I had a fantastic time at this years UCISA Spotlight on Digital Capabilities 2 (USDC) conference. I was so pleased that the Digital Capabilities group put on another event.
People matter
My biggest ‘take-away’ from USDC is the continued belief that people matter. The featured image for this post was an attendees idea of digital nirvana represented in box form. The message felt particularly pertinent given the discussions we had over the two days.
Be just you. Surround yourself with technology, but remember that humans are still the most important thing. USDC attendee May 2016.
I have often been guilty of putting technology before people. Thinking that using the technology is more important than how it will be used and how it will support learning. I think Helen Beetham put it best:
We are educators. We develop people not technology. Here here @helenbeetham @udigcap
— Kerry Pinny (@KerryPinny) May 26, 2016
We should be bringing people with us. Finding technology that relates to them and their practice. That enhances their practice and the experiences of their students.
Carrot works better than stick in encouraging staff to focus on improving digital literacy – don’t use scare tactics #udigcap #udigcapfocus
— Alien Items (@alienitems) May 26, 2016
Most importantly we should be careful that our language, attitudes and behaviours don’t alienate those with lower digital skills.
Digital natives don’t exist but the rhetoric has stuck @jsecker. We make dangerous assumption that alienate & vilify the disengaged #udigcap
— Kerry Pinny (@KerryPinny) May 26, 2016
Metathesiophobia
I had never heard of this term until my former colleague Sue Watling mentioned it in her presentation. Follow Sue on Twitter, check out her brilliant blog the Digital Academic and her post Metathesiophobia and other #udigcap take-aways.
Metathesiophobia=fear of change. Is this the biggest barrier to tech development in HE? Or an excuse? @suewatling #udigcap
— Kerry Pinny (@KerryPinny) May 26, 2016
My experience of staff attitudes to technology has most regularly been a mixture of fear and irrelevance.
Frameworks
James Clay (James has written several posts about USDC on his blog elearningstuff.net) described the work Jisc has been doing on digital capabilities and reminded is of their framework on day 1. I live blogged about it on this site in the post Building digital capability for new digital leadership, pedagogy and efficiency. I really like the Jisc framework. It is clear, simple and well designed. Helen Beetham wrote a post about her work revisiting the framework in her post Revisiting digital capability for 2015.
The #digitalcapability framework is not about levels, competences and skills, but about capabilities. #udigcap pic.twitter.com/byzxELedv6
— James Clay (@jamesclay) May 26, 2016
One thing I wondered, whilst I listened to Fiona Handley from University of Brighton talk about the framework they developed, was whether it is even worth doing? (Read Fiona’s blog on USDC here.)
Don’t #digitalcapabilities frameworks always end up being boiled down to the how to’s? #udigcap #udigcapq
— Kerry Pinny (@KerryPinny) May 26, 2016
I have lost the plot with frameworks and frankly I’m not 100% certain what a framework actually is. The definition of framework is:
the basic structure of something : a set of ideas or facts that provide support for something
a supporting structure : a structural frame
The key word, in this definition, is basic. What I fear happens when we take a framework is that we take it and make it far too complex. That in its adaptation we lose the simplicity that makes a framework so accessible.
I for one will not be adapting the Jisc framework. It will drive our work here at Lincoln but it’s perfect, and most helpful, exactly as it is.
IT Training Teams
I wrote a full post on the panel discussion Debate: Do we still need IT training teams?. Having been an IT trainer it’s an issue very close to my heart. There is a tendency to believe that resources like Lynda.com can be a replacement for the classroom training team.
I am finding now that how I deliver training has changed. It now happens online, by phone, Lynda, on tablets and comp rooms #udigcap
— Anna Williams (@annasonIT) May 25, 2016
Lynda is brilliant. It has it’s placed. Particularly for the any-time anywhere learning we are told students so desire. It cannot replace the reassurance and skills of the IT trainer. Lynda can’t pick up on when you don’t understand. It can’t change it’s delivery to suit it’s audience. It can’t answer questions. It can’t ask you questions to see if you understand.
IT Training teams can. We need them.
The value of training is in its impact eg is the student experience improved @jamesclay measure impact in the planning #udigcap
— Kerry Pinny (@KerryPinny) May 26, 2016
Employing staff without skills
There was a big debate in the room on why we continue to employ staff who don’t have the existing digital skills. This is something that I will be dedicating an entire post to.
Staff without skills? We are failing them. They need to engage but that’s about culture, expectations, support and relevance #udigcap
— Kerry Pinny (@KerryPinny) May 26, 2016