If you’re a university or education provider then one of the key aspects of digital transformation is thinking about the role of an educator/academic in this changed state. For universities an academic is expected to be a good educator, good researcher...1/

...keep up to date in their field and have numerous other responsibilities..oh and now be much more of a learning experience designer, a producer of videos and other media, a designer of a platform experience and it’s navigation, structure and other components of the UI...2/

Of course there’s some support for this but it’s not at a ratio that makes a huge difference and it’s light or non-existent in many areas. Can an academic wear all those hats? Should they? Will that result in the best experience for academics & students?...3/

I think that’s highly debatable, the old model fits very uncomfortably into the new. So if you want to digitally transform (and you may not) the need to change is much more wholesale than adopting technology...4/

Roles and responsibilities need to be reconsidered, structures and processes need to change, people need to be recruited and equipped, you need a different ecosystem of professionals and way of thinking about how teaching and learning works...5/

Even educational support roles that have now been elevated in importance need to be looked at and their importance shouldn’t mean that a consideration of how and where they fit into the bigger picture needn’t be considered...6/

Educators have borne a huge burden during the pandemic and if you come out it on the path to digital transformation but with them carrying all the same or more load, then it’s not a recipe for success...7/

Digital transformation of education, means technology of course and good, well-applied technology in a way that genuine enhances things, but it fundamentally involves much broader change to make a success of it....8/

It means recruiting and investing in people and technologies, it means greater collaboration and sharing of responsibilities in learning & teaching because new wine into old wineskins will just burst....9/

and this could be a bad allegory for your people, who are immeasurable great assets in all you do.../end