Developing students’ digital literacy to give them the best chance of success
Many learners enter further and higher education lacking the skills needed to apply digital technologies to education. As 90% of new jobs will require excellent digital skills, improving digital literacy is an essential component of developing employable graduates.
Courses that embed core digital skills, as well as subject specific use of technology, enable students to gain the skills and confidence they need to use digital technology not only to support their learning but also in the workplace.
We’re working with colleges and universities to embed core digital skills into the curriculum. By digital literacy we mean those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society: for example, the skills to use digital tools to undertake academic research, writing and critical thinking; as part of personal development planning; and as a way of showcasing achievements.
- Based on our research into learners’ experiences, knowledge and expectations of technologies, we’ve developed guidance (PDF) to help institutions support students in developing new digital skills for study.
- Our work has resulted in a set of recommendations to help you examine your institution’s provision and support for improving digital literacy. Our organisational audit will help you identify current areas of good practice and highlight areas for future development.
- We’ve worked with a wide range of universities and colleges to capture examples of best practice which highlight several methods of delivering digital skills including embedding them into the curriculum or offering them as individual modules.
- Each of our case studies show how different universities are addressing a different question including how to help learners develop literacies for working life, how to embed digital literacies into the curriculum, and how to develop digital literacy for staff.
- Our recent guide, Emerging practice in a digital age, draws on recent projects to outline how organisations are using technologies to improve digital literacies and they way in which students and staff work.
-
Listen to the latest JISC On Air radio show (episode 6) which focuses on how universities and colleges are helping staff to improve their digital literacy. Digital literacies also featured in our Innovating e-learning conference 2011. Listen to the panel discussion, or go to other sessions and related resources.
Anyone with an institutional role in supporting and developing ‘digital’ learners can use our pilot materials to address a range of issues including curriculum design and meeting your institutional agenda.
What does the future hold?
We are funding a
programme of work, which completes in July 2013, to support organisational strategies and approaches for improving digital literacies for all staff and learners.
Support from JISC Services
Our impact
Our impact in this area is exemplified through a number of case studies:
-
Abingdon & Whitney College have used our work to help bring the issue of digital literacy to the attention of senior management and develop an induction programme for staff and students. The College also installs the new JISC Techdis Toolbar to provide additional accessibility features for students. Between 71-88% of new students find each section of the digital and learning literacy induction useful.
-
The JISC e‐Learning programme has played a vital role in shaping
Oxford Brookes University’s institutional‐wide digital literacy policy through funding relevant projects and by reinforcing and refining e‐learning thinking within the University. “JISC has played a big part in how we develop our thinking...[providing] authentic evidence of the importance of digital literacy“ (Richard Francis, Head of e-Learning see our
impact).
-
The University of Wolverhampton has a widely acknowledged reputation for the development and use of blended learning approaches to its curriculum, especially through the integrated use of e-portfolios. The University has drawn upon various JISC reports on the learner experience to help inform its
Blended Learning Strategy to improve students’ digital literacy.
