Pre Induction & Induction for Co-creation Officers
Acronyms
CCO - Co-creation Officer (the title given to the students working with you)
Warwick Award
Pre-Induction
Setting up a staff email account with Unitemps
Unitemps will usually create a staff email account for the role, to ensure this happens- when emailing Unitemps the job advertisement include in your email that you'd like an ITS account for any students that accept the role.
If needed the students can continue using their student email- however this is advised against as we want to ensure that students are able to access staff-specific pages where required, and that they are treated as University staff in their role.
Who is responsible for this?
Unitemps- who will need to set it up in their systems
Manager- who will need to ask, and confirm, with unitemps that emails have been set up
Granting students the necessary access
Please ensure that before any CCOs join that you have granted them access (either through their staff or student emails) to:
- Any buildings/shared work areas that the project use
- Any shared drives on the internal computer system
- Any sharepoint/teams sites that they may need to use
- Please also consider making a teams channel for just the CCOs to use, if one isn't set up for the project already
- Any resource accounts relevant o the project or team
- This one is particularly important if the CCOs are expected to do a large amount of emailing, hosting that in a central and shared place will prevent any contacts being lost at the end of the project and prevents the students from having these emails go to the personal accounts
Who is responsible for this?
Manager- who will need to submit this ask either to the resource account owner or to the card access centre
- e.g. for University house- access can be given to different students cards at reception
ITS- who should be able to guide the manager in granting the access needed
Teams/Folder owners- who will be able to add the relevant CCOs as members to the site
Introductory Meetings
Please set up meeting with any key stakeholders, such as the wider project team, service owners, etc. Please also invite CCOs to any existing meetings pertinent to their project and remember to allow time for them to introduce themselves within these meetings.
- Please allow for appropriate timings for this within their first week- for example if your CCO is working 5 hours per week and 4 of those are in meetings they may struggle to complete any initial work or training- consider spreading them out over the course of a few weeks.
- Please include all CCOs (if there are multiple) in the same introductory meetings with stakeholders to reduce any potential feelings of intimidation.
Who is responsible for this?
Manager- who will either need to set these up directly with the stakeholders and put it into CCOs diaries, or direct an Administrator in who CCOs need to meet
Administrator- in some cases there may be an administrator in the department or team that can assist in setting these up
University owned laptops- Setting up secure access
Please be aware that not all students may have personal laptops, and may need to have one provided. It is also pertinent to note that if students will be working on confidential data, or will need to store data on their laptops then it is better to have this be a University owned laptop.
Please allow enough time to acquire and set up the laptops so that students can use them.
Who is responsible for this?
Manager- who will need to submit the request and arrange getting the laptop to the student.ITS- who are responsible for giving out and assigning laptops to departments.
Induction
Introducing the Project
Please meet with your CCOs as early as possible to introduce the project in more detail- giving them a summary overview of what they will be working on.
Outline their role and Systems
Use this meeting to update them on:
- Their role within the overall project- why the CCO role was created to support the project
- Explain further on the roles and responsibilities outlined in the job description
- This is a good time to highlight any key dates coming up and responsibilities tied to these dates
- Layout the systems you'll be using (Teams, Planner, Trello etc)
- Share any additional reading documentation they may like to read or useful links they'll find helpful as part of their journey
Layout any Expectations
Please ensure that students are aware of:
- How to submit timesheets- understanding how and when they will get paid for their work
- Working Hour Expectations- we need to ensure that the academic responsibilities of CCOs are their priority. Ensure you have an honest and open conversations with your CCOs around their commitments and how you can accommodate them in the role.
- How you will communicate with them- this could be via:
- Whatsapp- for informal/urgent messages (if CCOs are comfortable sharing their numbers)
- Teams- Either through individual messaging or through posts on the teams site
- Email- This could be for more formal communications, team wide communications or general needs
Key Terminology and Dates
Terminology
Please provide the CCOs with opportunity to learn acronyms and terminology relevant to your project which they may come across in their role. Remember that acronyms you may be sued to are new to them, and may need some explanation.
Dates
This is a good time to mention any big meetings/expected events that you're already aware of (for example if there is a submission deadline they need to be aware of, or a team meeting they'll need to attend).
