Speaker: Sarah Davies, head of higher education and student experience, Jisc.
This interactive workshop will discuss how we can ensure our digital environment offers our students’ opportunities to develop their digital capabilities.
We will share the outcomes from our recently completed Jisc student digital experience tracker surveys of over 22,000 students from higher education, further education and skills as well as online learners. These findings will highlight key areas we need to be addressing to ensure our students’ digital capabilities are supported.
Participants will also explore resources and tools they can use in their own organisation to support their practice.
2. Building a digital environment to support
the development of your students’
digital capabilities
Sarah Knight, Head of change implementation support – education/student, Jisc
ChrisThomson, Subject specialist (online learning and the digital student experience), Jisc
#digitalstudent http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org
3. Our aims
» Discuss the headline findings
from the Jisc student digital
experience tracker and how these
relate to your own context
» Develop a better understanding
of how the digital environment
can support your students’ digital
capabilities
» Discuss what digital capabilities
your learners require
» Review the Jisc resources and
tools available and explore how
these could support you with
your practice
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 3
4. Describe your digital students
» Describe (or draw!) your digital
students
» What technology do they use
everyday?
» What technology do they use for
their learning?
» What technologies do they use
for collaborating, networking
and sharing ideas their peers?
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 4
5. Developing our students’ digital capability
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap
All available from:
http://ji.sc/building-digicap
5
6. What do we currently do?
» Visit menti.com
» Enter the code:
› 27 134
» How do you currently assess your
students’ digital capabilities?
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 6
7. Our digital student work
» Phase 1 study reviewed students’ expectations and experiences of the
digital environment at university and we spoke to 500 staff and students
during our consultation (2013-2014) see http://bit.ly/HEdigstudent
» We conducted a review of practice in schools to identify likely incoming
expectations (2014) see http://bit.ly/2gYifGH
» In phase 2 we focused on FE speaking to 220 learners and 300 staff
from colleges across the UK (2014-2015) see
http://bit.ly/FEdigitalstudentoutputs
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 7
8. Our digital student work
» Phase 3 Skills study spoke with 123 adult and community learners, work
based learners including apprentices and offender learners (2015-2016)
see http://bit.ly/digitalstudentskills
» Phase 4 Online learners study, reviewed literature and spoke to
students studying on online or partly online courses in HE and FE and
Skills (2016) see http://bit.ly/digstudonline
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 8
9. Enhancing the digital student experience postcards
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap
Available to download from: http://bit.ly/FEdigitalstudentoutputs
9
10. Benchmarking the student digital experience
» Jisc, NUS andTSEP
» http://bit.ly/digstudentbenchmark
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 10
11. Student digital experience tracker
» Gather evidence from students about their digital
experience, and benchmark their data against other
institutions
» Make better informed decisions about the
digital environment
» Target resources for improving digital provision
» Plan other research, data gathering and student
engagement around digital issues
» Demonstrate quality enhancement and student
engagement to external bodies and to students themselves
» See jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/student-digital-experience-tracker
The Student digital experience tracker enables colleges,
skills providers and universities to:
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 11
12. Summary from 2017 tracker
» 74 UK organisations with a total of 22,593 student responses
» Reported byTracker version, ie four learner groups:ACL and Skills,
FE, HE, Online learners
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap
No. orgs. that used
version
Total responses Average
ACL and Skills 6 1,337 223
FE 36 12,347 343
HE 38 8,190 216
Online 9 719 80
12
13. What should we do to improve your experience of digital
teaching and learning?
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 13
14. How is theTracker being used within institutions
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 14
"Digital skills are going to be really important in my future
career and am glad that staff really got me thinking about
it and how I can develop existing skills.The college is taking
an active role in supporting students
to take responsibility."
