A Fresh Look and a New Home: FLEXspace Joins with HETMA and Readies Its Portal Version 3.0
A roundtable with HETMA and FLEXspace leadership
FLEXspace, the Flexible Learning Environments eXchange and HETMA, the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance, have shared that FLEXspace will move under HETMA's management so that both can benefit from well-known synergies between the two nonprofit, community-based organizations. A memo of understanding specifies that FLEXspace will continue to function and grow under its current branding as a free service to the community. FLEXspace will release its powerful 3.0 portal version in early spring.
Here, principal leadership from both groups reflect on the move. Lisa Stephens, executive director, FLEXspace; Joe Way, acting chair, HETMA; and Erin Maher-Moran, Johns Hopkins' multimedia services manager and future chair of HETMA, comment in the following roundtable discussion.
Users can post detailed information about their learning spaces on FLEXspace, including images, like this photo of a visualization studio at North Carolina State University. (Image courtesy NC State University Libraries.)
Mary Grush: How did the idea come about, to move FLEXspace under the leadership of HETMA? Why not just keep it at the State University of New York — at SUNY, where it was fostered from the beginning?
Lisa Stephens: Among the best things about SUNY is the opportunity and support you'll find there for academic innovation. Really great ideas start there and flourish, and FLEXspace was one such great idea. The challenge is that when these innovative projects grow to become large systems and reach new levels of adoption and regular production, it can be very difficult for the originators to continue with their "care and feeding," if you will. We decided it was time to seek a partner to provide the stewardship through which FLEXspace could continue to mature and evolve.
So, we've asked ourselves — for well over a year, actually: Is there another nonprofit organization that would be dedicated to all the principles we've had from the very beginning with FLEXspace? Who would keep it free and open? Who would continue to support our users? We found some real synergies with the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance — HETMA.
Grush: How would you describe those synergies between FLEXspace and HETMA?
Joe Way: HETMA started as an advocacy organization to give our AV technologists an opportunity to have a voice within the greater industry. We were concerned with those who have to make design decisions, with those who work with our manufacturers and integrator partners, with those who work with faculty and staff and ultimately, with our real end users — students.
I've always been a fan of FLEXspace — right from the start, I was "all in" to support it. And as it happened, at HETMA we were also looking for those synergies and principles that Lisa just described. How could we create "the place" for people to turn to? How can we grow while maintaining our foundational values?
I was literally walking down the street from campus one day, when Lisa texted me out of the blue to ask if HETMA would be interested in coming together with FLEXspace. And I thought immediately, "Yes! This is exactly the synergy we need."
Our organization had been founded to serve the people who make AV decisions every day; the boots-on-the-ground instructional designers and their support teams.
When we brought the idea of combining HETMA with FLEXspace to our board, it was an acknowledged no-brainer. The main reason that was true is foundational: We wanted to offer a platform for our users to come together to explore and create showcase spaces that, in the final analysis, benefit our ultimate customers — our faculty and students.
A lot of times in the audiovisual industry we lose sight of our true customers. We're manufacturers, or we're integrators. We get too much into the business and forget (inadvertently of course) those we're serving.
Grush: So this was a really good fit, based on the foundational values of both HETMA and FLEXspace?
Stephens: Yes, plus our two organizations have a shared history together. For example, Joe and I were able to combine forces at the recent Association for Learning Environments event and then at SCUP [the Society for College and University Planning]. HETMA and FLEXspace have stood side-by-side for a long time, with many mutual goals and shared visions.
HETMA and FLEXspace have stood side-by-side for a long time, with many mutual goals and shared visions.
Grush: Your mention of that makes me think about the wide range of users and reasons why they would be attracted to FLEXspace.
Stephens: Yes, take for example the architects. Not only are they catching on to FLEXspace as a resource; they are also very interested in the Learning Space Rating System. We've been advocating use of the LSRS as part of the "FLIPP" [FLEXspace Integrated Planning Pathway] in our presentations for a couple of years now — it's a great way to meet the vision that Joe just described.
Grush: And, there is the imminent release of the new portal version 3.0 — in about 3 or 4 weeks, I have heard.
Stephens: Yes, that's about right. Right now, we are finishing up the process of upgrading FLEXspace with the 3.0 portal, which introduces tons of new and enhanced functionality and collaboration tools. Now is a really good time to be having all the conversations about uniting the strengths of FLEXspace and HETMA — discovering many new ways to think about the process of integrating these two pillars of service to the AV and instructional design communities.
Now is a really good time to be having all the conversations about uniting the strengths of FLEXspace and HETMA — discovering many new ways to think about the process of integrating these two pillars of service to the AV and instructional design communities.
Way: There's a lot of growth in both organizations right now. In addition to HETMA becoming responsible for the support and growth of FLEXspace, we're also growing as a community. When you consider the 6,000-strong HETMA membership along with the FLEXspace global user base of 6,000, you have a really good reason to continue capitalizing on both brands. FLEXspace is an established, known quantity, and the new collaborative features in the 3.0 portal upgrade will only serve to strengthen the community's trust in the brand. Checking further into the numbers, HETMA also now owns the Higher Ed AV communication channel, which represents 36,000 EDUWIRE subscribers and more than a million impressions per month for our articles and podcasts.