Please allow time for questions! (Admin Buddy)
Some of these students may be completely new to how the University works, if you can try to allow for at least 10 minutes of questions at the end. It may also be helpful to have an 'Admin buddy' for the CCOs- this can be the manager, but ideally would be someone else for CCOs to ask any questions. Some CCOs may be nervous, or feel they would be bothering you by asking questions such as 'how to use the printer' or 'what kind of email style is used'. By giving them a dedicated person to direct those questions to it will help them settle in and feel more comfortable in the area they'll be working in.
Project Context Meeting
Current Status
- Outline the overall project:
- Why it was set up
- What has or hasn't happened so far
- The current stage of the project
- Share any project documentation that is key for them to read. Highlight any priorities that need reading. Examples include:
- Project plans
- Website links
- Existing research
- Links to good practice (both internally within the University of within other Institutions)
Project Team
Explain who is who within the project:
- This is a good time to give out an organisational chart
- Make sure to highlight key project team members
- If there is anyone/any work happening both within the project team/department/wider University that they will need to be conscious of
- Especially if similar projects have been run in the past or related projects currently are going on
Wider University
If there are any specific strategies that has resulted in the project being created this is a good time to introduce them. Including:
- The Universities overall strategy- where does this project fit within the wider University priorities
- Any department strategies built as a part of this
- Any linked strategies that may play a part in their work
Reading Time (1 hr)
Students should be given time to understand their project, any documentation, as well as starting to get an idea of what working within the University is like. These are best shared initially in the Project Context meeting. Please allow them time and share with them:
- Organisation Chart- who is who, who they'll be working with, as well as how their team fits within the wider University Context
- Website- share with them the departmental website, and any pages within that may be particularly relevant
- Project Documents- whilst it is useful to share these in their introductory meeting, please allow some time for students to properly familiarise themselves with it.
Setting up the first task (allow between 1-2 hrs of independent work time)
While it is important that CCOs get the opportunity to learn about the team and the project at a comfortable pace, setting the first task is extremely important as many students will be keen to get started on something in the role.
Depending on the task this can be introduced as part of the check-ins, but please allow sufficient independent work time in their first few weeks to allow them to become comfortable producing on a specific ask.
These meetings can be spread out over weeks, but are a useful way of getting CCOs up to date and so it is recommended at least 1.5 hrs of their second week consists of some of these meetings:
Team Meetings
Please add your CCOs to any existing team/department wide meetings. These are incredibly useful for them to gain exposure to existing team structures and ways of operating, as well as allowing them to become familiar with the University.
Key Stakeholders
Please set up 1:1 meetings with any key stakeholders, such as key individuals in the wider project team, service owners, influential staff members etc. In these meetings it's important to:
- Include all CCOs so as not to overwhelm any staff members
- Allow them time to introduce themselves and the project they'll be working on
- This will give them practice at explaining their roles within a professional context
Check-Ins
It would be useful for CCOs to have biweekly check-ins with a team member outside of the project, such as their buddy or another staff member with the capacity to support students and answer any of their questions or concerns. If you need help with choosing this person- please reach out to the page contact and we can try and help.
These check-ins will be an opportunity to share any reflections or issues and to ask any questions.
Introduce Development Activity (1 hr)
As outlined in the job description, we need to ensure that students have something they are working towards in the role, this is for their personal development and a way to have something to showcase at the end of their time in the role.
This will be the main task they will explore in their check-in meetings with someone outside of the main project. Examples of such development project can be found in the additional resources page.
Please allow:
- 30 minutes to introduce activity
- 30 minutes independent work/reflection time
Linked to Week 1- Setting up the first task
This can be on the previously set task or any new tasks that come in.
Training (approx. 3 hrs)
The Unitemps system asks students to complete mandatory training, such as:
- Information Security Management
- Health and Safety- including a basic induction, fire safety, and display screen equipment
- Finance- including regulations and procedures, and anti-bribery
- Social Inclusion
- GDPR training
Please allow them the time to do this within their first few weeks.
As CCOs settle into their role, their time may become more flexible and will depend on general project requirements. The first 2 weeks may be quite meeting heavy, but this will likely reduce in week 3. The list below is useful to keep in mind when planning their workload.