- DIGITAL LITERACY: INTEGRATION INTO THE CURRICULUM

LISA HARRIS, MBA PROGRAMME

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

About me

• Teaches Digital Marketing at the University of Southampton

• Programme Director for the MSc in Digital Marketing. • Currently developing workshops encouraging digital

presence and literacy for educational and/or career purposes

• Member of project team developing university strategy for digital literacy

• Co-organiser of 2nd International Conference on Personal Learning Environments, Southampton www.pleconf.com

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

“No more disruptive innovation, please”

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

“Digital deviants”

• THE article claims online education to be the home of “slow track” academics

• “Online lecturers with good minds offer a quality of scholarly independence that the university needs if it is to keep its degree programmes relevant in a digitally connected world.”

• In Christensen terms, disruptive innovation progresses by stealth because it is ignored by “complacent incumbents”

Digital Literacy• “Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organise, understand,

evaluate, and analyse information using digital technology. It involves a working knowledge of current tools and an understanding of how they can be used”

• “The active management of online activities such as collaboration, networking , reviewing, content creation and curation in order to ‘stand out from the crowd’ in today’s job market”

• “an ability to respond positively to change”

www.lisaharrismarketing.com

www.delicious.com/lisaharris1

www.twitter.com/lisaharris

www.slideshare.net/lisaharris

www.uk.linkedin.com/in/lisajaneharris

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

In practice this means…

• collection, management and evaluation of information

• effective communications for networking, sharing and profile building

• safety and security• curation and creation of digital materials• To investigate - Other topics? Emphasis?

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

Curtin University

• “Triple-i Curriculum” is way ahead of the UK in the integration of online portfolios

• Aims to produce highly-employable global citizens with expertise beyond their primary discipline

• Emphasis on inter-disciplinary, intercultural and international awareness to foster global citizenship

• “Life-wide” learning recognises that life experience and extracurricular activities can differentiate students from others with similar degrees

• “Life-long” component fostered as community membership extends to alumni and prospective students

“Life

-wid

e” a

nd “

life-

long

” le

arni

ng

Contacts

Experts

Teachers

Classmates Friends

Family

Coworkers

Synchronous Communication

Mobile Texting

Video Conferencing

Microbloging

Instant Messaging

RSS

Wikis

Blogs

Subscriptions readers

Podcasts

Social Bookmarking

Social Networks

Information ManagementLibrary/

Texts

Open CourseWare

Evaluating Resources

Scholarly Works

Locating Experts

Wendy Drexler (2008)

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

Project idea

• Objective is to develop “best practice” in preparing students for study, work and life in the digital age– UOL students operate within the Blackboard “walled

garden” = opportunity with BB9 to update approach?– How to equip students with basic digital skills necessary

for a “21st century” career• Some employers are specifying 50+ Klout scores and 250+

twitter networks in their recruitment policies

– Add extra layer to specialist subject knowledge, enabling students to ‘stand out from the crowd’ in a competitive workplace.

Linchpin

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

Project rationale

• Currently students are encouraged to develop appropriate norms and behaviours of working with their colleagues and tutors on Blackboard

• Opportunities and challenges presented by the broader online environment receive less attention

• A recent report ‘Supporting learners in the digital age’ (SLIDA, 2010) concluded that simply growing up online is not in itself sufficient for educational purposes

• Many UOL students are of an age and/or cultural background whereby online study is still an unfamiliar experience for them

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

Project methodology

• Assess incoming students’ level of digital literacy via survey at programme induction and tutor interviews

• Develop DL approach based on the gaps/weaknesses identified

• Implement and evaluate a trial• Refine and implement more broadly

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

The “digitally literate” student

• be proactive, confident and flexible adopters of a range of technologies for personal, academic and professional use

• use appropriate technology effectively to search for and store high-quality information

• curate, reflect and critically evaluate the information obtained• engage creatively and productively in relevant online communities• be familiar with the use of collaboration tools to facilitate groupwork

and project management• be aware of the challenges inherent in ensuring online privacy and

security• Have developed appropriate communication skills for peer and tutor

interaction within an ‘always on’ environment

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

Digital literacy at Southampton

• Integration into MSc Digital Marketing programme

• Curriculum Innovation Programme http://www.soton.ac.uk/cip/

• Digital Literacy Special Interest group (cross university)

• The Personal Learning Environment Conference (#PLE_SOU) www.pleconf.com

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

Questions for group discussion

• What “good” or “bad” examples of digital literacy have you observed in your students?

• What aspects of DL do you think should be emphasised?

• What support might be necessary for tutors?

Laureate/Uol Faculty Conference 2011

Comments

The PLE for marketing students

• Assessed blog posts: reflections on the learning process, reinforced with face to face meetings

• Continual assessment and feedback throughout module (online and offline)

• Students encouraged to find relevant online materials and report back to the group

• Live tweeting in class, with remote participants • Encouragement to use online bookmarking and

sharing tools

Challenges

• *Very* variable levels of digital skills amongst students

• Variable levels of staff ‘buy in’• Entrenched expectations of a ‘traditional’ learning

experience. They were not used to:– reading or critiquing each others’ work– making their work publically available online– ‘thinking across’ modules– building up assignment work from the start of a module

rather than at last minute.com

Examples

• For examples of students who have really embraced the approach, see Natasha’s blog and Maria’s blog.

• Summary video of Soton MSc student experiences through their whole programme: Http://www.tinyurl.com/mastervideo2