and sharing are becoming increasingly important for us to deal with the challenges that lie ahead in education and the wider world. The work of our Champions with their communities, and our Communities of Practice at Jisc are a great example of the value of this work.
Community Everywhere
Closing the panel session, there were some great points about how communities can and should evolve with their members and that these spaces should be co-created together. Panel members advised others to never stop learning from others and the importance of listening to your members, as they will tell you what they need.
It’s also important to be brave, take a few risks and take opportunities as and when they arise. Take the time to connect with someone you want to collaborate with, send the email, connect with someone at an event or start a discussion with a colleague from a different institution or sector – you never know where it could lead.
There was also a great point from Jacinta Jolly about the importance of having critical friends and allies as part of your communities, perhaps some people who are outside of your immediate professional area who can provide some additional insight and expertise and increase the diversity of thought within a group.
A huge thank you to our panel members for creating such a valuable discussion, and being shining examples of great collaboration.
For those of you on BlueSky – I live-posted a thread from the panel discussion in real time, which you can read through at the link below.
Our Community of Champions
With five years under our belt, we now have a thriving community of 75 Champions. Our alumni group traverses different sectors and professional areas, but has one thing in common: they are a group of passionate and dedicated educators who want to share and collaborate. They also have the skills and willingness to make collaboration happen.
To join one of our communities of practice, please visit our Get Involved page.
Nominations for our 2026 cohort of Community Champions will open in late 2025, so keep an eye out for Jisc communications about this later this year.
Digifest 2026 will return to the ICC Birmingham and online next March. Be the first to learn more by signing up to updates.