Jeremy Scales, Learner, Epping Forest College
15. How is theTracker being used within institutions
“I cannot over emphasise how much more credible these
results are perceived by senior stakeholders in comparison
to local surveys.TheTracker has exceeded my expectations
in terms of benefits, I have already cherry picked aspects
for business cases and papers. Incredibly useful for us and
we will definitely continue to participate if there is an
opportunity.“
Andy Jaffrey, Head of the Office for Digital Learning, University of Ulster
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 15
16. The role of the digital environment (1)
Our ‘Digital Student’ work told us that students want their digital
environment to:
» Give a sense of belonging (to course group, institution)
» Have social web features (profile, contacts, likes…)
» Support their sense of identity (profile, digital CV, portfolio…) ready for
public showcasing but…
» … be a safe space to practice and develop
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 16
17. Activity (1)
» In groups of 3-4, share how well
your digital environment
supports students in their need
for safety, identity and belonging
» Share your ideas on how we can
do this better on the padlet:
http://bit.ly/studentbelfast
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 17
18. The role of the digital environment (2)
» 46% of learners in FE/ACL and skills look to their tutors first for
support with digital skills in comparison with only 16% HE learners
» Few learners in any sector look to specialist support staff
first: but 65% do know where to get help with digital skills
» Most students are led by course requirements to take up specific
digital learning practices
» But 40-50% of learners didn’t know or weren’t sure what digital skills
their course required; fewer than 50% have been told what digital
skills they need to improve
OurTracker findings (2016 and 2017) told us that:
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 18
19. Activity (2)
» In groups of 3-4, share how well
students are prepared for digital
study in your institution, and how
well their digital practices are
developed once they start
» Share your ideas on how we can
do this better on the padlet:
http://bit.ly/studentbelfast
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 19
20. The role of the digital environment (3)
» Most students gain digital skills informally – from friends, other students,
or (especially in HE: 38%) online resources
» Our Digital Student studies confirmed that digital skills are often gained
just-in-time, from peers, and with time/low risk to experiment
» Our Digital learner stories showed that online videos are key to building
digital skills once learners have basic confidence, see
http://bit.ly/learnerstories
OurTracker findings (2016 and 2017) told us that:
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 20
21. Activity (3)
» In groups of 3-4, share how well
your organisation supports
students to gain digital skills
informally (eg from peers,
mentors, online resources…)
» Share your ideas on how we can
do this better on the padlet:
http://bit.ly/studentbelfast
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 21
22. The role of the digital environment (4)
» Most students find these systems convenient: they like the independence
and flexibility to fit learning into their lives; 80% HE and 61% FE rely on
theVLE for coursework
» Less than 50% students feel connected to others when they use digital
systems to learn
» A minority of students (ca 10-15%) find digital systems increase their
sense of isolation: they may have difficulty with distraction and
information overload
The DigitalTracker (2017) questioned students about
digital technologies including theVLE:
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 22
23. Activity (4)
» In groups of 3-4, share how your
institution is maximising the
benefits of digital technology for
learners: access, convenience,
reliability, flexibility…
» Share what could be done to
enhance feelings of connection to
others using the padlet:
http://bit.ly/studentbelfast
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 23
24. The role of the digital environment (5)
» 83% FE students and 66% HE students use institutional desktops for
learning (despite the fact that)
› FE students use a wide range of personal devices for learning
(48% laptop, 29% tablet, 78% smartphone)
› HE students use even more personal devices for learning
(88% laptop, 41% tablet, 84% smartphone)
The DigitalTracker (2017) found that:
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 24
25. The role of the digital environment (6)
» 69% of FE / 80% of HE students
feel they have robust, reliable
access to wifi
» This is a lower % than for access
to other digital services
» Our Digital Student research
found that most students feel
‘being connected’ is essential
to their learning
The DigitalTracker (2017)
found that:
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 25
26. Activity (5)
» In groups of 3-4, share how your
institution is adapting to students’
personal device ownership
» Share ideas for how we can do
this better on the padlet:
http://bit.ly/studentbelfast
» Write down your
recommendations for funding
future IT provision
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 26
27. Engaging students in conversations
» 31.5% HE students and 43.5% FE students agree that they are involved
in decisions about the digital environment
» So we need to encourage more engagement of students in our digital
developments:
› Focus groups with students as co-researchers
› Student and course reps
› Informal feedback – padlet, twitter walls, vox pop interviews
› Students as partners, digital champions/leaders/mentors
› With ongoing dialogue and feedback to students on what has been
acted upon
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 27
28. Developing successful student staff partnerships
» Benefits of student-staff
partnerships
» Quick start
» Viewpoints implementation
framework, resources and guidance:
› partnership setup
› partnership implementation
› capabilities, development and
accreditation
› sustaining and embedding
partnerships based on evaluation
of impact
» Case studies
» Webinars
» Other agency initiatives
Online guide available from:
http://bit.ly/jisc-partnership
Join Change agents’ network
http://can.jiscinvolve.org
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 28
29. Developing organisational approaches to digital capability
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap
» Organisational digital capability
in context
» The digitally-capable
organisation
» Building digital professionalism
» Strategic steps towards
organisational digital capability
» Case studies: journeys towards
digital capability
» Further resources
http://ji.sc/developing-digicap
29
30. Follow developments
» See project blog for updates on all
new developments:
https://digitalcapability.jiscinvolve.org
» Follow #digitalcapability onTwitter
» Join community mailing list
jiscmail.ac.uk/JISC-DIGCAP-UG
» Join us for Connect More events
jisc.ac.uk/connect-more
» Visit project page
http://ji.sc/building-digicap
» Online guide
http://ji.sc/developing-digicap
» Discovery tool
http://bit.ly/digcapdiscovery
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 30
31. Your digital missions
» What new idea could I take into my practice
» What new digital tool will I use?
