Options for the escalation of support requests

Normal submission

To ensure requests can be given timely attention, it is important to include all the information required to respond to the request. When you submit a support request, the eLearning Support team assign it an urgency rating according to the level of impact. University-wide problems receive higher urgent attention.

Include the following information in your request:

  • Full course ID (e.g. BIOL1030S_6420_22957)
  • Tool used.
  • Full description of the problem and behaviour.
  • Screenshots where possible.
  • Quote a job number when submitting additional information, or escalating, or else multiple jobs will be created in the system.
  • If the problem is impacting your students or may impact your SECaT results, please know we always find that concerning and that you can ask for a statement or communication from us for you to use.

Where to submit

When you need to talk to an eLearning support person

Option 1: (Email direct - preferred) Staff can email a support request and receive a response in 8 business hours. Email help@elearning.uq.edu.au which will go directly to the eLearning Support team ('Tier 2'). Normally jobs are responded to on the same business day.

Option 2: (email with 'URGENT' in the subject line for a 30-minute response - typically ten minutes): As mentioned below jobs marked 'urgent' in the subject line are typically responded to within ten minutes.  Furthermore, after you have logged a job you can also follow up with a call to 336 56000 and ask to speak to a 'Tier 2' eLearning support person directly, to clarify that particular job or our response to that job.

Option 3: (urgent phone call direct to eLearning team): Staff can call the ITS service desk on 336 56000 and ask for the support request details recorded immediately and then ask to be transferred to the eLearning support team on the phone live. Triage of phone calls is required for a number of reasons, particularly for cases where the support required is actually provided by a completely different team, or where the caller is not yet aware of a system issue generating many duplicate calls.  

Option 4: (email to the ITS service desk - slowest) Staff can email the ITS helpdesk at help@its.uq.edu.au. ITS will log a job in the system and forward it to the eLearning team if relevant. Note this process is generally the slowest method and can sometimes take days because the ITS helpdesk has to process a large number of emails. 

Option 5: (90-minute personal adviser meeting). For in-depth detailed and lengthy support advice staff can make a booking with the eLearning Adviser Service. There are typically slots available in the same week or next.

Option6: Request support from inside Blackboard. Staff can click on the purple question mark icon and either submit a job or request a longer meeting with an eLearning adviser. This is the same as options 1 or 5. Again jobs can be marked URGENT and jobs can be followed up with a phone call to 336 56000 asking for the eLearning team.

 

Note: The ITS Tier 1 Helpdesk team are IT support generalists but have access to other teams that may be able to help you like AV and eLearning

Note: The eLearning Support team is resourced for text or telephone support only. Face-to-face personal consultations are available via the Adviser service described below.

Other eLearning support options available include staff guides, central eLearning workshopscustom workshops (held in your school), and faculty learning designers.

For urgent support - Add "URGENT" to the job

At the time of submission, you may also request a note be placed on the job about its urgency. The eLearning Support staff will see the note when considering response priority compared to other jobs. Each month the eLearning Support team reports on normal and urgent jobs to monitor response times. We aim to respond to urgent support requests within 30 minutes and typically they are responded to within 10 minutes. Please remember with 1600 courses each semester and only 5 support staff there may be jobs even more urgent than your own on occasion.

Positive confirmation request

When you submit a request (by phone or email), you have the ability to escalate the urgency with a positive confirmation request. You can ask your support consultant for positive confirmation that the eLearning Support team has read your job and understands its urgency. The eLearning Support team will consider your request for urgent consideration in the context of other work they have on. Although most eLearning jobs are responded to almost immediately, during peak periods a triage is performed to focus on the most urgent submissions. eLearning Support staff are obliged to ensure they do not interrupt highly urgent responses for less urgent requests.

Escalation after submission

There are a number of options to escalate after a job has already been submitted:

  • You may recontact eLearning Support at any point to add helpful details or clarifications about the problem.
  • You may recontact eLearning Support at any point to request a note be added to adjust the urgency of the submission.
  • You may recontact eLearning Support to request a positive confirmation that the job has been triaged

Internal Process for High-Priority Jobs

Apart from the normal eLearning Support queue monitoring and escalation processes, eLearning has additional oversight to ensure appropriate response times.

  • The eLearning Support Coordinator monitors urgent requests daily to ensure their diagnosis makes appropriate progress and receives appropriate communications. They consider whether the job is receiving attention appropriate to the impact, importance and age of the job. They consider whether all relevant stakeholders have been advised of job progress and status at regular intervals.
  • The eLearning Support Coordinator updates the eLearning Systems and Support Manager once a day on the status of urgent jobs.
  • Once a month, the eLearning Support Coordinator organises a report to be produced on the Usage Statistics page listing the number of jobs and separately any urgent jobs.