Successful Connect+Learn back to campus series

Illustration of Connect+Learn text with books with Back to Campus written as the title

How can University of Toronto staff best prepare for a return to campus and what are the best ways to connect on campus and remote teams? With 23 sessions and over 1,050 attendees, the recent Connect+Learn Back to Campus series offered participants a chance to learn about the latest and greatest technologies for a hybrid workplace.

Throughout the month of August, Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI) provided these sessions, which were designed to complement the Return to Campus ITS Toolkit.

“These tools will help to facilitate people’s transition to a hybrid work environment and will help to streamline workflows,” says Kathleen McLeod, a Services Engagement Coordinator with EASI and lead organizer of the series. “They eliminate the need to email back and forth to track tasks and book resources; ultimately they’re helping to save time.”

Some of the most popular sessions included an overview of all tools for re-entry, online storage solutions and tools to help with tracking tasks.

Since March 2020, EASI has welcomed over 6,220 attendees to 133 online Connect+Learn sessions.

“The Connect+Learn series was initially created as a short-term response to the needs of a rapidly changing workplace when we suddenly shifted to working remotely at the start of the pandemic,” says Gary Raposo, Senior Manager, Enterprise Shared Services with EASI. “We’ve had so much success with this training initiative that we now offer weekly sessions. This most recent series focused on our return to campus and the next shift in how we work: the hybrid work environment.”

What’s next for Connect+Learn?

In the future, the EASI team will continue to offer supportive and collaborative drop-in training that responds to the emerging needs of a hybrid workplace.

“We’ll offer our planned weekly sessions as well as sessions focused on recent technology updates – it’s important to use an agile approach so we’re ready to educate users about the latest changes,” says McLeod. “And we look forward to further growing this offering and welcoming even more people to our sessions!”

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Thank you to everyone who presented at the Back to Campus Connect+Learn sessions:

MJ Edun
Justin Fletcher
Mohsin Jeelani
Kathleen McLeod
Heather Postill