Session 2024-25 is the first year of the first STEP cycle and is its Discovery phase. During the year, staff and students will come together for a series of Discovery Days to establish collaborative partnerships and design projects that will form the core of the programme. Discovery Days will include a mix of networking, teamworking and CPD activity. You will get to hear from other teams about their projects, as well as working on your own.
Between these days, Navigation Sessions will provide momentum, alongside additional supporting activities such as workshops, networking opportunities and CPD activity related to the topic. In developing projects there will be a focus on collaboration, clarity of outcomes and anticipated impact, and the formation of a cohesive programme of work that involves every college and university in Scotland in at least one project.
Please note that attendance at Discovery Days is limited to members of the STEP Network or their nominees. Attendance at Navigation Sessions is open to other students and staff who may wish to be involved in the development of projects, though we would ask that you discuss this with your institutional STEP Network members.
Schedule
STEP One: Who are we and what are our challenges?
4 December 2024
The purpose of the first Discovery Day was to introduce STEP and its first topic. We spent some time getting to know each other and began to explore our common challenges and potential solutions.
STEP Two: How will we work together?
29 January 2025
The second Discovery Day more firmly established teams and saw us start work on project proposals. STEP Network members started to think about the rationale for what they would like to do in years 2 and 3.
STEP Three: How will we know we are making a difference?
26 March 2025
The third Discovery Day had an emphasis on impact. STEP Network members considered the outcomes, indicators and evaluation of their projects.
STEP Four: How will we deliver?
28 May 2025
By this stage, projects teams will be working through the details of their project proposals: what activities will they deliver? What resources will they require? How will they manage the project? What are the risks?
By the end of the final Discovery Day, we should have a number of well-developed project proposals, as well as a good sense of how the programme will look in years 2 and 3.
About the Navigation Sessions
Following each of the Discovery days, CDN will offer 2-hour online Navigation Sessions. The purpose of these sessions is to surface the key thoughts, ideas and questions that participants have had since the Discovery Days, and to identify next steps on their journeys.
The Navigation Sessions will use the Open Space method – a technique for running meetings where the participants create and manage the agenda themselves. This method is well suited to the context of STEP, because it enables participants to work with what emerges from the Discovery Days.
Participants are invited to reflect on the Discovery Day and identify topics or questions that they believe are important to discuss further.
Future navigation sessions will take place on:
- 28 April 2025
- 9 June 2025.