Curriculum design, employability and digital identity

Jisc Student Experience Experts GroupApril 2016

Dr Liz Bennett Dr Sue FolleyUniversity of Huddersfield

• Why digital literacy and employability

• Why Curriculum Planning Workshops• D4 Digital Literacy Workshop• D4E Employability Workshop

• Description of D4 workshops• Their evaluation

Employability and digital literacy macro context

• Thematic review a top down way of putting a focus on particular priority areas led by QAA ;

• Sector lead bodies eg Jisc, HEA;• TEF has employability running

through it• University of Huddersfield focus on

DL of staff.

Action Research project• Single institutional context• Based around 2 year project around digital

literacies and employability• Reconnaissance phase - External & Internal

scoping – available see resources slide• Intervention – D4 Workshop

D4 – Digital Capabilities Curriculum Design:

Workshop

Liz Bennett, Sue Folley

Discover - Dream - Design - Deliver

Format of the session

Intro and

Aims of Session

Task 1: Discove

rTask 2: Dream

Task 3: Design

Coffee break

Task 4: Deliver

Evaluation

Aims of the sessionTo provide a starting point for discussions of your course development

To introduce you to a range of curriculum design tools (Appreciative Inquiry and Viewpoints/ Employability resources)

To identify support available from the School, Learning Technogist/Careers Service and the University.

To create a personal, team action plan and any actions for the School and University

From: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADB195.pdf (p.16)

Appreciative Inquiry is a theory of organization development management or research approach that focuses on the “best of what is” instead of focusing on problems.

What is Appreciative Inquiry?

Discover

Dream

Design

Deliver

Appreciative InquiryThe best of what has been

Best that might be

What it might truly look like

What we will commit to

Split into groups of 3-4 people.

In your group, reflect on the question ‘What examples of great learning have you experienced in your professional life?’

Think about: o What happened?o What did you do to make that happen?o What did others do to contribute to that experienceo How did that experience feel?

Discuss your stories and write down some of the characteristics of what makes a great learning experience and agree on one person to share these with the whole group later. (10 mins)

Feedback to whole group some of the examples and pull out key themes (10 mins)

Task 1 – the Discover StageDiscove

r

Dream

Design

Deliver

Still in your small groups you are going to create a vision of what the desirable attributes a first class student graduating from your course demonstrates.

Think about: How you want your degree to enable graduates to:- Work effectively with others- Meet employer’s expectations- Work with professional bodies (if appropriate)- Be adaptable and agile to work and learn in a variety of contexts- To be able to work in a digital world

Draw a mind map or other diagram to represent the ideal graduate attributes.

Feedback to whole group and distil into a list of themes

Task 2 – the Dream StageDiscove

r

Dream

Design

Deliver

Task 2 – the Dream StageDiscove

r

Dream

Design

Deliver

Task 3 – the Design StageDiscove

r

Dream

Design

Deliver

Still in your small groups you are going to be designing a single learning activity, so in your teams decide on one of the following:• An activity to ease the transition into the course based on students coming in from

very different starting points;• Identifying one particular concept that students traditionally find difficult and design

an activity to approach this task;• An activity that makes use of peer teaching approach;• An activity that helps students fully understand an assignment brief;• A single learning experience of your choice related to your course/subject.

Create the elements of your ideal learning experience using the learner engagement cards, taking into consideration some of the themes from Task 1 and some of the ideas from Task 2.

To do this, use just the front of the cards and the forms given – build a lesson plan using between 3-6 of the cards, adding in a few further details about the the activity, time and resources/training needed for that element. You can use an element more than once if you want to. Choose a different person in your group to feed this back to the whole group later. (10 mins)

Task 3 – the Design StageDiscove

r

Dream

Design

Deliver

https://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/building-digital-capability

ViewPoints Learner Engagement Cards

Task 3 – the Design StageDiscove

r

Dream

Design

Deliver

c) Using the cards and the stickers colour code these activities

d) Start to discuss gaps/overlaps and create a vision of what your curriculum may look like in the future

Digital IdentityStudents need evidence of being

able to:Possible curriculum approaches for

this:

Present themselves online to perspective employees (via LinkedIn, online cv, ePortfolio)

Use various mediums appropriately

according to audience e.g. blog, email, social network

Build a professional network online Show awareness of how to manage their

own digital identity

Blogging Use of social networks to share ideas and

discussing appropriate topics Creating a LinkedIn profile and Twitter

profile for professional use Creating an ePortfolio to showcase work Building a professional network using social

media Discussions about professional ethics in

social media

Adapted from the Viewpoints Project by JISC.

Design ExampleActivity – to write an abstract for a journal article

Students receive information about the task from the tutors

and some start points for resources

Students explore resources to find out

what elements are in a journal abstract

Students discuss on an online discussion

forum the elements of a good journal abstract

Based on the list discussed the students

then create an abstract on an

assignment they have previously written

Design Example

Task 4 – the Deliver StageDiscove

r

Dream

Design

Deliver

Using what you have done in the previous task(s) and the backs of the cards discuss which aspects of employability skills you cover well in your current curriculum and those you would like to include in your future planning to cover any gaps.

Complete the first three boxes on the front of template form to capture your discussions.

Following this create a team action plan of what action needs to take place in the short/medium/long term to make the changes you need. Agree on who is taking responsibility for each of these changes and complete the second page of the template form provided.

Deliver Example

Evaluation of our Workshops

would recommend it to others. Good way to focus on curriculum design (Participant from Workshop 2).

very helpful as a structured and facilitated opportunity for us to discuss this task as a team with external input, giving rise to ideas and opportunities that we would not have identified ourselves (Participant from Workshop 3).

It was a very valuable time together and prompted some tangible ideas that we wouldn't have thought of otherwise and that will add real value to next year's lab programme (Participant from Workshop 2).

The workshops were evaluated using five simple open ended questions. The results were overwhelmingly positive.

• ”It created a space and structure for us to think clearly and practically about how to enhance our curriculum and pedagogy to respond to TEF whist not losing sight of the intrinsic value of education…It facilitated us to come up with a clear and focused “to do” list….It made us aware that some small changes to teaching delivery could have a big impact if handled well

Why do they work?• Space for critique;• Team based dialogue,

unfreezing change, not siloed;• Change positively framed;• Simple but not oversimplified

Resources• http://ipark.hud.ac.uk/ • (in the training & staff development

folder)• Or shortened url is bit.ly/1O2UVla• External Scoping Report • Internal Scoping Report