Community Conversation

This year has been challenging but I think what's come out of it for RMIT is more of a shared understanding of our collective priorities and what we should be focusing on. It would be good to take this collaborative way of working and thinking forward and improve how we approach areas like partnerships going forward See less

There's a tremendous opportunity to shift the way we use our physical locations globally. I've read how other Australian universities are planning to use their international branch campus networks to deliver parts of the face to face student experience for international students. Could we leverage RMIT's European hub in Barcelona to deliver a similar offering for international students? See less

RMIT has made some great steps forward in our technology prior to COVID-19 that are paying off through the lockdown. To maintain competitive we must keep up with, and better yet, lead the tertiary sector when it comes to technology.

In addition to that, our view of our people (be it students, staff or anything in between) as active members of our network of communities is invaluable as it connects and engages RMIT's people in meaningful ways to each other and the university. See less

Being involved in the COVID-19 response from an L&T perspective, I noticed that RMIT's collection of complex systems and complicated architecture were ineffective as information resources in times of crisis. Data still exists in silos and there is little integration across systems. It really highlighted the importance of information architecture, data analytics and staff user experience. I hope that Next will include work on this. See less

I've been fascinated by the different ways we can (and have had to) collaborate during COVID, when almost all our staff and students have been off-site.

I've gotten so much out of the openness and increased ease of joining forces with people from our global RMIT communities, and hope that level of inclusion and collab continues. There's already been big benefits!

I do miss those incidental conversations between teammates /other people from around RMIT in the office or as we walk across campus that often sparked innovating outcomes. I hope we're able to find a way to somehow keep those 'accidental' opportunities going forward to share ideas and maximise impact in a more-connected, global setting.

Keen to hear anyone else's thoughts on how collaboration has been! See less

I would like to see the increased awareness of accessibility needs (transcripts on videos) rest breaks, materials in multiple formats continued. I feel by working independently, the strategies for communication need to evolve to ensure messages are available and communicated to everyone. With the changes to scheduled which has been implemented to enable homeschooling or accommodate the additional care responsibilities some staff have – the demand for better notes, and more transparency is higher than ever. A once a month 'being talked at' meeting is no longer sufficient to share information, there is need for more informed multi platform messaging, by using this strategy accommodations for individuals with additional needs is included by defult because they can attend the live (spoken) event, read the meeting notes, or participate in the discussion on teams. See less

COVID-19 has been a challenging time for so many, and more generally, a period of change for all of us. One of the wonderful things about the last few months has been the opportunity to speak honestly about the importance of wellbeing and mental health. I hope that post-COVID, we can focus on wellbeing, and maintain a culture of care in our workplaces and study environments. See less

Edited:I believe one of the most valuable insights we can take out of this is that many of the things we thought weren't possible, in fact, are. It's shown us that we can do things differently and certainly better. We can choose to keep doing the things that worked well pre-COVID but we can also choose to keep adapting and innovating and doing things better post-COVID. It's opened our eyes to what is possible and to really think about what we want our future to look like. See less

"Complex problems demand versatile thinking" I guess that we have learned what this could mean in practice during these times when agile out-of -the-box thinking is required. And I think that we will also see an increasing interest in learning to combine new ways of thinking – intuitive, creative, analytical, practical …. Whether it was the individual’s own thinking or something built and supported by constructive interaction in the group. See less

What have we learnt from COVID-19? As an academic community, many people have learnt that they don't miss their commute, that they work productively from home and that they are happier when they can spend a little more time with their families. This could be the catalyst for our NEXT RMIT to reframe part time, flexible work as the norm. More productive, happier staff, lower salary and office use costs: a win-win for everyone. RMIT's diversity and inclusion aspirations could be accelerated and truly realised by taking the truths we have learnt from COVID-19 and reshaping our worklife culture to truly embrace whole people.
We have also learnt that entirely online teaching can be a good experience for students, when technology is combined with empathy to truly connect people. Kindness, who would have thought that this COVID slogan could be so critical to a truly transformational learning experience for students? In the NEXT RMIT, I envision staff and students connecting not just via technology, but also as people. See less

Great ideas Reegan – I agree that this is a great example of signalling community empowerment and mutual support during a time of great uncertainty.

RMIT’s response so far to the COVID 19 situation has shown some clear priorities: putting the wellbeing and safety of community members first, and adapting rapidly to a situation that has developed week by week, requiring quick adjustment to the planned activities at the beginning of our educational year. As the situation has developed it is also opening up broader questions about how we adapt to systemic risks and uncertainties and how to be ready for shocks and disruptions.

The health situation is bringing to the fore many other concerns and uncertainties in the wider community, as it touches on the freedom movement, flows of people and goods, resilience of our economies and shared exposure to factors beyond our control. Inevitably governments have a vital role in addressing some of these basic issues, of safety, security, prioritisation. Working together across sectors and different communities also seems vital. The more we can learn from dealing with these situations, the better we may be at building up resilience and readiness to adapt in future years. See less

I recently discovered the incredible ‘Unmasked Selfies in Solidarity’ art project run by RMIT School of Art, where various RMIT people from around the world have posted photos of themselves in support of students and staff facing challenges because of travel restrictions and ill-informed attitudes.

It’s a powerful reminder to me of how we can create a global community of empowerment, support and solidarity and that – regardless of our background or location – it’s the people of RMIT that shape who we are as an institution, what we stand for, and how we choose to respond to disruptions and challenges in our world. See less