Through digital, students and staff are more connected and have access to more information than at any other time in history. What does this mean for learning and teaching? How will technology impact our practice?
We are looking at technology and academic behaviours to enhance sector understanding of these issues.
Every aspect of university or college is impacted by digital. For teaching staff and for students, the ubiquity of connectivity and access to information brings challenge and opportunity.
Most students in the UK will bring their own device, have access to myriad platforms and tools, and increasingly expect seamless integration with processes associated with learning and teaching.
The rapid uptake of social media and its prevalence in learning and teaching is also impacting on behaviours around technology, and there is a need to engage students in digital citizenship.
What we're doing
Jisc is working with UK universities and colleges to gain a better understanding of the changing behaviours and needs of both staff and students. In the UK, we're uniquely placed to look at the emerging technology trends and offer independent advice and guidance.
Going forward we will work with universities, colleges, vendors and start-ups to develop innovative new services and approaches that use digital to transform learning and teaching.
We are working to:
Develop an in-depth understanding of next generation digital learning
Use that understanding to explore and create prototype new services
Trial new approaches by working in partnership with innovative people from a wide range of backgrounds
Why does this matter?
The presence of technology in educational settings is now taken for granted, to the extent that students - and staff - want the ability to move easily between modes of learning and teaching.
The personal digital devices that students have access to are also having an impact on their expectations of the technology they encounter in teaching and learning contexts.
How this affects you
New digital fluencies are needed around data, media and information production and consumption, and the ability for students and staff to engage with emerging technologies, evaluating them for use in their own practice.
How we use technology in our teaching and learning, how we communicate and collaborate and how we use data must be a model for the digital behaviours that we want to see in our students and graduates.
Universities and colleges need to provide space for students to develop themselves and their practices such that they can live, work, and thrive in a digital world.
