Lauren Heywood graduated in 2014 from her Fine Art degree, and has been working at the DMLL since May 2015. We met up with our Graduate Activator as she lifts the lid on what life is like working within the Disruptive Media Learning Lab.

Being at the forefront of teaching innovation, we figured the best way to get the most out of our projects and practice is to include students and recent graduates within the development process. It is without a doubt one of the best decisions the DMLL has made. With real time feedback and student input from the start of all new ideas and projects, we have learnt that ‘Activators’ can not only enhance the outputs of our work but also make a richer working experience for all involved. After seeing a call out for project support Lauren contacted the Lab and since then we recruited for ‘activators’ to help support all projects.

DMLL: How has the journey been from student to member of staff at the Lab?

As a student, I volunteered and worked with a number of arts organisations and projects, and developed an interest in community arts, gallery education and socially-engaged practices. This interest included how to engage wide-ranging audiences with new projects and ideas, and how to facilitate communities to realise their own creative solutions.

Around the time I was graduating, I was asked by Fine Art lecturing staff if I would like to support staff and students on a collaborative art project called #3CityLink. This project was developed with the DMLL, CU Fine Art staff, and two other partner universities. It was a really interesting experience, and I enjoyed the combination of providing technical support, subject-specific mentoring, shared curatorial responsibilities, and the general fast-paced, collaborative nature of #3CityLink. After working on this project, I saw that the DMLL were advertising new Project Activator positions and so I applied.

Have you been able to bring the creativity from your degree into an office environment?

Definitely. DMLL projects rely on creative thinking and collaborative working to develop new innovative ideas, often starting from scratch and re-thinking how people learn or engage with ideas, and how best to support this. I have had lots of opportunity to make resources, visualise information and design activities to facilitate the dissemination and take-up of ideas.

At the Lab, I’ve often taken a visual design role to build materials for projects and events. For example, I designed the Game Changers toolkit ‘What Is Your Story?’ with Sylvester Arnab, the packaging for a lego Ian Dunn for the Beyond Flipped initiative, and I developed the interactive exhibition space with Deb James which we use to get students and visitors to engage with the ideas and themes of the Lab.

What has been your biggest challenge so far?

I presented the Open Badges project at the Coventry University Teaching and Learning Conference in July this year. It was quite a big thing for me - I enjoy working with groups of people in workshop environments, but standing up in front of an audience and delivering a presentation is still something I am trying to develop more confidence in.

And favorite bits?

We do a lot of left-field, fun things - trying out new tech tools, making fun activities and resources, which I really enjoy - and I’ve had the opportunity to go to events and meet people elsewhere in the UK that I wouldn’t have otherwise met.

I don’t know about a specific moment. I think just anytime we hear back from people about how working with us has helped and inspired them. When you’re close to a project, I think sometimes you forget how different and innovative the work that we do is. It’s always great to hear reactions from project collaborators and visitors.

As a student and now graduate do you feel you have been able to see things differently?

Yeah. I’m trying to think of a specific instance… I suppose having a better grasp of all the micro decisions and processes that take place for something to happen. How different areas of the University interconnect or knowing more about the work that they do. As a student, you largely only see the teaching / customer service side of the University.

Also, before I worked at the Lab I knew very little about academic research and teaching as a practice, and so working in an office dedicated to innovation in those areas I’ve learned so much more.

What is your biggest achievement in any of the projects you have been working on?

Building the case for Open Badges at Coventry University with the rest of the project team. We presented a poster and the progression of the project at the UK Open Badges in Higher Education conference in Southampton in March 2016. I was a large part of developing a visual hierarchy / learning pathway concept for Open Badges, which was well received at the conference [see conference poster]. Since then we’ve had more and more staff from across the University support the project, and invest time into developing badges and how to implement them - now we are working towards launching Coventry University Open Badges.

Do you have a message to staff in other schools thinking about recruiting students?

Do it. Students and recent graduates bring a deep understanding of how projects and initiatives will be received by the wider student body. They know what issues students face, generational and cultural factors around things such as students’ digital literacy, and how students receive information and communicate to others. Recruiting students creates diversity of ideas within a team, strengthening the experience for everyone involved.

And any words of wisdom to current students?

Reach out and take opportunities. Sometimes it can be daunting because you’re not sure exactly where it’s going to go or you don’t feel confident about what you can offer, but to build confidence you have to go outside of your comfort zone.

How has the DMLL influenced the way you work or take on new projects – both in the Lab or personal creative projects?

Working with a team of people with such a breadth of expertise and interests has been hugely influential. I have learned a lot from colleagues by working together to find solutions. People are happy to share their knowledge whether it’s to do with software, processes, who to contact about a query or concepts behind research. I have met people that I would never have had the opportunity to if I hadn’t worked at the DMLL.

Working here has reenforced my interest in how people engage with ideas and have access to information, and the importance of supporting people to realise their own ideas and solutions.

What would you love to get involved with now either in the Lab or across the University?

Anything to do with community outreach, arts-based projects, informal learning, digital literacies, digital citizenship, student democracy … basically anything that engages people with new ways of thinking or new opportunities to learn.