In 2014, the Learning Technology (LT) Hub, a central learning technology service at UBC, opened after consultation with faculty and staff brought to light gaps in learning technology support at the university. Among the issues that were identified were that faculty and staff often didn’t know where to go for technical support and sometimes felt like they got bounced around from group to group.
“The LT Hub was born out of that conversation as a way to bring [CTLT and IT] together in doing support and to make it easier to serve faculty needs,” said Derek White, manager of application integration and learning analytics at CTLT.
The goal of the LT Hub is to help faculty and staff resolve issues faster and more conveniently by having a central service where IT can offer technical support and CTLT can offer functional and pedagogical support. It’s a resource where faculty and staff can explore the learning technology tools available to them at UBC—for use in traditional classrooms, blended courses, and fully online learning.
According to Tammy Yasrobi, manager of learning applications at UBC IT, the Hub has really changed how technical support is delivered at the university. In the past, a faculty or staff member would email a ticket to IT. They would work on it from the technical side, and it would take a day or so to figure out what was going on. If it was a functional problem, it would then go to CTLT. A new person would pick it up, look at it, and have to get back in touch with the faculty or staff member that had made the initial request.
“It could take over the course of a week to get someone help. We’ve seen instructors walk in with a question and get that result in 20 minutes,” said Yasrobi. “[The Hub] has really highlighted that a process that was cold and impersonal has become something where someone can get one-stop shop help.”
Today, the LT Hub offers support, in-person and online, for over 30 learning technology tools including iClickers, edX, Camtasia, and WordPress, and it’s still waiting to add additional technologies.
“We’re now talking about the learning technology ecosystem as a whole, as opposed to focusing solely on specific tools,” said White. “That’s the conversation happening at the university level. The Hub is trying to react to that and to support that ecosystem model where everybody that walks in the door isn’t going to be using necessarily the same tools.”
Faculty and staff can visit the LT Hub in person at their location in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, in Room 2.27 (Fraser River Room), inside CTLT’s main office on the second floor. The LT Hub is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. Faculty and staff are encouraged to visit the Hub with any learning technology inquiries.
The LT Hub can be contacted at lt.hub@ubc.ca or 604 827 4775.