Guest post: Digital Transformation at Scale – an event review
Author: Jane Fitzgerald – Lecturer (School of Health Sciences)
On the 17th April UCLan hosted Microsoft’s Digital Transformation at Scale conference. From keynote speakers to individual workshops, the day was pure inspiration from start to finish.
I learned that digital transformation isn’t just at UCLan – it’s across the world and it is important to every one of us. Every time I looked at the programme, I wished I’d chosen other options for the breakout sessions but none of those that I had chosen were disappointing.
I learned what our LIS colleagues have to go through to get our Surface Pros ready for business (who knew how complex that was – I’ll never complain again!). I learned what the clever people from Manchester Met are getting their students to do with Sway (I’ll have some of that, thank you – I was blown away by the enthusiasm of both the staff and the students!) and I learned – tah dah! – how to use my Surface Pro pen at long last and that really will revolutionise my life! Most inspirational for me, though, was the slick, intelligent keynote speech by Steve Beswick from Microsoft Surface – so interesting to hear about Microsoft values, how the company really works and some of the clever things MS are just making available and what they have in the pipeline – the 3D Paint attributes literally brought gasps from the audience (who knew a football picture could be so enthralling?!).
But the one thing that stood out the most from the whole day for me was that digital transformation is about people; all of us, developers and technicians, educators and students, administrators and researchers – it’s about what WE do with the technology that will ultimately make a difference and get our students digital-ready for that world out there. Oh, and the people who attended. I met some really fabulous people not just from UCLan but from all over the country, many of whom I have already been back in touch with; they were all similarly enthused, and we will keep communicating and sharing. Truly inspirational and motivating – now….. off to do that DigiLearn Advocate badge……
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