Comments on: A conversation around what it means to be a digital university

By: Our favourite posts of 2012

Our favourite posts of 2012 — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:03:04 +0000

[…] First one is “a conversation around what it means to be a digital university”. This was a personal favourite as it was more of a staff development activity for me as it […]

By: Sheila MacNeill

Sheila MacNeill — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:37:36 +0000

Hi Simon/Tim

Thanks for your useful, timely and relevant comments. Tim I share you concerns re universities not moving fast enough. That’s one of the reason we developed our matrix, to see if it could be used raise some key issues and allow people to start thinking at a more holistic level.

Sheila

By: "Tim" Johnson

"Tim" Johnson — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:12:27 +0000

Hi Simon, from experience I can quite agree with you that the required changes need, “a change management programme across the whole university”. Having worked both within and with different disciplines I also agree with Anna Jones. You do have to make these changes relevant to specific disciplines, the culture of each discipline has to be taken in to consideration and the development of digital literacy does have to be embedded within the curriculum. The changes are very fast and those of us who are helping to direct the changes have to hop, skip and jump to keep up with them (keep ahead of them). Rather than “interested” in what will happen to universities, I am concerned/worried that many universities will not move quickly enough. Will many universities disappear because the whole of their focus is on the current economic and political pressures instead of on this “unimportant” thing called digital literacy?

By: Simon Walker

Simon Walker — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:42:47 +0000

Hi Tim, “what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun”! Your comment is a useful reminder. Many universities are now embracing a ‘graduate attributes’ curriculum, at least in principle. This explicitly names such things as working with emerging technologies/developing digital literacy. In practice many of us are finding it difficult to embed this with any speed, as it really requires a change management programme across the whole university and its partner colleges. Anna Jones (Glasgow Caledonian University) thinks that developing attributes can only really be done within the subject, – some universities e.g Macquarie, Sydney are undertaking a compete curriculum review to make sure that attributes are assured. The OECD are developing a (PISA equivalent) test called AHELO (Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes) that aims to assess what students in higher education not only know but what they can do upon graduation, i.e its a direct evaluation of student performance with the ability to rank universities in a world market. I look with interest to see what impact it may have on universities and on the development of digital literacy (however this is defined) but we may have no option anyway!

By: Sheilamacneill

Sheilamacneill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:53:16 +0000

Thanks for your comment Tim, we’re hoping that this series of posts can help widen the discussion and get people thinking about wider connections.

Sheila

By: "Tim" Johnson

"Tim" Johnson — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:19:26 +0000

Hi Sheila, I completely agree with your statement, “a truly digital university only occurs where there is a fusion between technology and staff/student developments driving innovation and creativity”. The idea of Digital Literacy started to develop long before it was picked up by the universities and, from what I remember from all those years ago, always embraced the concepts of innovation, creativity and citizenship. I worry that sometimes the universities are blinded by information and loose sight of our broader responsibilites to students (and staff) to prepare them for their future lives in an increasingly digital world.

By: Sheilamacneill

Sheilamacneill — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:29:04 +0000

Thanks Simon – yes that’s something we’ve started to explore more in our follow up post http://blogs.cetis.org.uk/sheilamacneill/2012/02/10/a-conversation-around-the-digital-university-part-2/. Ans must try and see if I can get to the conference

Sheila

By: Simon Walker

Simon Walker — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:55:26 +0000

Dear Sheila and Bill, I really liked your idea. I also feel that the notion of supporting ‘transistions’ is important to include. This would examine the ways in which digital universities work with, and support students as they enter, and leave university, with appropriate attributes for work or further study. We are hoping to get some answers about the transition into graduate level work (and subsequent curriculum redesign) from our APT conference which this year is called Employer Engagement in a Digital Age.