This picture was taken in November 2019, as I attended the 18th European Conference on e-Learning that was held in Copenhagen, Aalborg university. This was a valuable networking opportunity for me as I connected with peers, potential collaborators, and experts in various fields of e-learning. Through this opportunity I met colleagues from a University that is located in Sweden, who enhanced my knowledge in Learning Analytics. In collaboration with these colleagues, we have held virtual workshops and they also organise an annual Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) where I normally invite colleagues to attend free of charge.

I am also currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Learning Analytics and supervised by a colleague from the mentioned Swedish University. Therefore the value of networking goes a long way, depending on how far one takes it. I normally encourage academics to plan carefully on possible networks prior to attending the conference as profiles of attendees are normally published on the conference website. Communication skills play an important role when approaching colleagues at conferences. It’s also worth research a bit on different cultures that represent those that one aims to approach for partnerships, including awareness of the possible partner’s research interests.

I have noted that junior academics normally shy away from approaching seniors due to various reasons, thereby losing opportunities for strong and sustainable partnerships. I then advise each junior academic to explore own communication strengths, whether it’s presenting themselves in writing or verbally. Therefore, for the former communication strength, one can craft an email and for the latter, the junior academic can politely approach the senior verbally as possible. In addition, enhancing one’s self esteem is also important as the manner in which one present themselves is projected to self-image, including the level of subject matter knowledge.

It should be noted that working partnerships also enable sustainable co-teaching and co-researching endeavours that important in advancing the academic agenda.