Evaluating the Impact of Digital Literacy Programmes: Lessons from Student

Ambassadors

Sonia Gomes and Jane SeckerLondon School of Economics and Political Science5th August 2016

Student Ambassadors for Digital Literacy (SADL)

• Undergraduate• Collaborative• Peer support

Completed 3 years

Project Programme

SADL aims

• To understand students’ existing digital and information literacy (DIL) skills.

• To explore how best to support students to improve these skills and to provide peer support.

SADL Welcome eventWorkshop 1: Finding and evaluating informationWorkshop 2: Academic practices: reading and research

Workshop 3: Managing and sharing informationWorkshop 4: Your digital footprintSADL Celebration

All resources on the project website: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsesadl/resources/

Programme overview

Group work

Workshop activities

Dealing with assignments Managing information

SADL Senior Ambassadors

• Completed SADL in a previous year

• Work alongside staff (paid)

• Give input into workshop content

• Guide and support students in workshops

• Lead student projects

Collaboration in action

The evaluation methodology

• Pre and post programme survey• Interviews with students, senior ambassadors,

a SADL graduate and academic staff• Focus group with staff• Visitor and residents workshop• Blog and social media impact analysis

SADL: the impact on students

“I am glad I joined SADL because I wouldn't have known anything about copyright or any qualitative skills if I didn't. So in terms of study skills that really helped me a lot like research and managing information and things. It helped me through my second year.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALaUhlWRnTg

Evaluation – Impact on students

Digital & Information Literacy skills+ Transferability ∙ Study ∙ Personal lives ∙ Employability+ Referencing skills ∙ Using new apps ∙ Blogging ∙ Managing their digital identity ∙ Using LinkedIn effectively + Reinforcing and deepening interest in technology for careers− some expected more technical skills; e.g. Excel, coding and more advanced digital literacies

More than ‘tech’ skills + Public speaking ∙ Presentation skills ∙ Confidence ∙ Collaborative working

Evaluation – value of community

Value of collaborative approach to teaching+ Friendly, informal approach, peer support and friendships This point was made by staff and students alike

− Some students wanted more teaching / less discussions

Student project had mixed responses− Need for greater consistency and guidance as dependent on seniors

− Need for more freedom in choice of topics

− Student engagement and effort varied considerably

Getting the right balance

•Structure•Agency

Evaluation – Impact on the SADL team

Significant impact on Senior Ambassadors+ Leadership skills ∙ Teaching skills ∙ Managing projects+ ‘How SADL got me hired’- Role needs more explicit expectations

Important staff development+ Greater level of engagement with UGs

+ New teaching methods and approaches

SADL interactions

•Between students•Between students and staff•Between staff in teams•Between teams (LTI & Library)

Visitors and residents

White, David and Le Cornu, Alison (2011) Visitors and residents: a new typology for online engagement. First Monday. 16 (9). Available at http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049

Students’ online engagement• Institutional tools – mostly used as visitors

• Social media apps – mostly used as residents

– e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Skype

• Less likely to use the same app for both personal & academic life

How can social media apps be used for academic purposes to encourage engagement?

Engaging with SADL

• visitor• resident

Improving and enhancing SADL• Selling SADL in the right way is crucial: branding

• Catering to different levels of knowledge and interests: entrepreneurs vs academic skills vs career focus

• Scaling up is probably the biggest challenge

– Is it desirable and how to maintain a community

– Developing the ‘ripple effect’ and peer support

• Engage more academic staff with the programme’s aims

Biggest challenges in 2016/17• Scaling up and broadening the programme: LSE Life• Developing the peer learning aspects of SADL to

empower students• Keeping it student-led and student focused• Maintaining the SADL community

Any questions?

Follow the SADL Story!blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsesadl

@LSESADL

Further readingLau, Doriane, Secker, Jane and Bell, Maria (2015) Student ambassadors for digital literacy (SADL): evaluation & impact report. Learning Technology and Innovation (LTI), London, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/63357/

LSE SADL Project website and resources (2014) Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsesadl/resources

HEA (2014) Framework for partnership in learning and teaching. York, Higher Education Academy. Available at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/students-as-partners

Jisc (2015) Developing successful staff-student partnerships. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/developing-successful-student-staff-partnerships

Secker, Jane, Karnad, Arun , Bell, Maria, Wilkinson, Ellen and Provencher, Claudine (2014) Student ambassadors for digital literacy (SADL): project final report. Learning Technology and Innovation , London, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/59479/

Bell, Maria and Moon, Darren and Secker, Jane (2012) Undergraduate support at LSE: the ANCIL report. The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/48058/

White, David and Le Cornu, Alison (2011) Visitors and residents: a new typology for online engagement. First Monday. 16 (9). Available at http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049