1. Digital Literacy Project
The world has changed and digital literacy is now considered a core skill needed in 21st Century education

2. Workshop Itinerary
• 1st half
Overview of project findings and progress
• 2nd half
Your input to steer the way forward

3. Building the Landscape – Not Building Assumptions
Before we got started…
• Literature Review –
Understanding the vast interpretation
of the term digital literacy
(inc digital literacies and associated
terms)
• Literature Key Texts –
Understanding the debates and
assumptions around 21st century
learners including the digital divide
• We’ve spoken to schools
To find the background journey of our
FE learners

4. Project Themes to Explore in the FE Landscape
• Digital Divide – Just Curious – do different
generations really see things differently
• Audit of Skills/Usage and Exposure
• Perceptions/Expectations of Each other
(teachers/students)
• Teacher skills/confidences – The PAL issues
• Information Literacy – A concerning picture in
Literature but to what extent is it true in
Worcester College of Technology?

5. The digital divide in Further Education?
• A bit extreme perhaps but this belief
exists (Prensky, 2001)
• But do they actually interpret things
differently? (STUDY)

6. Findings
For example: How is the Word ‘Information’ interpreted by
teachers and students?

7. Results of a large cross-college skills/usage survey
• 240 Completed
• Student and staff
• Technology
– Ownership
– Experience
– Use (How and
frequency)
– Confidence
– STUDY

8. Findings
Confidence Scores
Confidence scores Student Confidence scores Staff
ICT General
Social Tools Multimedia
Information

9. Student/Teacher – Perceptions & Expectations
• What skills are needed by 21st century teachers
and learners?
• We asked them how they perceived each other
• STUDY

10. Both had concerns about each others abilities.
•Students had concerns about their teachers use or lack of up to date
knowledge of technologies
•Teachers feared that although their students used technology they did not
apply these skills effectively to an educational setting or when finding or using
information for educational processes.
•STUDY

11. Keeping up as a 21st Century Teacher
• The PAL demands
• The teacher profile
• The teacher skills need
(not that simple)

12. • Are all learners really the same:
The homogenous Digital Natives? • A-Levels V Vocational
learners
(Challenging the ‘Natives’
stereotype – are all learners at this
age the same?)
• Poles apart in terms of the
way they seek and select
information
(THE RESULTS)
• So we took the
investigation further…

13. Deeper info lit
The Information Literacy - wider study
• A more in depth cross-college study
(163 students) (20 staff)
• From School age – Professional courses
• Quick Example - findings from 2 tasks
(Book / Lottery) (Newspaper)
• Staff V Student Strategies
• No pattern of progress – differentiated
skills/abilities/patterns
• Much more support is needed in this
area – our research just scratched the
surface (EdD)

14. OCN Recommendations & Planning
• Information Literacy is crucial to education (both
in teachers and learners)
• Teachers need support to follow the PAL
agenda/Student expectations for learning
technologies
• Tutorial framework an ideal platform for delivery
for students – induction period?
• ILT CPD Programmes for staff

15. OCN SO FAR
Student OCN Units Staff OCN Units
• Info Lit 3 x units written • Moodle/PAL x 1 units
and approved so far written and approved
(Moodle)
• First pilot course almost • First pilot course almost
complete (Moodle) complete (blog)
(blog)

16. Longer term potential
• Project has just scratched
the surface – we could
learn so much more
• Further OCN unit pilots
beginning of 2012/13 term
• Wider options for units
could be considered, this is
just the beginning for us!

17. Findings
• All draft content can be found at:
• http://bradyx.pbworks.com
• We now need your help to fill the gaps

18. • The HE Expectations
Workshop
• Fill in survey
• Discussion