Neutral version (university references removed) of webinar designed and run for the University of Newcastle, April 2015. Dealing with outcomes from the Jisc-funded Digital Student project and my own findings from interviews with students and consultation with sector bodies.

1. How can we meet the needs of
our ‘digital’ students?
Helen Beetham | @helenbeetham

2. a. General digital skills for C21st employment
b. Specialist digital practices of their subject area
c. A well-presented digital portfolio (blog, web site) of their
achievements
d. Critical thinking, so they can adopt, adapt or renounce
the digital technologies of the future
e. Creative confidence, so they can code, design and
make their own digital solutions
What do you think??
What is the most valuable thing
we can offer our ‘digital’ students?

3. 59% students 89% recruiters 7-10
390 seconds 745,000 >400k hours
>98% all
information
43.5% graduates
About half of all
academic papers
36% UK jobs
70-85%
participants
73% students
The story in numbers
Pick a number... any number...

4. Students’ digital practices
the story in three projects

5. Students’ digital practices
the story in three projects

6. Students’ digital practices
the story in three projects

7. Students’ use of digital media is
constant and ubiquitous
‣ connected
‣ intimate
‣ continuous recording
‣ continuous sharing
‣ seamless
‣ ‘content is free’
‣learning situations are ‘porous’ or leaky
‣learning events leave a persistent trace
‣learners are simultaneously here and elsewhere...

8. Students’ use of digital media is
constant and ubiquitous
Nike FuelBand cc. Peter Parkes on Wikimedia Commons
‣ connected
‣ intimate
‣ continuous recording
‣ continuous sharing
‣ seamless
‣ ‘content is free’
‣learning situations are ‘porous’ or leaky
‣learning events leave a persistent trace
‣learners are simultaneously here and elsewhere...

9. phonarnation.org
This generates some tensions

10. This generates some tensions
‣ using information tactically...
‣ but not always understanding
the strategy
cc.HelenBeetham

11. ‣ cut and paste
‣ frictionless adoption
‣ curatorial approach
but not often
‣ extensive/intensive
production of ideas
‣ originality
‣ criticality
‣ variety of voice
cc.HelenBeetham
This generates some tensions

12. ‣ knowledge-sharing (‘free!’)
‣ informal referencing, tagging,
acknowledgement
‣ social criteria for judging value
but not always
‣ understanding of authorship,
originality, plagiarism
‣ formal referencing
‣ academic/professional criteria
for judging value
This generates some tensions

13. ‣ engaging with ideas
in multiple media
‣ (especially images)
but not always
‣ manifesting
academic rigour
‣ translating into
academically
credible forms
This generates some tensions

14. Twitternetworkvisualisationfromhttp://www.mikekujawski.ca
‣ engaging with ideas
in multiple media
‣ (especially images)
but not always
‣ manifesting
academic rigour
‣ translating into
academically
credible forms
This generates some tensions

15. Radically rethink what
it means to study,
learn, know and be an
effective scholar/
professional/citizen?
How should we respond?
Use digital practices as
bridges to more formal
academic/professional
practices - which we
know are valuable?

16. Not all students thrive in digital spaces
‣ Digital divide narrower but wider: amplifies other
inequalities and cultural differences
‣ Learners’ digital skills shallower than we tend to think
‣ ‘Digital natives' story hides many contradictions:
learners' engagement w digital world is v differentiated
‣ Learners experience difficulties transposing practice
‣ Active knowledge-building, creating, sharing are minority
activities typically introduced by educators (Selwyn).
‣ Consumer practices & populist values dominate in
digital space - many feel excluded or worse

17. Not all students thrive in digital spaces

18. Everybody say ‘aahh’...
‣ We check our mobiles every 390 seconds on average
‣ Constant distraction makes us 20% more stupid
(Carnegie Mellon)
‣ Using two screens at once = smoking 1.5 joints (UCal)
(with thanks to Richard Watson for all of these points)
‣ Students cite digital distraction and time management
as major concerns (confirmed by Pew Foundation 2015)
cc yo-bro.deviantart.com: any cat picture really

19. Not all of us thrive in digital spaces

20. Not all of us thrive in digital spaces
Research outcomes are overwhelmingly
produced in the global north...
... so are OERs and MOOCs

21. Digital students are different
digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org

22. What do (digital) students say they want?
‣ Inspiring teachers (perhaps teaching in hybrid spaces)
‣ A chance to explore and project new identities
‣ New ways of belonging (to their course, cohort, institution)
‣ Closed, private → open, public spaces
(‘walled garden : paths out’)
‣ Credibility
(established norms)
but also
distinctiveness
(‘make me stand
out’) and
resilience (norms
will change)

23. What do students say they want
from their digital experience?
Transactional Transformational
Accessing networks
Accessing hardware and software
Accessing general and course-related
information
Signing on to university systems
Booking appointments
Submitting work, receiving grades
Sharing ideas, engaging in dialogue
Encountering difficult concepts and
practices
Developing independent study habits
Collaborating on projects
Producing new digital artefacts,
especially e-portfolio, blog
Reflecting, reviewing, revising
Specialist practices: reference
management, data analysis, e-journals,
specialist tools...
Expectations largely established in
advance by transactions with other
service providers
Expectations established in the course of
study through comparison with other
students’ experiences, tutor example, and
evidence of learning gains

24. What do students say they want
from their digital experience?
'it is not the technology in itself that is transforming education
and society; it is, rather, the creative ways in which people
are using technology to educate and drive change'
Radical interventions in learning and teaching, NUS 2014
Questions, comments,
contributions

25. a. General digital skills for C21st employment
b. Specialist digital practices of their subject area
c. A well-presented digital portfolio (blog, web site) of their
achievements
d. Critical thinking, so they can adopt, adapt or renounce
the digital technologies of the future
e. Creative confidence, so they can code, design and
make their own digital solutions
How do we go about any of this?
Activity: what is the most valuable thing
we can offer our ‘digital’ students?

26. What will you do as a result of this webinar?
write in the chat window
What would you like the university to do?
write in the chat window
Next steps:

27. digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org
findings | challenges | exemplars | resources
bit.ly/DLcurriculum
materials for embedding digital literacies into
the curriculum
Resources: