Michael Miles
Director of Web Development at MIT Sloan
Mike Miles is a highly skilled web engineer with 18+ years of experience in open-source development, proficient in various languages and frameworks. As the Director of Web Development at MIT Sloan, Mike manages the development, maintenance, and growth of digital properties, leading a team of developers to deliver high-quality solutions for the school's community. Mike's deep technical knowledge and experience drive innovation and advance MIT Sloan's digital presence. He presents talks at technical conferences around the world, is one of the organizers of the New England Drupal Camp (https://nedcamp.org) and lead organizer of the Boston Drupal Meetup Group.
Check-in to the Higher-Ed Summit, grab some breakfast and network before the summit begins.
A welcome to the summit and overview of the day.
The NEDCamp Higher Education Summit is a full-day, collaborative working event for people working at the intersection of Drupal, the web, and higher education. This year’s Summit moves away from a traditional presentation-heavy format and instead focuses on peer roundtables, real institutional challenges, and small-group problem solving. Attendees will compare approaches, share lessons learned, and work through common issues involving Drupal, accessibility, content and editorial governance, UX, AI, platform strategy, and the broader realities of running higher-ed websites.
The goal is for attendees to leave with practical ideas they can bring back to their institutions, stronger connections with peers, and a better understanding of how other higher-ed teams are approaching similar challenges. The day is designed for developers, designers, content and communications professionals, strategists, accessibility practitioners, web managers, and technical leaders. View the full Summit schedule and details at https://nedcamp.org/summit.
Agenda
TIME
ACTIVITY
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM
Check-in, Breakfast & Networking
9:15 AM - 9:20 AM
Opening Remarks
An introduction to the day
9:20 AM - 9:40 AM
Meet Your Peers
Getting to know the people at the table
9:40 AM - 10:10 AM
What Are We Working On?
Sharing the challenges your institution is currently navigating
10:10 AM - 10:25 AM
COFFEE BREAK
10:25 AM - 11:00 AM
Peer Roundtables: Round 1
Facilitated discussions around attendee-selected topics
11:00 AM - 11:05 AM
Transition
11:05 AM - 11:40 AM
Peer Roundtables: Round 2
Another conversation and building on what the first group discovered.
11:40 PM - 12:00 PM
What We're Hearing
Surfacing interesting ideas, disagreements, and questions from the morning.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Lunch & Networking
1:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Higher-Ed Field Notes
Short, practical stories from peers about something their institution has tried and what they learned.
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM
Peer Problem Clinics
Working in small groups on real challenges facing institutions in the room.
2:15 PM - 2:30 PM
COFFEE BREAK
2:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Problem Lab
Turning the afternoon's conversations into practical approaches
3:15 PM - 3:35 PM
Ideas Exchange
Exploring what the other groups developed
3:35 PM - 3:50 PM
Take It Home
Identifying the ideas, connections, and next steps to bring back to institutions.
3:50 PM - 4:00 PM
Closing Remarks
In this presentation, we will look at the potential of leveraging A.I. as a tool that enhances developers' creativity, streamlines the coding process, and unlock new possibilities. From analyzing code structures and proposing solutions, to inspiring developers to think creatively.
This talk will also touch upon the ethical considerations and limitations associated with leveraging A.I. in code development, emphasizing the importance of human judgment and collaboration throughout the process.
Join this talk, where we explore the potential of using A.I. as a tool for code understanding and problem solving.
Split into groups to discuss with other attendees specific topics or questions that impact working with Drupal in Higher-Ed. These discussion topics will be selected by summit attendees throughout the day.
In the world of Drupal development, managing bugs effectively is crucial for creating high-quality and reliable websites and applications. This session looks at practical ways to find, track, and fix bugs in Drupal projects. We'll talk about how to use bug tracking tools in your Drupal workflow, improve teamwork among developers, site administrators, and QA engineers, and communicate clearly with stakeholders.
Using real-world examples from Drupal projects, we'll show how good bug management leads to better performance, stability, and happier users. Attendees will gain insights into prioritizing issues, reducing disruptions, and ensuring that quality assurance is a key part of the Drupal development process.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this session, attendees will be able to:
- Apply effective techniques to detect, track, and prioritize bugs within Drupal projects, ensuring prompt resolution and minimal disruption.
- Enhance team collaboration and communication during bug management in Drupal development to improve efficiency and project outcomes.
- Utilize bug tracking tools and methodologies tailored for Drupal to streamline resolution processes and improve overall project quality.
Attendees will get the most out of this session by being familiar with basic Drupal development concepts and having a general understanding of web development workflows.
Summit attendees will break out into groups and participate in discussions centered around a central topic and guiding questions.
Summit attendees will break out into groups and participate in discussions centered around a central topic and guiding questions.
Summit attendees will break out into groups and participate in discussions centered around a central topic and guiding questions.
Summit attendees will break out into groups and participate in discussions centered around a central topic and guiding questions.
Take a short break and refuel with some coffee or tea.
Take a short break and refuel with some coffee or tea.
Break for lunch.
A few remarks to get the summit going after the lunch break.
A few brief remarks to close out the summit.
Stick around the summit training room to network with fellow attendees.
“Shifting left” means integrating testing and quality checks from the very start of a project, rather than near the end. This approach helps detect issues sooner, reduces rework, and improves overall quality—an especially important factor in higher ed digital projects with multiple stakeholders. In this session, we will demonstrate practical ways to embed testing into the full web development life cycle. From planning, design, development, qa and deployment. Attendees will discover how to foster a quality-focused culture within digital teams to deliver more reliable and accessible experiences.