This document discusses developing digital literacies in UK higher and further education. It defines digital literacies as the capabilities needed to live, learn and work in a digital society, such as using digital tools for academic research, writing, data analysis, and personal development. Digital literacies involve a variety of capabilities including computer literacy, information literacy, media literacy, communication, learning skills, and digital scholarship. The document reports on studies that found students expect ubiquitous technology access but struggle to apply digital skills to academic tasks without support. It argues institutions must provide meaningful learning experiences integrating technology and support fragmented capabilities across disciplines.

1. Developing Digital Literacies in UK HE and FE
work funded by the JISC 2008-2012
Helen Beetham
Programme synthesis consultant

2. What do we mean by digital literacy?
By digital literacies we mean
the sum of capabilities which
fit an individual for living,
learning and working in a
digital society.
In HE/FE this might involve
using digital tools: to undertake
academic research; for writing
and critical thinking; to collect and
analyse data; in professional
practices; in personal
development planning; to
showcase achievements.

3. What kind of capabilities?
academic and
learning
practices
information
and media
practices
slower changing
cultural and institutional inertia
formal learning
lifelong development
sociotechnical
practices
rapidly changing
commercial and social drivers
informal learning
rapid obsolescence
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4. What kind of capabilities?

ICT/Computer Literacy the ability to adopt, adapt and use digital
devices, applications and services in pursuit of scholarly and educational goals.

Information Literacy: the ability to find, interpret, evaluate,
manipulate, share and record information, especially scholarly and educational
information

Media Literacy: the ability to critically read and creatively produce
academic and professional communications in a range of media.

Communication and Collaboration: the ability to participate
in digital networks and working groups of scholarship, research and learning

Learning Skills:

Digital scholarship: the ability to participate in emerging academic,
the ability to study and learn effectively in technologyrich environments, formal and informal
professional and research practices that depend on digital systems
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5. Digital Literacy
Identity
development
What does higher and further
learning uniquely contribute?

6. Digital Literacy
Digital literacy as an
aspect of the student experience
2008 Learners' experiences of e-learning programme
Students inhabit digitally-saturated personal/social worlds
 Technology choices are critical to identity and experience
 They expect 24/7 access to course information
BUT
 Students struggle to transpose digital skills to study tasks
 Academic staff skills/confidence and curriculum-based
activities are critical
 Even within programmes of study students vary widely

2008/10 Student expectations studies


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Prospective students unclear about the role technology could
play in learning at University
Positive about using technology when educational benefits
are clear
ICT access and facilities becoming a factor in student choice

7. Digital Literacy
Digital literacy as
situated knowledge practices
2009/10 Learning literacies in a digital age (LLiDA) study
Practices that underpin effective learning in a digital age:







are meaningful in the context of academic disciplines
are an aspect of emerging identity
require a confident but also a critical attitude to ICT
are creative/productive as well as critical/assimilative
are both formal and informal (and blur these boundaries)
emerge in meaningful activities in which technologies support
the purpose authentically
change continuously as values, practices and institutions of
knowledge change
www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida

8. Digital Literacy






Digital literacy as
an institutional responsibility
Learners need meaningful learning experiences in which
technology is intrinsic, including their own technologies
Different subject areas demand and support different kinds of
digital capability
Support is fragmented
Digital agendas are diverse and poorly defined, especially
'employability'
Staff often lack
confidence to
support students
effectively
Entitlement vs
enhancement
agendas
www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida

9. Developing Digital Literacies
#jiscdiglit
2011/13 funded programme promoting the development of coherent,
inclusive and holistic institutional strategies and approaches for
developing digital literacies in UK further and higher education
University of Greenwich
University of the Arts London
University of Exeter
Coleg Llandrillo
University of Plymouth
University of Reading
University of Bath
University College London
Oxford Brookes University Cardiff University
Worcester College
Institute of Education
Plus ten sector bodies: ALDinHE, ALT, AUA, HEDG, ODHE, SCAP,
SCONUL, SDF, SEDA, Vitae
www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/
developingdigitalliteracies/

10. 1. Institutional audit
1. Policy and strategy (public messages)
2. Infrastructure (networks, buildings, spaces,
hardware, software, data services, IT support)
3. Support (professional services)
4. Practices (e.g. curriculum design, teaching,
learning, research, KT, admin.)
5. Expertise (courses, frameworks, IAG, sharing,
development opps, recognition and reward)
6. Culture (expectations, understanding, values,
needs, attitudes, beliefs)

11. Findings: 'forward thinking institutions are'...
1. Joining up strategies
2. Investing in infrastructure: mobile, data envmt,
streaming media, cloud, VREs, BYOD
3. Developing digital capabilities of teaching staff
and professional services (professional services)
4. Innovating core processes: curriculum design,
quality enhancement, RKT, teaching admin...
5. Sharing expertise: recognising and rewarding
pioneers including students
6. Challenging expectations, understanding,
values, needs, attitudes, beliefs

12. Motives for engaging in the DL agenda
Employability
Graduate attributes
Digital reputation
Digital capital/digital divide
Individual aspirations
Organisational priorities
Efficiency in core processes
Capacity building
Global markets
Borderless institutions
New modes of participation
Perceived vfm
New social practices
Digital media
Ubiquitous ICT
Student expectations
Personal digital practices
Educational digital practices
Digital scholarship
Open publishing/open data
Digital academic media
Ubiquitous knowledge/data

13. 2. Emerging themes
Digital literacies for further and higher education are:
 Multiple and complex
 Hybrid – academic practice + digital know-how
 Based in subject areas: disciplines, vocations,
professions
 Both generic and subject/role-specific
 Aspects of personal style – ownership, choice,
performance of identity
 Acquired and developed as needed – best practiced in
authentic contexts
 Often acquired from close peers if generic, but
 likely to require formal support if specialised

14. Digital capability is...
The claims of top departments to be pushing the
boundaries of research require a sustained
engagement with digital scholarship. The claims of
top teaching universities to offer a personal,
relevant and engaging learning experience
demand sustained innovation in methods. Neither
is possible unless universities rethink their offer...
in terms of the digital experiences students have
and the digital practices they encounter
(Beetham et al, 2009).

15. Further resources
JISC Developing Digital Literacies programme:
Developing Digital Literacies on the Design Studio
SEDA page on the Design Studio
Baselining Digital Literacies page
Learning Literacies in a Digital Age (original audit
study)