Digital literacy and employability:engaging distance learners and teachers

Katharine Reedy, Open University

ALDinHE conference, March 2015

Session outline• Evaluating the OU’s digital and information literacy (DIL)

framework• Students as co-designers• Bringing it together in teaching

Background and context• All OU students are part-time distance learners; course

materials are produced centrally• DIL framework built on and extended well-established

information literacy work• Covers skills and practices for employability as well as

for academic study

OU definitions• Employability: ‘A set of capabilities and achievements

that support students in developing their careers, raising their aspirations and enhancing their contribution to society’

• Digital literacy: ‘those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society’ (Jisc, 2011)

• Information literacy: ‘knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner’ (CILIP, 2004)

Evaluating the DIL Framework• Set out to create a small number of case studies based

on interviews with academic and library colleagues who had engaged with the framework

• Modules: Postgraduate Science foundation module, third-level Classics, second-level English

• Qualifications: Health & Social Care qualifications

Methodology• Semi-structured interviews with 4 academic colleagues

and 4 librarians we knew were using the framework• Two further interviews with Learning design and DIL

team leaders• Questions:

–How is the DIL framework being used in practice in your module or qualification?

–How far does the DIL framework meet your needs?–What more is needed?

Findings (1)Question 1: How is the Framework being used for your module or qualification?• To determine what skills should be developed• Conversation starter and thinking tool• Facilitate collaboration between faculty and library staff• Support more diverse information-finding practices

Findings (2) Question 2: How far does the framework meet your needs?• Stages for framework fit well with the curriculum in some

areas (Science, HSC), but less so in others (Arts)• Has enabled more consistent skills development through

some qualifications• Being linked with employability

Findings (3) Question 3: What more is needed?• Agreement about what is meant by digital literacy• Buy-in from academic colleagues • Contextualisation• Support for transferability of skills• Help to translate the terminology into student-friendly

language• Appropriate learning design

Employability and DIL

• Have developed guidance for qualification and module teams on how DIL supports generic employability skills, e.g. ICT, communication, problem-solving, team-working

• Showing how DIL is relevant to different professions• Working with Careers Advisory Service to ensure

guidance includes DIL where appropriate

What we are doing • Curriculum interventions

–mapping of digital and information literacy to generic employability skills

–Skills activities and self-assessment in modules• Digital Skills Passport – students as co-designers• Student-facing DIL framework – focus group• Live events, e.g.Workplace 2020

Curriculum development

• CBI generic employability skills• Digital career literacy – using the online environment

effectively to build a career

UKCES (2010) Employability: incentivising improvement, page 10, http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/1303/

Curriculum development

• Mapping of digital and information literacy to generic employability skills

• Being used in teaching materials to help students reflect on transferability of their digital skills, e.g.–The Maths, Computing & Technology faculty have

mapped DIL skills against employability for 4 major qualifications

–Social Sciences qualifications are embedding employability activities at level 1

and level 3

Developing employabilityWhat kinds of jobs?

• Animation programmer• Web designer• Advertising account executive• Graphic designer• Multimedia specialist• Museum / gallery curator /

conservator / education officer• Teacher / Lecturer• Arts administrator• TV and radio• Also within health-care,

engineering, and even Domino’s pizza!

What kinds of skills?

• Presenting oneself effectively online, connecting with others

• Drawing on information from a variety of sources

• Virtual teamworking• Researching efficiently and

keeping up-to-date• Selecting and using online

tools as appropriate • Dealing with information

overload• Using digital tools confidently

to create products

Ladder to success

Ladder to success:PR account executive

Each rung on the ladder identifies a skill they will need to master before applying for the job

Skills from job description have been matched to criteria from the DIL Framework

Which activities would help the employee learn the skills they need?

Digital Skills Passport: OpenTree

• Will use gamification to reward use of online Library resources and digital skills activities

Digital Skills Passport: OpenTree

• Students will be able to earn points and badges and meet other students in the OU community

• Draft design and redesigns tested with students

A student-facing framework for digital and information literacy

Manage Communicate

Find

CollaborateShare

Evaluate

Understand Engage

Know what sources are available, where to look online and how to search efficiently

Select, access and exploit online tools and networks for study and work purposes

Judge who and what to trust online and select appropriate digital tools for the task in hand.

Work with others online to create and share content

Communicate well online, avoid plagiarism, reference correctly and manage information

Digital skills framework for students• Online focus group with 5 students, exploring:

–Which technologies they use regularly–Their experience of life online–What skills they have had to learn–What digital and information literacy means to them–How useful would they find this [prototype] digital skills

framework for students?

Student comments: mobile technologies• “I use all of them for study, work and everyday life. My

whole life seems to be digital nowadays. Shopping, studying, working, communicating with people, especially my family”

• “It’s a big part of work now”

Student comments: digital skills• “You’re learning new things all the time”• “The older you are the more important it is that you keep

doing these types of things”• “Specific to being online one of the crucial things that

I’ve learnt has been the importance of privacy settings and … the way you talk to people – netiquette, using these new types of social media”

• “Nowadays if you don’t have the skills you are almost a bit isolated”

Student comments: what does digital and information literacy mean to you?• “DIL…is about the cognitive side, because there’s so many

ways to contact people and there’s so much information, I think digital literacy includes the ability to be critical”

• “It is about discriminating, using it and not just accepting it. Filtering and assessing, as we are not sure how true online material is”

• “In light of recent news about Samsung Televisions (voice recognition) picking up what you are saying, DIL is about information about you that you are putting out there.”

… but students don’t want everything online!

Workplace 2020

Scenario: design a module• Read the scenario• Working in groups, discuss:

–Possible learning outcomes / activities–Possible assessment of the digital skills identified–How different partners in the process could contribute

• Feed back to the whole group

Katharine ReedyLibrary ServicesThe Open UniversityWalton HallMilton KeynesMK7 6AAkatharine.reedy@open.ac.uk

https://twitter.com/KathR

www.open.ac.uk/library