The Exeter Cascade Project aims to develop digital capabilities among researchers, students, and staff at the University of Exeter. It does this through activities like assessing current practices, developing digital expertise among postgraduate researchers, embedding digital skills into course curricula, and creating online resources. The project values framing digital scholarship within academic disciplines, collaboration across the university, and empowering postgraduate students as agents of change. It aligns with findings that digital literacy programs should consider disciplinary contexts and research practices, and involve students in development efforts.

1. The Exeter Cascade Project:
Academic Practice in a Digital Age
Dale Potter 06 July 2012

2. The context
 Exeter a research-intensive university
 High-achieving staff and students many of whom
prefer 'traditional' research and study approaches
 BUT an appetite for change if led by scholarship:
 New campus developments including Forum building
with innovative teaching spaces
 New programmes and interdisciplinary research
centres with digital elements
 History of successful initiatives led by students as
change agents

3. Generic aim
to design and implement a range of
innovative strategies and curriculum activities
which ensure that researchers, students and staff
develop their digital capabilities
in the context of their own disciplines

4. Activities
 Baselining
the situation as is, and priorities for change
 Developing people
working with 15 postgraduate researchers to develop their
digital expertise and local influence
 Developing the curriculum
working across taught programmes to embed authentic, research-
rich activities that enhance digital capability
 Developing know-how
building online resources and activities, working in partnership
with Colleges and professional services

5. Critical values
 Digital scholarship
Knowledge practices that support learning, teaching and research,
focusing on how knowledge is generated, grown, shared,
critiqued and communicated in the discipline
 Collaboration
Activities designed by staff and PGRs, following consultation about
the needs of students and scholars in the context of different
disciplines; partnerships with professional services
 Students as change agents
Postgraduate students are key agents of change in this area, as
early-career researchers, digital natives, and emerging teachers.

6. SCAP findings and the
Exeter Cascade project
5. DL development is framed in the context of the
disciplines
6. Opportunities exist to broaden the conversations around
DL, to include research
7. Opportunities exist to strengthen discussions of student
development of DL, possibly through better collaboration
with students
These findings tie in closely with our activities
and critical values!

7. 5. DL development is framed
in the context of disciplines
 (We found): Some digital academic practices are subject-
specific at the level of topic or research area, e.g. data
capture, analysis and visualisation
 Others are generic e.g. collaboration, communication,
note-taking, referencing, time and task management,
publication, networking
 (We are): Developing digital literacy through research-
like activities embedded in taught modules
 Supporting postgraduate interns to undertake relevant
development work in their own departments
 Producing College reports and recommendations to
ensure local ownership even where issues are common

8. 6. Broaden the conversations
around DL to include research
 (We found) Digital scholarship opens more doors that
digital literacy at a research-intensive university
 Postgraduate researchers can be effective change agents
as both early career researchers and emerging teachers
 (We are) working with researcher developers and ADs
(research) as well as PGRs directly
 Orientating events around scholarly discussion and
showcasing rather than skills development
 Bringing researchers and teachers together to share
ideas

9. 7. (Explore) DL development
in collaboration with students
We found:
 PGRs can be brilliant digital pioneers with the right
support and recognition
Our postgraduate students are:
 developing resources, setting up peer networks,
pioneering methods of data collection and visualisation,
communicating research in novel ways, developing their
skills together, blogging, conducting original research
into digital attitudes, asking difficult questions,
criticising, contributing to new strategies, putting on
events, writing reports, forging new partnerships
between colleges and academic services...

10. Find out more
http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/cascade/
http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/cascade/blog/
twitter: exetercascade
cascade@exeter.ac.uk
d.j.a.potter@exeter.ac.uk