The HighEdWeb Annual Conference provides a variety of learning experiences for higher education professionals. This year we’ve made it easier to build a pre-conference schedule that will provide two days of hands-on, small group learning.
Last year, the academies made a schedule change that allowed attendees to also attend a pre-conference workshop on Sunday afternoon. This year, we’re taking that one step further. Each academy has a paired pre-conference workshop designed to extend on the academy theme. You can take your learning even deeper by registering for an academy and a pre-conference workshop.
The HighEdWeb Academies provide interactive learning experiences in small group settings, featuring in-depth presentations from industry and higher education leaders in three topic areas: leadership, web development and content strategy/UX. Once you finish with an academy, you can take a Sunday afternoon workshop that offers a deep dive into a specific challenge or opportunity related to that topic.
Leadership
The Leadership Academy helps to advance the leadership abilities of web and digital professionals working in higher education. You’ll learn how to:
- rally people using your innate leadership style
- build a non-invasive governance environment
- gain clarity, confidence and direction in your leadership
Pair the academy with “From Strategic Plan to Action Plan” with Alaina Wiens. Learn to apply the high-level strategic planning to actionable elements for your team’s day-to-day work. You’ll go through the steps of creating an action plan, setting goals and objectives for you or your team, and deciding what to measure—all in alignment with a strategic plan.
Web development
The Technical Academy helps participants to learn innovative techniques and best practices for building faster, stronger websites. You’ll learn how to:
- engineer accessible websites
- use modern, understandable CSS
- use web components in your projects
- test with behavior-driven development
After graduating from the Technical Academy, consider attending “Let’s Learn Git: No More Excuses” with Dwayne McDaniel. Whether it is for re-using the same code, experimenting with your code quickly and efficiently, or just for better document management, one of the most important leaps any site builder will ever take in their path towards becoming a developer is learning a version control system, or VCS, and Git is the standard VCS over 80 percent of developers.
Content strategy and UX
The Content/UX Academy helps participants learn how to research, plan and build content strategy based on user experience, best practices and analytics. Learn how to:
- measure and test content
- coach content strategy on campus
- user test in bureaucratic environments
- use card sorting to build consensus
Follow up with “Content Modeling Will Save Your Redesign (And the Three After That)” with Amy Grace Wells where you’ll learn to lead content-first and keep content from busting budgets and deadlines. All campuses have distinct content types that are repeated across digital properties and these can be mapped, related and easily turned into CMS requirements, RFP specifications, design systems and, best of all, future-proofed content.
Like a fine wine with a pungent cheese, pairing a pre-conference workshop with a HighEdWeb Academy is another way to get the most from your annual conference experience!