The Portrait series shines a spotlight on staff from different departments to learn more about how they contribute to Lü’s success.
Lü has a team dedicated to training its users and supporting them in the use of educational technology. For this portrait, we met with Kate, an educational technology specialist, and Denisse, our training coordinator, to find out about what they do.
Why do we need a training and educational technology support team at Lü?
Our clients needed guidance to better understand the product. It’s quite impressive and has a lot of applications. Users don’t necessarily have the time to study all of its features. That’s where training comes in.
From an educational standpoint, our activities already have a lot to offer. However, it takes a certain amount of work to enhance them and develop new skills, and it might not be intuitive at first. But if you think about it, we can easily lead the client in that direction.
What training does Lü offer? How are clients supported and trained?
At the moment, our clients first meet with a client success advisor who shows them the system and guides them through creating their account. After that, the trainer presents the applications.
We’re currently working on a trainer partnership to make sure we have trainers who can reach our entire client base. With these trainers, our clients will be able to develop activities that meet their goals and needs and integrate them into their curriculum. The educational technology specialist team then takes over.
And what exactly does an educational technology specialist do at Lü?
At the end of the training program we’re currently designing, the client meets with an educational technology specialist to really bring technology and education together—that means ensuring the curriculum, the learning, and the skills are all connected to the Lü tool. So the educational technology specialist’s role is to take care of student learning and everything surrounding that, by leveraging technological tools for learning.
We also create turnkey materials that save the teacher time in preparing for a class, and that make sure all students are involved in the activities.
To clarify, what is the difference between a trainer and an educational technology specialist?
Training is about showing how the tool works. It’s everything related to the joystick, navigating the applications, configuring the settings, etc. It’s about using the tool, getting to know the applications, and setting up the different options.
The educational technology specialist, on the other hand, will eventually bridge the gap between the physical education and classroom programs, with Lü as a support. In the long run, our goal is for classroom and physical education teachers to work together. We also want to develop applications that will get kids moving in their physical education classes, while also testing their knowledge of subjects like math, English, and science.
In what ways do you collaborate with the rest of the Lü team?
The teachers we interact with give us many comments and suggestions. We pass those on to the application development team so they can integrate them into our products. We also help the team by giving input on the applications’ design. With our experience as teachers, we can better understand the needs and make sure that we’re meeting them with the applications.
What’s amazing is the active collaboration between the application development team and ours. It allows us to design products that cater to our users.
Your team is fairly new. What has been its biggest challenge so far?
“In terms of training, a few things had already been implemented over the past year,” says Kate. “The challenge was to redefine the roles within the team.”
“Another challenge was working together to complete the projects,” adds Denisse. “And now that there are more of us, there are more projects, but we’re acting faster and are more responsive to the teachers’ needs.”
What are you most proud of since the team was formed?
Denisse is proud of all the projects. Thanks to the whole team, they were finished quickly and efficiently.
For Kate, she’s proud of the way everyone leverages each other’s strengths to move projects forward.
What are some of the reasons that made you want to join the Lü team?
Denisse: “The mission of helping teachers learn how the tool works and how to integrate it into their teaching.”
Kate: “The quality of the tool itself, and the company’s and the education team’s mission which is in line with my values. The quality of life that Lü offers, too. I’ve heard nothing but good things. You can just feel it when talking to someone on the team.”
What do you enjoy most about your role at Lü?