» What new digital capability shall I develop?
» What one thing are you going to take away from this workshop to
enhance your practice?
» Share your digital mission with #connectmore17 #digitalcapability
07/07/2017 #digitalcapability http://ji.sc/building-digicap 31
Give delegates 5 mins as an icebreaker activity to draw or describe their digital student/learner – on
flipchart as a group – 1 per table photograph the images and share on the padlet.
Introduce the 6 elements framework and the learner profile – which highlights the digital capabilities for learners which they need to live learn and work in a digital society. Students do not need all these digital capabilities – only those which relate to their context ie course, vocational area or profession.
There is one copy of the framework per table and one copy of the profile per delegate.
We will be referencing the framework and the profile and highlighting what we need from our digital environment to support the development of these digital capabilities.
Ask delegates to share their practice via menti.com and you can view the outcomes by visiting www.mentimeter.com user name and password.
This slide shows the history of our digital student work and how since 2013 we have been speaking to students about their expectations and experiences of technology across all the sectors and online learners (which is an area where more work is needed as a growth area for the sector)
This slide shows the history of our digital student work and how since 2013 we have been speaking to students about their expectations and experiences of technology across all the sectors and online learners (which is an area where more work is needed as a growth area for the sector)
Outcomes from our digital student work include:
Introduce the Enhancing the digital student experience: Conversations that count postcards and that these can be used to enable conversations staff and students around the digital student experience. Bullet points start with what should be happening in most organisations moving towards more detailed work which needs to take place. Delegates can use these cards to gather ideas on best practice when considering the discussion prompts.
Introduce the benchmarking tool developed in partnership with NUS and The student engagement partnership as a resource they can refer to for the discussion activities – to assess where they are currently with their practice, where they see themselves moving towards and ideas for effective practice
As an outcome of the digital student work and the need to gather quantitative data on students digital experience at an organisational level and at a sector level, we developed the student digital experience tracker as a survey tool with a robust set of student tested questions delivered in BOS. See http://bit.ly/jiscdigidataservice
The report containing the summary findings from 2017 surveys will be available from 7th June from web link on this slide.
This slide shows the summary of the data collected across the UK and the following slides highlight the key findings from the 2017 survey which relate to areas which support the development of students digital capabilities.
This year we ran the 2nd iteration of the tracker. New questions with stronger focus on learning experience
New question sets (HE, FE, Skills and Online learners) available from http://bit.ly/2mBHA9l
137 organisations signed up with 11 international universities from SA to NZ
Surveys closed on 31st March: access to sector benchmarking data on 4th April: briefings available in June
Tracker will run again in autumn 2017
From our digital student work, and speaking to learners this is what students want from their digital environment.
Some stats which relate to these areas from the Tracker if needed.
In relation to aspects of digital safety and wellbeing, there was a striking difference between HE learners and the other learner groups: when asked whether they know where to get help if they are bullied or harassed online, 20% (one in five) HE learners disagreed, in comparison to 5 – 7% of learners from the other three groups. Similarly 10% of HE learners disagreed when asked whether their university helps them stay safe online, in comparison with fewer than 2% of learners in all other groups. This may reflect a historically lower level of expectations for responsibility when it comes to digital safety issues among HE institutions. It will be interesting to see if this changes in a future iteration of the Tracker.
Not enough learners are confident enough in their ability to create a positive online profile, judge online content reliably, or change privacy settings and manage passwords. We may want to recommend that these and some other core digital aptitudes should become mandatory and routine, as safe and responsible online behaviour has done.
Refer them to look Card number 3 of the Conversations that count postcards and ‘Use digital systems to build a sense of belonging’ and ‘Foster digital well being’ categories on benchmarking tool
Either on tables or in groups of 3-4, discuss how well your digital environment supports students in their need for safety, identity and belonging
Use Post it and flip charts to collate feedback
One person to collate feedback per table and share to padlet (1 padlet per event)
Take a photo flip chart which post to padlet
there is clearly a shortfall across all sectors in the provision and/or signposting of services to support digital skills and capabilities.
HE (36.5%) and Online Learners (45.7%) most commonly turned to online information to learn new digital skills. In fact their preference for online information almost exactly mirrored the preference of FE/ACL/skills learners for their tutors. However, HE and online learners were almost as likely to turn to friends and family, and (if on campus) fellow students.
