“Keeping Up”: Digital Literacy Drop-In Sessions

for Undergraduate Students

Anthony Anderson - Nevada State CollegeAsst. Manager of Instructional Technology,

Adjunct Faculty & LMS Administrator

Ernesto Hernandez Jr - UC IrvineResearch Librarian for Teaching, Learning

& Education

@nestohernandez2@anthony_ander

A little background about Nevada State College - NSC is located in Henderson, NV. 15min southeast from the world

famous Las Vegas strip.

Established in 2002, NSC is the second-tier in the state's three-tier higher-ed system; positioned between 2yr colleges and the research institutions.

NSC is the only 4 year comprehensive public institution in the state.

Over 50% of NSC students are from culturally diverse backgrounds.

NSC has been identified nationally as a Minority Serving Institution as well as an Emerging Hispanic Serving Institution

Approx. 51% of NSC students are first generation in their families to attend college.

What we did…In relation to NSC’s undergraduates, especially underserved undergraduates, many seem

not to be digital natives in the sense of how the term was originally coined (Prensky, 2001). Research shows that today’s students may be be digital natives, but not digitally literate. (ECDL, 2015).In response to the realization that there are digital natives that are not necessarily digitally literate, the Emerging Technologies Librarian, and the LMS Administrator/Instructional Technologist surveyed all students taking first year English about their technology uses, skills, and whether or not they would be interested in digital literacy training.

Due to the high number of students interested in digital literacy drop in sessions, we planned sessions hosted by the library and instructional technology, to focus on several key areas of deficiency in critical areas of digital literacy that are needed to be successful as undergraduates, and in the professional world after.

The Survey:The survey was created to align with NSC’s

Strategic Plan for the use of technology - “integrate technology-rich learning opportunities in order for students to engage in authentic learning experiences, collaboration, creativity, and innovation.”

Surveyed all Spr. 2015 English 101 & 102 F2F courses -

○ 116 students

○ 35% spend 8+ hours online

○ 85% have taken an online course

○ 66% prefer F2F instruction

● Would students be interested in attending on-campus open drop-in sessions to get help with online learning or tech related questions?

Maybe… The results indicated that more than 50% of the respondents would like technology help.

We decided to set up technology drop in sessions for students.

Cast a broad net to cover all issues.

*What about a mobile approach?*

Instructional Technology has assisted 75 students 2 months into Fall 2015 semester

MS Office troubleshooting

CANVAS LMS & App assistance

Online course navigation assistance

Login/Password assistance

Assistance with submitting IT Helpdesk tickets

Instructional Technology - Mobile Help Desk (pilot)

Moving forward...Embed Instructional Technology

Support in the Library

Offer Regular Mobile Support to Students

Try to Get Consistency With Course Design in LMS (Major Complaint from Students)

In the process of creating an online student orientation

New Buildings, New Chance to Increase Student Support!

Thank you!

Anthony Anderson - Nevada State College Ernesto Hernandez Jr - UC Irvine

@anthony_ander @nestohernandez2