The Digital Department

Project Team: Stefanie Anyadi (PaLS), Lorraine Dardis (Internat. Affairs), Alison Gilry (ICH), Ciaran Moynihan (ICH), Clive Young (LTSS)

Aims

• Professional profile and expertise of UCL teaching administrators (TAs)

• Training programme• External accreditation via

....semi funded by Aug 2011 to July 2013

Workshop aims and structure

• Activity: what are ‘digital literacies’?• Intro to The Digital Department• Activity: how does this relate to your organisation?• Activity: The digital literacies ‘triangle’• Activity: What areas to investigate? • Discussion: accreditation and networking

Workshop aims and structure

• Activity: what are ‘digital literacies’?• Intro to The Digital Department• Activity: how does this relate to your organisation?• Activity: The digital literacies ‘triangle’• Activity: What areas to investigate? • Discussion: accreditation and networking

Digital Literacy according to JISC

• digital literacy defines those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society– ICT/computer literacy – information literacy – media literacy – Communication and collaboration– Digital scholarship– Learning skills– Life planning

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| Supportin

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Slide 5

Why teaching administrators (TAs)?

• 30k? individuals across UK HE (c150 at UCL)• major contribution to the student experience in

increasingly technologically 'blended' learning environments – manage the digital presence

• have a range of responsibilities - admissions, quality management, programme and course coordination and planning, VLE course management, student advice, student feedback processes, distance learning etc

• digital literacy underpins all these activities

The backstory

1. The unexpected guests (2009)

2. “The dog that didn’t bark” (2010)

3. The Forum (2009-11)

4. Total Moodle (2011), Moodle 2 (2012)

5. The Digital Department (2011-13)

Some of the tools UCL TAs useUCL admin and financial systems

Portico – student information service

Financial Information System (FIS) - financial data and management

Timetabling/CMIS - room bookings and timetabling

Service in Partnership (SiP) – HR forms

Rome - online recruitment

Web content management (silva)

Scanners – being piloted as attendance checks for Points-Based Immigration System (PBIS)

UCL teaching and learning systems

Moodle - e–learning environment

Turnitin – plagiarism detection

Lecturecast – automated lecture recording

Opinio - web-based surveys

My Portfolio – staff and student e-portfolio

Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) – audience response 'clickers'

Wiki – collaborative web pages

Blackboard Collaborate – virtual classroom

Communication and networking tools

Email – inefficient way of contacting students?

Facebook– seen mainly as a communication tool

Phone Text messaging – no UCL service but a strong demand

Messenger - text messaging

Skype – video conferencing

Linkedin – professional networking

Blogs – UCLWordpress service

Twitter –how to use in HE?

YouTube – online videos

Productivity tools

MS Office – Word, Excel, PP, Acrobat

Dreamweaver – web page development

Etherpad – collaborative note taking

Evernote – stores notes, photos

Google docs – share web documents

Google analytics – web usage

UCL Dropbox – exchange large files

Dropbox – web-based online storage

Marketing and events management

Eventbrite – events management

Find a Masters – marketing

Oxboffice – ticketing service

Google Adwords – online advertising

40+ tools

“It is almost impossible for busy academic staff to stay up to date” (SLiDA)

Top 10 systems used by UCL TAs

Moo

dle

Stu In

fo S

ys

MS O

ffice

email

Turnit

in

Timet

ablin

g

Financ

e

Web

Mgt

File d

ropb

ox

Web

sur

vey

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

What do TAs want to learn about?

Portfo

lio

Lect

. Cap

ture

Attend

ance

Clicke

rsW

ikis

Surve

y to

ol

Virt. C

lass

Analyt

ics

Faceb

ook

Blogs

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

TDD activities

1. Review current processes and practices to establish a baseline of digital literacies required and a framework of good practice.

2. Analyse the likely future requirements - via focus groups and 'mini projects‘.

3. Plan innovations - co-develop a knowledge base.

4. Pilot a practitioner-led workshop programme.

5. Evaluate with a particular focus on enhancing the student experience.

6. Certify the programme (with the AUA) – a portfolio approach.

7. Cascade the literacies to colleagues and students.

8. Adapt the model for other groups of professional services staff.

Workshop aims and structure

• Activity: what are ‘digital literacies’?• Intro to The Digital Department• Activity: how does this relate to your organisation?• Activity: The digital literacies ‘triangle’• Activity: What areas to investigate? • Discussion: accreditation and networking

Workshop aims and structure

• Activity: what are ‘digital literacies’?• Intro to The Digital Department• Activity: how does this relate to your organisation?• Activity: The digital literacies ‘triangle’• Activity: What areas to investigate? • Discussion: accreditation and networking

Digital literacies and the learner experience

12/04/2023 | Slide 14

Digital literacies and the learner experience

Key: Enhancing student experience and meeting new expectations

Administrators - complex enrolments and timetables, new modes of study, courses delivered in different settings.

Academics - support and feedback to students seeking a range of learning outcomes, maintaining contact and support progression.

Students - must become skilled at identifying and integrating learning opportunities to meet their personal needs.

Workshop aims and structure

• Activity: what are ‘digital literacies’?• Intro to The Digital Department• Activity: how does this relate to your organisation?• Activity: The digital literacies ‘triangle’• Activity: Which areas to investigate? • Discussion: accreditation and networking

Case studies

Workshop aims and structure

• Activity: what are ‘digital literacies’?• Intro to The Digital Department• Activity: how does this relate to your organisation?• Activity: The digital literacies ‘triangle’• Activity: Which areas to investigate? • Discussion: accreditation and networking

Next steps

Accreditation – map knowledge, skills and experience against AUA professional behaviours and design accreditation framework with AUA

UCL TA induction and professional development – produce handbook and standard operating procedures and work with UCL HR to design a professional development programme for TAs

Best Practice – produce best practice guidelines for TA responsibilities cutting across departments

Professionalisation – investigate and report on recent developments in university administration

Networking

• Links to relevant other activities/projects/institutions

• Links to development for support staff in other areas/jnstitutions

• Lessons for cross-institutional working• Any questions?