Refer them to look Card number 2 of the Conversations that count postcards and ‘Prepare students to study with digital technologies’ category on benchmarking tool
Either on tables or in groups of 3-4, discuss how well students are prepared for digital study in your institution, and how well their digital practices are developed once they start
Use Post it and flip charts to collate feedback
One person to collate feedback per table and share to padlet (1 padlet per event)
Take a photo flip chart which post to padlet
See the digital learner stories and the synthesis report from http://bit.ly/learnerstories/ - learners quote You Tube as being their 1st port of call for guidance outside of lectures.
Refer them to look Card number 6 of the Conversations that count postcards and ‘Support and progress students’ digital capabilities throughout their students’ category on benchmarking tool
Either on tables or in groups of 3-4, discuss how well your organisation supports students to gain digital skills informally (e.g. from peers, mentors, online resources…)
Use Post it and flip charts to collate feedback
One person to collate feedback per table and share to padlet (1 padlet per event)
Take a photo flip chart which post to padlet
HE learners are the group most likely to rely on the VLE: 80% rely on it to do coursework (in comparison with only 61% of FE learners) and 67% regularly access it via a mobile device (in comparison with 48% of FE learners and 30% of ACL and Skills and Online learners)
However, learners do not report feelings of enjoyment when it comes to VLE use: only 40% of HE and FE learners say they enjoy using the collaborative features or want their tutors to use the VLE more.
Across learner groups, digital technology is least favoured for feeling connected to others. It is relatively more favoured for educational outcomes (‘understanding’) and for independence and convenience/flexibility. Distraction is the main concern for HE and FE learners; isolation for online learners. A SD: Link to the low proportion of students who said they did online collaborative activities?
Learners on the whole do not believe that the use of digital technology – for example to give access to course resources and recorded lectures – makes them less likely to attend Great to have this evidence and dispels the myths!
Responses from FE and HE Learners to these questions were broadly similar: around 6 in ten feel that use of digital technology on their course results in better understanding, greater independence, and allows them to fit learning into their lives more easily
Refer them to look Card number 8 of the Conversations that count postcards and ‘Embed digital capabilities into courses of study’ category on benchmarking tool
Either on tables or in groups of 3-4, discuss how your institution is maximising the benefits of digital technology for learners: access, convenience, reliability, flexibility…
Use Post it and flip charts to collate feedback
One person to collate feedback per table and share to padlet (1 padlet per event)
Take a photo flip chart which post to padlet
The average number of different devices used per person (maximum of five as listed in Table 6) was calculated and averaged for institutional and personally owned devices (Table 7). Key findings were:
· ACL and Skills learners have low average personal device use (less than one device per learner) and rely on institutional devices, using an average of 1.9 institutionally-owned devices to support their learning
· FE learners rely both on institutional and personal devices, using an average of 2 institutional and 2 personally owned devices to help with their learning
· In contrast, HE learners rely less on institutional devices, using an average of only 1.4 devices per learner. However they have far higher average personal device use to support their learning, averaging 2.7 personal devices per learner.
By far the most popular devices for learners to own and use were laptops in HE and smartphones in FE. These devices saw a very low level of institutional provision. We cannot say from these results whether learners are being pushed into self-ownership because the low level of institutional provision does not meet their needs, or whether learners would own these preferred devices anyway and institutions are providing them at a low level to ‘plug the gap’ for the digitally disadvantaged. There is clearly a risk, however, that very high levels of learner access to preferred devices might be seen as a reason for institutions not to invest in hardware on learners’ behalf.
- only 40% of HE and FE learners agreed when asked if they enjoy using collaborative features of their VLE (table 9)
- only approx 50% of ACL and Skills and 70% of Online learners said they enjoy using the VLE to work with other learners (table 9)
- only approx 40% of HE and FE learners agreed that when digital tech is used on their course they feel more connected with other learners OR with their lecturers and tutors (table 11)
Refer them to look Card number 7 of the Conversations that count postcards and ‘Support students to use their own devices for learning ‘ category on benchmarking tool
Either on tables or in groups of 3-4, discuss how your institution is adapting to students’ personal device ownership
Use Post it and flip charts to collate feedback
One person to collate feedback per table and share to padlet (1 padlet per event)
Take a photo flip chart which post to padlet
Just over one third of learners agreed that they are given the chance to be involved in decisions about digital services, with the highest level of agreement from FE learners (43.5%)
This mirrors the 2016 UCISA Digital capabilities survey report, which stated that 43% of Universities that responded to the survey are working with students as change agents (another 38 % said they were working towards this)
Refer them to card 13 for ideas and also the outstanding category in the benchmarking tool for all the principles.
Support for engaging students in digital developments for next steps
Support with developing their organisational approaches to digital capabilities
Mention current pilots of the tool and resource set
Encourage delegates to write down their key take aways from this workshop using the digital missions sheet or add these to the app; share on Twitter