Sarah Stewart is an education developer & facilitator at Otago Polytechnic

http://podacademy.org/

Excellent idea, I must look further into this:

Pod Academy is an independent, not-for-profit platform for podcasts on academic research.  Set up by a group of academics, techies and journalists, it aims to inform public debate and uncover intriguing and challenging new ideas.

We are always looking for interesting new research, including research that throws light on events in the news, and work with researchers to develop entertaining podcasts that are accessible to the general public, as well as rigorous in their scholarship.

I read about it in Times Higher Education.

Sarah Payton & Tabetha Newman

• http://elearningprogs.jiscinvolve.org/wp/
• http://www.timmuslimited.co.uk/

The EU describes it as digital competency.  Lots of debate about what it is, but if we’re talking policy at institutions, it’s important to know what you are seeking to implement.

Recommended books:

• Jones, R. & Hafner, C. Understanding Digital Literacies: A Practical Introduction. 2012
• Carrington, V.A. & Robinson, M. Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices 2009
• Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies and Practices 2008

Great (simple) definition of digital literacies:

Arguments against “digital natives”:

Students often get disheartened when they search the web. They have NO idea what kind of material they should be looking for – which should be embedded into their work.

Students need to move beyond practitioner training, and into being strong independent learners, who are confident to go off and try for themselves. May increase employability, but not necessarily attainment as it’s currently identified.

We have to accept that ‘new’ is here to stay, and that we will no longer be ‘masters’. We are encouraging students more to deal with “the gray”, rather than  seeing things in black & white [the project research focused on primary & secondary, but was seen to be applicable to HE in most respects].

Assessment needs to change, to ensure that students will NEED to remix the information that’s available, rather than the “digital parrot” [my words!]

Mentioned in the chat: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/sese/index.html#

Majority of support available is processes. We need more developmental models to incorporate into teaching practice, e.g.

• http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/40474566/JISC-Digital-Literacy-Workshop-materials
• http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy/seven_pillars.html
• http://www.tlrp.org/docs/DigitalLiteracies.pdf

European Union – recognized the need for more training for a knowledge economy (rather than a production economy), see

• http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm
• http://heutagogicarchive.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/emergent-learning-model/
• http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/index_en.htm

The EU 14 areas of digital competence:

Really needs to be a communication tool, but this overcomplicates things, so return back to the 3 simpler things mentioned above.

• E.G. http://neverendingthesis.com/index.php?title=Chapter_2_-_New_Forms_of_Literacy_Worldwide

Sarah Payton:

http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/projects/digital-participation.

Confidence vs competence with digital tools, see also http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/1480/1/becta_2008_web2_summary.pdf.

A components model:

Not about using particular technologies, but about particular practices that we want students [and staff!] to use and allowing them to find the tools. [How do we support them in doing so?]

• http://www.slideshare.net/fredgarnett/digital-practitioner-2011
• http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/38511966/digital%20literacy
• http://ds106.us/
• http://ewds.strath.ac.uk/work-with-it/Home/CaseStudies/DigitalFluency.aspx
• https://www.benhammersley.com/en/2011/03/british-council-annual-lecture-2011-the-internet-of-people/
• http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=4719
• http://deftoer3.wordpress.com/

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Friday 4th May 2012, 13:00-14:00 (BST); Online via Blackboard Collaborate

Facilitators: Tabetha Newman & Sarah Payton

Over the past five years the concept of digital literacy has been of increasing interest and importance in UK education research, across all sectors. At around the same time that JISC started the Learning Literacies in a Digital Age project (2008), two other notable projects began:

1. A review of definitions and models of digital literacy, covering all sectors and ages, which then led to various conference talks and the creation of resources for use in primary schools (carried out by Tabetha Newman on behalf of Becta), and
2. The Digital Participation research project, run by the independent research organisation ‘Futurelab’, who worked with practising educators, experts and children in primary and secondary schools to explore how digital literacy could be developed within a range of school subjects (on which Sarah Payton was a lead researcher).

Since then, the outputs of these projects have come to the attention of European Union education policy makers – who are currently incorporating the work into EU policy research on ’Digital Competence’ (one of the eight EU Key Competences for Lifelong Learning).

This webinar will provide an overview of these wider UK and European Digital Literacy contexts. We will:

• Summarise some of the leading definitions and models of digital literacy (Tabetha)
• Offer examples of digital literacy in practice in the UK schools sector (Sarah)
• Provide an overview of current EU policy relating to digital literacy in all sectors and contexts, both within and outside formal educational settings (Tabetha)
• Signpost relevant resources that have emerged from the Becta and Futurelab projects (Sarah)

We aim to present this information before initiating discussion about, amongst other things:

• How do these definitions, models and case studies differ from those in use within the JISC projects? What are the similarities?
• How relevant does the proposed EU digital literacy policy feel within the UK HE context?

From presentation for Media Studies collaborative learning day. When you think about changing assessment & feedback processes, who has an interest in what you are doing (who is a stakeholder?):

At the annual Learning & Teaching Day, the focus was upon rewarding and recognising teaching in Higher Education (not just the research agenda). Talks covered included applying for an HEA fellowship, innovative teaching, group work, interrogating the NSS, and feedback and assessment. The conversation from today has been captured (it scrolls for a while):

The days tweets are also contained within an archive.

In my efforts to declutter & streamline, I totally missed the following ‘live chat’ on Guardian Higher Education (thanks to Justine Mortimer for bringing it to my attention), seeking to find effective ways for social media to be used in HE, rather than just leading to fatigue:

Matt Silverman writes for Mashable: “When it comes to higher ed, there are not only opportunities for digital learning, but digital marketing too.” Social media can allow universities to advertise to prospective students, to share class announcements and to allow alumni to keep in touch. In the academic community, social media offers a chance for collaborative work, networking and profile building.

Check out the full story online, or like Guardian Higher Education on Facebook.

Collecting stories from the JISC Teaching & Learning Experts Meeting (continues til about 4pm)

Just about to give this talk: