From Jisc's student experience experts group meeting in Birmingham on 21 April 2016. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/student-experience-experts-group-meeting-20-apr-2016

1. Curriculum design, employability
and digital identity
Jisc Student Experience Experts Group
April 2016
Dr Liz Bennett Dr Sue Folley
University of Huddersfield

2. • Why digital literacy and employability
• Why Curriculum Planning Workshops
• D4 Digital Literacy Workshop
• D4E Employability Workshop
• Description of D4 workshops
• Their evaluation

3. Employability and digital literacy
macro context
• Thematic review a top down way of
putting a focus on particular
priority areas led by QAA ;
• Sector lead bodies eg Jisc, HEA;
• TEF has employability running
through it
• University of Huddersfield focus on
DL of staff.

4. Action Research project
• Single institutional context
• Based around 2 year project around digital
literacies and employability
• Reconnaissance phase - External & Internal
scoping – available see resources slide
• Intervention – D4 Workshop

5. D4 – Digital Capabilities
Curriculum Design: Workshop
Liz Bennett, Sue Folley
Discover - Dream - Design - Deliver

6. Format of the session
Intro and
Aims of
Session
Task 1:
Discover
Task 2:
Dream
Task 3:
Design
Coffee
break
Task 4:
Deliver
Evaluation

7. Aims of the session
To provide a starting point for discussions of your course development
To introduce you to a range of curriculum design tools (Appreciative Inquiry and
Viewpoints/ Employability resources)
To identify support available from the School, Learning Technogist/Careers Service
and the University.
To create a personal, team action plan and any actions for the School and University

8. From: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADB195.pdf (p.16)
Appreciative Inquiry is a theory of organization development
management or research approach that focuses on the “best of
what is” instead of focusing on problems.
What is Appreciative Inquiry?

9. Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Appreciative Inquiry
The best of what has been
Best that might be
What it might truly look like
What we will
commit to

10. Split into groups of 3-4 people.
In your group, reflect on the question ‘What examples of great learning have you experienced in
your professional life?’
Think about:
o What happened?
o What did you do to make that happen?
o What did others do to contribute to that experience
o How did that experience feel?
Discuss your stories and write down some of the characteristics of what makes a great learning
experience and agree on one person to share these with the whole group later. (10 mins)
Feedback to whole group some of the examples and pull out key themes (10 mins)
Task 1 – the Discover Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver

11. Still in your small groups you are going to create a vision of what the desirable attributes a first
class student graduating from your course demonstrates.
Think about: How you want your degree to enable graduates to:
- Work effectively with others
- Meet employer’s expectations
- Work with professional bodies (if appropriate)
- Be adaptable and agile to work and learn in a variety of contexts
- To be able to work in a digital world
Draw a mind map or other diagram to represent the ideal graduate attributes.
Feedback to whole group and distil into a list of themes
Task 2 – the Dream Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver

12. Task 2 – the Dream Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver

13. Task 3 – the Design Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Still in your small groups you are going to be designing a single learning activity, so in your teams
decide on one of the following:
• An activity to ease the transition into the course based on students coming in from very
different starting points;
• Identifying one particular concept that students traditionally find difficult and design an
activity to approach this task;
• An activity that makes use of peer teaching approach;
• An activity that helps students fully understand an assignment brief;
• A single learning experience of your choice related to your course/subject.
Create the elements of your ideal learning experience using the learner engagement cards, taking
into consideration some of the themes from Task 1 and some of the ideas from Task 2.
To do this, use just the front of the cards and the forms given – build a lesson plan using between
3-6 of the cards, adding in a few further details about the the activity, time and
resources/training needed for that element. You can use an element more than once if you want
to. Choose a different person in your group to feed this back to the whole group later. (10 mins)

14. Task 3 – the Design Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
https://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/building-digital-capability

15. ViewPoints Learner Engagement Cards

16. Task 3 – the Design Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
c) Using the cards and the stickers colour code these activities
d) Start to discuss gaps/overlaps and create a vision of what your curriculum may look like in the future

17. Digital Identity
Students need evidence of being
able to:
Possible curriculum approaches for
this:
Present themselves online to perspective
employees (via LinkedIn, online cv,
ePortfolio)
Use various mediums appropriately
according to audience e.g. blog, email, social
network
Build a professional network online
Show awareness of how to manage their
own digital identity
Blogging
Use of social networks to share ideas and
discussing appropriate topics
Creating a LinkedIn profile and Twitter
profile for professional use
Creating an ePortfolio to showcase work
Building a professional network using social
media
Discussions about professional ethics in
social media
Adapted from the Viewpoints Project by JISC.

18. Design Example
Activity – to write an abstract for a journal article
Students receive
information about the
task from the tutors and
some start points for
resources
Students explore
resources to find out
what elements are in a
journal abstract
Students discuss on an
online discussion forum
the elements of a good
journal abstract
Based on the list
discussed the students
then create an abstract
on an assignment they
have previously written

19. Design Example

20. Task 4 – the Deliver Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Using what you have done in the previous task(s) and the backs of the cards discuss which aspects of
employability skills you cover well in your current curriculum and those you would like to include in
your future planning to cover any gaps.
Complete the first three boxes on the front of template form to capture your discussions.
Following this create a team action plan of what action needs to take place in the
short/medium/long term to make the changes you need. Agree on who is taking responsibility for
each of these changes and complete the second page of the template form provided.

21. Deliver Example

22. Evaluation of our Workshops
would recommend it to others. Good way to focus on curriculum design
(Participant from Workshop 2).
very helpful as a structured and facilitated opportunity for us to discuss this task
as a team with external input, giving rise to ideas and opportunities that we
would not have identified ourselves (Participant from Workshop 3).
It was a very valuable time together and prompted some tangible ideas that we
wouldn't have thought of otherwise and that will add real value to next year's
lab programme (Participant from Workshop 2).
The workshops were evaluated using five simple open ended questions. The results
were overwhelmingly positive.

23. • ”It created a space and structure for us to
think clearly and practically about how to
enhance our curriculum and pedagogy to
respond to TEF whist not losing sight of the
intrinsic value of education…It facilitated us to
come up with a clear and focused “to do”
list….It made us aware that some small
changes to teaching delivery could have a big
impact if handled well

24. Why do they work?
• Space for critique;
• Team based dialogue,
unfreezing change, not siloed;
• Change positively framed;
• Simple but not oversimplified

25. Resources
• http://ipark.hud.ac.uk/
• (in the training & staff development
folder)
• Or shortened url is bit.ly/1O2UVla
• External Scoping Report
• Internal Scoping Report