Jenni Houston

1. Developing
Digital Skills at
The University
of Edinburgh
Jenni Houston
Head of Digital Skills and Training
jenni.houston@ed.ac.uk

2. Digital and information literacy skills
Classroom
Online
Development programmes
Projects
Consultancy, skills evaluation and
development planning
Students and staff
17 staff (11 FTE)
Who we are, what we do
1

3. Every educator is a digital educator
Every student is a digital student
Everyone is constantly planning and
updating their digital skills
Digital culture
2

4. 3
Starting out…
Aligning to the
Jisc Digital
Capability
Framework
3

5. Signpost resources and make it easy for people to take action
Development:
WordPress with Excel data table
Six months to develop
Launched September 2018
Digital skills framework
Background and development
4

6. Evaluate (Discovery Tool)
Reflect and plan (Role Profiles)
Find resources (Resource Finder)
2,800 users (May 2019)
Digital skills framework
Current position
5

7. Programme-based approach
Skills evaluation and planning workshops
Integration into staff annual development reviews and job descriptions
Digital skills framework
Development Phase 2 (Mar-Aug 2019)
6

8. Individual development planning
Annual review
Recruitment
Role profiles
7

9. Toolkits
8

10. Students and staff
Face-to-face
Digital and information literacy skills
During 17/18:
80 unique events
330 events
50 tutors
3400 attendees
900+ hours of teaching
Digital skills programme
9

11. 1Investment in training spaces
10

12. Digital, business and creative skills
Over 17,000 users
Promotion:
e-Newsletter
Social media
Events
Merchandise
Self-paced learning
16
Online learning with Lynda.com
11

13. Developing Your Data Skills
CMALT
23 Things for Digital Knowledge
Development programmes
12

14. Foundation level digital skills for
the Estates Department
Tailored programmes
13

15. Lecture Recording
VLE Foundations
Subtitling for Media
SAP Business Objects
Windows 10
Project training
14

16. 12 interns since autumn 2015
Roles:
Digital Skills for Researchers
Digital Skills for Undergraduates
Digital Skills for Employability
Development of Online Thesis Hub
Student Trainers x6
Digital Champions x2
Digital skills student interns
15

17. “The achievement I’m most proud of is
delivering my first Python course. Getting to
realise your work for the past six months is just
an amazing moment and I’m very proud of it.”
Ignat Georgiev, Student Trainer
Student trainers
16

18. “A key way to promote digital skills
amongst students is to use
students themselves”
Jordana Black, Digital Skills for Undergraduates Intern
Digital champions
17

19. Web pages
e-Newsletter
Social media
Internal comms channels
Meetings and presentations
Welcome days
Library pop-ups
Promotion
18

20. What’s next?
Future-focussed service
‘Thoughtful learning’
Engagement through
collaboration and integration
19

21. Jenni Houston
Head of Digital Skills and Training, The University of Edinburgh
jenni.houston@ed.ac.uk
Digital Skills and Training service: www.ed.ac.uk/is/skills
Digital Skills Framework: www.digitalskills.ed.ac.uk