The University has expanded its digital infrastructure considerably since embarking on the Organisational Excellence journey. With the overhaul of enterprise systems, new platforms and digital tools were introduced to improve work processes for staff.
At the NUS Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning (CDTL), the team focuses on developing and sharing innovative pedagogical practices. The drive to enhance the quality of teaching and learning at NUS inspired the team to implement the Academic Development Management System (ADMS), a smart integrated system which collates events, courses, and consultation sessions.
ADMS is a one-stop platform for academic staff training
As a resource for courses, ADMS enables academic staff to browse and register for trainings on digital tools that improve teaching, such as Microsoft Teams, Panopto and Camtasia; as well as workshops on designing assessments, blended learning and grant writing. ADMS also provides self-paced online modules; and supports staff in tracking their professional development via a record of courses which they have participated.
Additionally, ADMS incorporates a key feature that logs the reports of all consultation sessions between staff and the CDTL team, which are uploaded onto the system for easy reference. When information from these logs is paired with programme registration data, the results enable CDTL to discern the teaching community’s areas of interest and needs – how often courses should be offered, and the type of new workshops that would support their pedagogical needs.
Ms Kiruthika Ragupathi, Associate Director at CDTL noted that ADMS is aligned with the University’s strategic direction on the use of data and analytics for efficient decision making. “This system helps in better understanding the professional development landscape on campus, and supports the planning of future activities through analysing data via its reporting system,” shared Kiruthika.
In 2020, Open Conversations was launched to support faculty members after a University-wide move to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Open Conversations provides a space for academics to share ideas and facilitate open exchanges on a variety of topics.
Associate Professor Adrian Lee, Deputy Director of Professional Development at CDTL shared that each Open Conversations session is held monthly and organised around a theme. Curated reading materials are distributed to participants prior to the session, which help to guide each discussion. “Open Conversation topics are determined in advance. However, should ADMS data suggest an emerging topic of interest, the order of topics will be reshuffled accordingly, to cater to the interests and needs of our community,” Assoc Prof Lee added.
Organisational Excellence is a strategic initiative undertaken by the University to develop best practices for an efficient and world-class administration to better support NUS’ Vision and Mission. It aims to bring about improved work processes and policies as well as create opportunities for talent development and growth.