Joint Information Systems Committee 22/04/23 | | Slide 1

Learning Literacies in a Digital Age (LLiDA)

Helen BeethamLou McGillAllison Littlejohn

Small-scale JISC studyReporting end March 09

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 2

Scope and definitions

By ‘digital literacies’ we mean the range of practices that underpin effective learning in a digital age

We use the term ‘effective learning’ as characteristic of ‘skilled, digitally aware learners with the capacity to participate in learning using technologies of their own choosing’.

We use the term ‘digital age’ as a shorthand for technical, social, economic, cultural and educational contexts in which digital forms of information and communication predominate

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 3

Three-pronged approach

1. Review available evidence(a)Current research into literacies

(b)Conceptual and competency frameworks relevant to UK HE and FE

(c)The changing context and requirements for learning and literacy

2. Investigate current provision in UK HE and FE institutionsa) Institutional audits

b) Best practice exemplars

3. Test conclusionsa) Expert advisory group (institutional auditors, stakeholders)

b) Interviews with leading researchers and theorists

Joint Information Systems Committee 22/04/23 | | Slide 4

Reviewing the evidence

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 5

Key issues from research and theory Multi-modality

– text-based literacy is no longer enough– focus on ‘communicative competence’ across multiple domains

Socially situated:– contextual practices rather than individual skills

‘Net generation’ a contested concept– from ‘rewired brains’ to ‘nothing new ‘

Next-generation user skills (web 2.0) – do/don’t entail new forms of learning– for some learners, for some kinds of learning, for some of the time

Information skills vs knowledge practices– Poverty of information skills (high certainty)– Changing modes of knowledge and knowledge practice (uncertainty)

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 6

academic literacies

competence frameworksinformation and media literacies

ICT literacies

slow change, cultural and institutional inhibitors

rapid change, economic and techno-social

drivers

critical thinkingproblem solvingreflectionacademic writingnote-takingconcept mappingtime managementanalysis, synthesisevaluationcreativity, innovationself-directed learningcollaborative learning

searching and retrievinganalysing, interpreting critiquingevaluatingmanaging resourcesnavigating info spacescontent creationediting, repurposingenriching resourcesreferencingsharing content

ICT skillsweb skillssocial networkingusing CMCusing TELEusing digital devicesword processingusing databasesanalysis toolsassistive techpersonalisation…

engaging with academic tasks engaging with

digital tools

engaging with academic

knowledge/ content

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 7

digital = ‘tools are changing really fast!”

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 8

literacy = ‘learning stays much the same!”

Joint Information Systems Committee 22/04/23 | | Slide 9

Current provision – the evidence

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 10

Current practice: early indications Poor articulation of provision and support among central services Low awareness of digital and learning literacy in departments (some

exceptions) Little understanding among students of how they will be expected to

study and learn – even after induction Over-confidence in information skills among students Lack of confidence in ICT skills among staff ?Digital disadvantage (cultural capital like any other) ?clash of knowledge cultures (authority, ownership, media) Emergence of new policy and practice frameworks Pinch points: induction, information habits, assessment, plagiarism,

use of personal technologies, collaboration

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 11

Student expectations

Staff champions

Diverse student population

Changing technologies and digital practices

Employability agenda

External funding and policy drivers

Internal leadership and special initiatives

Other

Institutional drivers for change (evolutionary)

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 12

Supra-institutional drivers for change

Current trends

Educause Horizons

OECD schools

Beyond Current Horizons

Leicester, OU…

TLRPFuture scenarios

economic

educational

social/environmental

demographic

technological

public policy

high/low demand for UK graduate skills

collective/individual responsibility for ed.

retrenched/transformed teaching workforce

future of knowledge/disciplines

globalisation

socialnetworks

in(non)formal learning

lifelong learning

sustainability

consumerism

gamingskills, competences

fundingemployability

accreditation

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 13

Paradigm-breaking scenarios? Text-based practices of formal learning increasingly obsolete Online reputation more valuable than formal accreditation:

just-in-time, piecemeal, informal learning triumphs Collapse of publishing and IP arrangements Collapse in demand for UK-educated graduates … BUT little evidence for these

We see little evidence that even highly-skilled digital networkers are learning informally through social communities in the deep and

self-transforming way that is the aim of post-compulsory educationFormal, post-compulsory institutions remain uniquely placed to

support higher-level learning and knowledge practices

Joint Information Systems Committee 22/04/23 | | Slide 14

Conclusions (still to be tested!)

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 15

Institutions need to address: The capacities that are taught for, supported and assessed:

– Digital participation, production and enquiry– Multiple modes of knowing, multiple media, multiple communities– Self-management of learning, career and reputation– Creativity, innovation and agility

How these capacities are supported– Peer learning, informal learning, 360 degree support and review– Organisational upskilling (not ‘we teach u’)– Interdisciplinarity? Cross-contextual learning? Learner-generated contexts?

How these capacities are valued– Recognition and reward (staff and student)– Investment in literacies of the digital – cultural as well as financial

Digital competence needs to saturate institutional practiceDigital talent needs to be nurtured in teaching & research professions

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JISC needs to address:

Upskilling of the community at large– or risk failing to embed outcomes and realise benefits

Development work must include consideration of how the resulting standards, services and technologies will be used – beyond the expert community

– beyond their basic functionality

– agilely and creatively

– for life-enhancing purposes i.e. for deep learning, self-realisation, progress towards life goals

Getting technology into the hands of learners is not enough to empower them

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 17

http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 18

Reflecting on the context and drivers for change

Please look at p3. (qu. 7.11) ‘drivers for change’

Are there any other drivers at GCal we have not included?

Please rank the three you think are most important, in order of importance (i.e. 1 to 3)

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 19

http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 20

literacies

access

skills

strategies

attributes

relatively stable aspects of the person

changeable and context-related aspects of the person

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 21

literacy as common entitlement

a foundational knowledge or capability, such as reading, writing or numeracy, on which more specific skills depend

a cultural entitlement – a practice without which a learner is impoverished in relation to culturally valued knowledge

access

skills

strategies

attributes

entitlementequality of

access

Ensuring all learners have functional access to core technologies, services and devices; developing core literacies; building capacity to learn across the lifecourse.

Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009 slide 22

literacies as difference

communication – expressing how an individual relates to culturally significant communications in a variety of media

the need for practice – acquired through continued development and refinement in different contexts, rather than once-and-for-all mastery

a socially and culturally situated practice – often highly dependent on the context in which it is carried out

self-transformation - literacies (and their lack) have a lifelong, lifewide impact

an ongoing process which is never completedaccess

skills

strategies

attributesenhancementexpression of

difference

Enabling learners to access and integrate own technologies, services, and learning communities; supporting the development of socio-technical practices; supporting achievement of personal goals and learning journeys.