Unsung Heroes

I would argue that elearning support or perhaps most support staff at tertiary institutions is for most part a pretty thankless job; we often run around arranging for training venues, search for information to be trained on, equip ourselves with both the theoretical knowledge and practical skill, support both staff and students through one-on-one and telephone consultations. The lecturer gets the benefit of all the knowledge shared and writes an awesome academic paper and does a presentation where all the accolades are bestowed upon him/her with little mention or recognition of key individuals who helped make the process possible. So for most part we remain the unsung heroes of the teaching and learning world. We are not recognised as academics as most of us come with technical qualifications and therefore do not enjoy a lot of the academic freedoms. For most part we have a wealth of knowledge since we deal both with staff and academics across faculties and have time to think and problem solve a lot of the challenges that lecturers may not have the answers for. Isn't it perhaps wise to invest in the development of such staff members in order to bolster the importance of teaching and learning in our institutions. Are there not ways to further incentivise our contributions to teaching and learning. I am not necessarily speaking of in monetary terms but perhaps through other affordances. Perhaps a recognition of such support as important to the daily successful teaching process will enhance the infusion of technology and lend itself to the professionalisation of teaching and learning as a whole. Perhaps someday that there might be no more need for an eLearning Division as digital literacies increase amongst our student cohorts. What would then happen to our skilled trainers who have never shared platforms with other academics? It think it would be wise to prepare for such a day.