Digital Literacies: a graduate attribute at the University of

Wolverhampton

The catalyst

• Learning Works - from 8 x 15 to 6 x 20 credit modules • Pedagogic principles• Blended learning strategy (since 2008) as an amendment

to the Learning & Teaching Strategy• Concept of student entitlements• Our supported learning and teaching environment

(evision, WOLF – VLE, Qmark – CAA, and Pebble Pad)

Posters: What do students think?

52 face-to-face semi-structured interviews

What does a Degree give you?

What do you think Graduate Attributes means?

What skills do you think you have developed by studying at Wolverhampton?

If an alien landed today and they asked you what’s special about studying at Wolverhampton – What would you say?

Question 1

Would you have a high-level graduate attribute statement linked to digital literacy?

If so, what would it be? If not, why?

Graduate attribute statement

“We aim to produce Wolverhampton Graduates who are digitally literate, knowledgeable and enterprising, and are global citizens”.

Digital LiteracyOur graduates will be confident users of advanced technologies; they will lead others, challenging convention by exploiting the rich sources of connectivity digital working allows.

How?Technology and its applications change at an ever increasing rate, and fluency in our digital world is vital in the workplace. Wolverhampton develops such digital literacy through our courses.

This involves:•Learning using effective ‘e’ environment •understanding the latest professional hardware and software •being able to appraise and creatively use digital information.

Expert panels

Invitation to anyone who wanted to engage in dialogue on the three statements.

Encouraged those with existing school responsibilities and those on our radar who were doing interesting things.

Dialogues would have some impact in shaping concepts

Why? – statements perceived as top-down

Enterprise needs to be contextualised by subject /course

Digital literacy needs to be contextualise by subject/course.

Do we need a university threshold that all students will have to achieve?

Global Citizenship: Explore interactive work between home and international students

Expert panels

knowledge exchanger and producer,

interpersonal and communication skills,

ethical and professional approach,

community player,

critical thinking,

cultural fluidity, 

innovation, 

creativity,

reflexivity

Characteristics?

What is important, however, is that a patchwork is not just a ‘collection’ but a ‘pattern’: in the end it does have a unity, albeit made up of separate components. To begin with it is defined by

academic staff, as they carefully derive a sequence of tasks from the course material. And finally it is, … re-defined by

individual students, … to write their final section as an interpretation of what this course material ‘means’, to them,

Winter (2003: 119)

Contextualised by subject/course

Stitched together by students

Question 2Increasingly we a seeing a digital mismatch between students’ social use of technology and our assumptions about their DL.

How and where do students gain the skills they need to use technology effectively for study?

Building a web resource

Rich Exchanges

Practice-based case studies, including:

• Work Based Learning • Peer Supported Study • Developing the relationship between Home and

International Students • Community Projects that utilise ‘real life’ environments • Student-centred approaches

Question 3How do you translate this,

Learning using effective ‘e’ environment, understanding the latest professional hardware and soft ware, being able to appraise and creatively use digital information.

to this,

“What we want graduates to be able to do is to reflect on, to apply, to articulate and to evidence their graduate skills that they developed at university”.