FLEXspace is an established, known quantity, and the new collaborative features in the 3.0 portal upgrade will only serve to strengthen the community's trust in the brand.
There are lots of ways to analyze these types of numbers, but for us, it's all about the power behind the voice. It's what we stand for. And we still are here to ask the key question: How can we get a voice for those who don't normally have a voice?
Take for example, instructional designers who try to draw a connection between the pedagogy and the space design. How can we bring everyone together? This is why FLEXspace is really important to HETMA — because it was the missing piece. We could advocate, and we could connect, but how could we make it tangible?
We had an outward voice; we had an inward voice. What we didn't have was the glue that brings them together. And that's exactly what FLEXspace does.
Lisa and I were both in the fortunate position of co-founding these highly respected, community-based organizations. The FLEXspace team was founded in collaboration as was HETMA. Erin is taking over as HETMA Chair in July, and I couldn't be more excited that helping to grow HETMA and joining FLEXspace to HETMA will be among her priories as the new chair.
Stephens: While we're on the topic of key staff, I can also mention that FLEXspace was endorsed, from the beginning both by SUNY and by the California State University System. Many of your readers will be familiar with Dr. Rebecca Frazee's extensive development and leadership as director of FLEXspace while at San Diego State University, a CSU. Rebecca, now at a new post at the University of California-San Francisco, will continue to contribute to FLEXspace as her time allows, as our valued advisor and friend. Rebecca joined FLEXspace at just the right time to help us grow, and now we're joining HETMA!
Erin Maher-Moran: This joining of FLEXspace to HETMA is indeed the missing piece — what we need that will bring a lot of things together for HETMA that we were hoping to do for the higher ed AV community. We are excited to be able to offer a place for people to share their designs, and to draw inspiration from others.
FLEXspace complements HETMA's core beliefs, being by education and for education, and all about sharing experiences among institutions.
FLEXspace complements HETMA's core beliefs, being by education and for education, and all about sharing experiences among institutions.
To me, it's particularly compelling to see some of the smaller member schools gain insights from peer schools as well as from prominent, top-tier institutions. With the 3.0 portal, we'll see new levels of sharing and collaboration. It's fantastic to be able to inspire others.
The HETMA community is a very collaborative and sharing culture. Now, paired with FLEXspace, I'm sure we'll see our HETMA members show their collaborative nature even more. And with FLEXspace 3.0, as we've already noted, better tools for collaboration will take us to new heights. I think all of this will be a big draw, which will grow the membership, too, not just with numbers, but with various roles represented among the membership.
The HETMA community is a very collaborative and sharing culture. Now, paired with FLEXspace, I'm sure we'll see our HETMA members show their collaborative nature even more.
Stephens: FLEXspace has always been at the intersection of AV technologists and the faculty, pedagogy, librarians, and instructional designers — including the designers and facilities planners. Still, participation was usually driven by the AV community. But now we're starting to see more and more from the other groups I just mentioned.
Maher-Moran: True. It will be very timely to bring different groups into the picture, to make sure our systems are holistic and meeting the needs across the board. FLEXspace will go the distance to bring this all together.
Stephens: I've noticed over the past ten years or so, an even broader cultural change; a change that's more inclusive of not only the roles we just mentioned, but socially, in a broader sense. It's likely that more use of collaboration tools has improved communication. We're looking forward to seeing what the next ten years will bring, with FLEXspace 3.0 now coming up on the horizon.
Grush: What does the memo of understanding say about the joining of these two successful nonprofit entities? I'm thinking that though this may be technically and financially an acquisition, the service and community emphasis and cultural similarities of these two organizations would create certain expectations beyond the typical "one company absorbing another." And what about the longer-term identity of the FLEXspace brand?
Stephens: I think it's more of a merger, where FLEXspace is entrusting HETMA to continue the spirit and intent of the innovation fostered out of SUNY. We were very clear that FLEXspace is not to be commercialized and will continue with its own branding and identity, though we'll likely see a lot of interconnectivity and interaction with and among other brands and functional products that HETMA oversees. SUNY supports the transfer of FLEXspace to HETMA as outlined in the MOU.
Maher-Moran: HETMA is probably the best entity to take on FLEXspace. Because we are a nonprofit organization, we have no interest in trying to monetize it or make any profit from it. It's in our best interests to keep building on FLEXspace as it exists and not try to bring it into a corporate space. We want to do this for the good of higher education.
It's in our best interests to keep building on FLEXspace as it exists and not try to bring it into a corporate space. We want to do this for the good of higher education.
Stephens: And it's about trust and recognition from the community. We are working among a larger group of peers. HETMA functions pretty much the way we do. To talk about this with a pinch of humor, I could even say HETMA is like FLEXspace without the pictures. But seriously, it's such a good fit, because the core values match so perfectly.