Sam Baillie

Sam graduated with a BA (Hons) in Scottish History, 2017

Whilst studying at UHI I learned how to effectively communicate virtually; including organising video conferences, creating online presentations, engaging with virtual audiences, and working on live documents together. Nowadays, my role in the Communications team at SAMH – Scotland’s largest mental health charity – requires me to take full advantage of these skills. Even before the pandemic, digital skills were in high demand in the third sector. Now, they’re essential. 

Using these skills learned through UHI’s online learning approach, I’ve been able to effectively pitch social media campaigns, press releases, video scripts, TV adverts and more to a virtual audience across the world. This includes being confident on video calls, sharing documents on the cloud to allow collaborative work, and gathering real-time audience member input using real-time interaction and voting software.

Studying at UHI has also helped me manage my time and tackle several projects simultaneously. For example, I now organise my time through Outlook calendars and Trello boards to ensure I’m prioritising each project appropriately. I learned these skills in my later years at UHI, where I would work on several modules on any given week (as well as a dissertation!) while ensuring I met fast-approaching deadlines.