Digital Literacy Project The world has changed and digital literacy is now considered a core skill needed in 21 st Century education

Building the Landscape – Not Building Assumptions PAL – Personally accountable learning Delivery of 15% of all FT Level 2 and Level 3 courses online through Moodle Need to understand and improve Digital Literacy skills across all our learners and teachers Digital Literacy and the PAL Agenda

Building the Landscape – Not Building Assumptions Literature Review – Understanding the vast interpretation of the term digital literacy (inc digital literacies and associated terms) Literature Review Literature Key Texts – Understanding the debates and assumptions around 21 st century learners including the digital divide Literature Key Texts We’ve spoken to schools To find the background journey of our FE learners We’ve spoken to schools Before we got started…

Project Themes to Explore in the FE Landscape Digital Divide – Just Curious – do different generations really see things differently Audit of Skills/Usage and Exposure Perceptions/Expectations of Each other (teachers/students) Teacher skills/confidences – The PAL issues Information Literacy – A concerning picture in Literature but to what extent is it true in Worcester College of Technology?

A bit extreme perhaps but this belief exists (Prensky, 2001) But do they actually interpret things differently? (STUDY)STUDY The digital divide in Further Education?

Findings For example: How is the Word ‘Information’ interpreted by teachers and students?

Results of a large cross-college skills/usage survey 240 Completed Student and staff Technology – Ownership – Experience – Use (How and frequency) – Confidence – STUDY STUDY

Findings

Student/Teacher – Perceptions & Expectations What skills are needed by 21st century teachers and learners? We asked them how they perceived each other STUDY

Both had concerns about each others abilities. Students had concerns about their teachers use or lack of up to date knowledge of technologies Teachers feared that although their students used technology they did not apply these skills effectively to an educational setting or when finding or using information for educational processes. STUDY

Keeping up as a 21 st Century Teacher The PAL demands The teacher profile The teacher skills need (not that simple)

Are all learners really the same: The homogenous Digital Natives? A-Levels V Vocational learners (Challenging the ‘Natives’ stereotype – are all learners at this age the same?) Poles apart in terms of the way they seek and select information (THE RESULTS)THE RESULTS So we took the investigation further…

Deeper info lit A more in depth cross-college study (163 students) (20 staff) Now 6 Tasks instead of 3 From School age – Professional courses Quick Example - findings from 2 tasks (Book / Lottery)BookLottery Staff V Student Strategies No pattern of progress – differentiated skills/abilities/patterns The Information Literacy - wider study

OCN Recommendations & Planning Information Literacy is crucial to education (both in teachers and learners) Teachers need support to follow the PAL agenda/Student expectations for learning technologies Tutorial framework an ideal platform for delivery for students ILT CPD Programmes for staff Induction study unit – main course?

Info Lit 3 x units written and approved so far First pilot course almost complete (Moodle) (blog)Moodleblog Moodle/PAL x 1 units written and approved (Moodle)Moodle First pilot course almost complete (blog)blog OCN SO FAR Student OCN UnitsStaff OCN Units

Project has just scratched the surface – we could learn so much more Further OCN unit pilots beginning of 2012/13 term Wider options for units could be considered, this is just the beginning for us! Longer term potential

Findings All draft content mentioned in this presentation can be found at: Thank you