Project information

The Digital Capabilities Project will come to an end this week – and we wanted to share a summary of the main findings, while the recommendations are under consideration.

If you would like more information on the project, on digital capabilities resources, and on the activities carried out over the last 18 months, please visit the Digital Capabilities webpages.

Summary of findings

Staff and students reported that:

• They felt supported using their devices on and off-campus.
• Online technologies and tools allowed them to access information and learning materials when they needed, wherever they were working – it was convenient and allowed them to manage their time and workload.
• Staff and students weren’t aware of their digital capabilities, and would like a way to find out where their strengths and weaknesses lie – without judgement about any potential training requirements.
• Some teams have already identified areas where they would like extra support to develop team capabilities – these relate to file storage and management, safe sharing of documentation and data, and training on frequently-used programs such as MS Word, Teams and Excel.
• Most staff and students agreed that they would like investment in new systems and training to use those systems and to improve their digital skills overall.
  • We still have some work to do in order to work out what training to offer, how, and when – the general consensus is that learning opportunities should be offered in a range of formats, and at different times, to reach as many people as possible.
• There were some issues related to on-campus wifi, availability of spaces to work, and interoperability of systems ie. Systems don’t talk to each other and some teams have invented workarounds which may not be efficient. If staff and students felt more confident and empowered to solve digital problems, perhaps there would be less frustration with existing systems, and with the support available to solve issues.

We know that some support for digital capabilities development already exists ie. Library, Study Advice, TEL, Life Tools, Careers. We also know that this support is inconsistent – some is only available to students, some only to staff, and support is not offered across the spectrum of the Jisc digital capabilities framework, so there are some areas that are missing. Interviews and surveys with digital capabilities teams at other UK Universities provided some information on the structure of support, and the main activities and subject areas that are made available elsewhere.

We do not provide a basic skills assessment, a checklist, or expectations at either recruitment, during probation, or during Welcome and induction activities. This makes it difficult for staff to know which skills they require for their role, what systems and software they will be using, where they can access development and training opportunities, or what the local practices are in their department or team. Research throughout this project shows that staff have varying levels of confidence and capability, and this impacts their ability to work effectively and to continue to learn and develop. Some of the issues raised could lead to potential business critical failures ie losing files, accidental sharing of student or staff data with users who did not need to receive them.

Some academic colleagues also mentioned that their students were unfamiliar with ‘basic’ functions and software ie. The SUM function in MS Excel, presentation skills, communicating and managing groupwork. Are these simply skills that students haven’t had the opportunity to learn how to use, or skills that staff assume students have before the arrive? It is important that we are able to offer skills self-assessments to allow staff and students to prioritise the training that they will need.

Staff and students were also interested in learning more about recent developments, particularly related to Generative AI, and business intelligence and automation tools such as PowerBI and PowerAutomate. Skills in this area could support assessment literacy, administration, and support the development of confidence and employability for our graduates. It is key that digital capabilities are offered, and are relevant to, staff and students across the full spectrum of the framework and cater for different levels of confidence and familiarity.

The project recommends dedicated and targeted digital capabilities support for both staff and students, and the creation and promotion of some digital capabilities self-assessment guidance for staff and students. Digital capabilities covers a wide range of skills, attributes and activities, so the ability to prioritise the available training, and continue to identify new areas of interest and need, will be helpful for everyone at the University.

Future priorities:

• Dedicated support and advocacy for digital capabilities at work and as part of the teaching curriculum.
• Digital capabilities self-assessment opportunities for staff and students
• Training opportunities on foundational IT skills for staff and students.
• Training opportunities on emerging technologies and their application to study and work.
• Increase use of existing training available through LinkedIn Learning.
• Collaboration with existing resources and services providing support related to digital capabilities, and sharing of good practice with colleagues and students alike.

A suggested project roadmap has been included at the end of this blog post – and it has been created in collaboration with the Digital Capabilities Action Group and DTS colleagues. The project recommendations are currently under consideration, and although the current project is ending, please watch this space for future updates.

Thank you

Thank you to all students and staff who have contributed to the Digital Capabilities project – your reflections and suggestions have been vital in understanding the support needed to develop an action plan for future digital capabilities development.

Recommendations roadmap

A text version of this roadmap can be found on the digital capabilities webpages.