 Hello, everybody, and welcome again to one of our online sessions here at ALT-Z 2022. I am delighted to be joined by Dr Becky Vickersstaff from JISC. Becky's here today to talk to us about some sustainable approaches to embedding digital fluency in HE. There will be time for a short question and answer session at the end of this, so please do put any comments you have in the chat. And I will hand over now to Dr Vickersstaff for creating the agile graduate for industry 4.0 and beyond sustainable approaches to embedding digital fluency and reflection in the curriculum. Brilliant. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Thursday's afternoon session. I'm really delighted to be joining you all today. Normally, I'm loved to be physically present at ALT-Z, but I'm unable to this year. So I joined JISC at the beginning of January, and I support the Building Digital Capability Service for JISC using the Discovery tool. But I come from quite an extensive background within digital education, in higher education, having spent the last 19 years working within universities. And one of the one of the areas that's always been something of quite great interest to me has been how we support graduates and how we look at digital capability and being able to support them as we move forward. And today I'm going to kind of try and do a bit of a whistle-stop tour of some of the really excellent and exciting work that we've seen at JISC with some of our customers on how they've been using our Discovery tool and the Building Digital Capability Service to really support that kind of lifelong attitude with our graduates and how we prepare them for that workplace and prepare them for what we must all kind of be aware is a very kind of evolving digital world at the moment. So what I'm going to do in the session, I'm going to have a little kind of initial session looking at the why digital capability is still very much at the forefront of the discussions across the sector and really looking at what that's telling us from an educational perspective, both HE and FE. I'm going to draw a little bit on the student voice on digital capabilities and really what the students are telling us in terms of what they need for the support to be able to take them through their journeys when they're at university or when they're at colleges and how we can support them with that. And then we're going to focus on the JISC Discovery tool and more really looking at that student side on how we've worked with so many institutions and organisations on how they can support students with their Building Digital Capabilities and really using them to be able to thrive and really make those really important decisions on the digital fluency as they go through their university journey. And then we're going to look at how we actually make digital sustainability really relevant. So rather than just looking at this as a sort of let's do this at the beginning of the university journey, how do we make sustainability approaches for digital fluency and how do we embed that with our students throughout their university journey? And then we're going to draw a little bit on some future work during on some recent enhancements to the Discovery tool on how we can really support the students on when it comes to looking at their continuing professional development with that. And I'm going to try and do all of that in 25 minutes. So wish me luck. So just fairly quickly just thinking in the wider kind of outlook with digital capabilities. I think everyone can agree whilst we are still moving forward in the pandemic, we have certainly started to see that we are very much still living in a world that is very much driven by digital technology. Everything we have to do is pretty much led by digital using digital tools, making those really important digital decisions. If we think about some of the simplistic things that we have to do on a day to day basis, things like submitting meter reading reports or going to renew our taxes, all of these things are very much still being done online. And then there is that greater expectation that as we move forward that more things are being streamlined, particularly if we're looking out on the sort of the outside world in terms of the where industry is and where the kind of the commercial sector is. Everything is becoming more and more automated. We are seeing more and more personalized, automated things happening. So we need to be able to have digital skills to be able to make the appropriate decisions when it comes to using technology and being able to do that in a really kind of safe and understanding way. And that's really where digital capability is still so critically critically important for us. But if we think kind of at a more at a more bespoke level, if we have a look at how how digital capability is evolving in terms of the education sector, it's really becoming quite interesting. And we are starting to see real movements, particularly with the way students are supported with digital capability. And again, one of my one of the one of the most rewarding parts of my role is I get to speak to many of our wonderful customers and organizations that are using the building digital capability service to really push forward digital capability with students and staff and being able to understand how how that that need is that is really growing for students. And I think we we can all agree that the pandemic has created some really exciting opportunities and it's really accelerated digital technologies and digital education. And whilst these new opportunities are brilliant, they have made technology much more approachable, much more embedded. It's also given us quite a lot of considerations to think about. So how do we make sure that our students, for example, are making those really safe decisions when using appropriate technologies? How do we know that a staff that the technologies we're offering them is actually the appropriate one? And again, as I mentioned previously, I think the changes in industry as we are seeing, particularly of the industry 4.0, is that everything is becoming more and more streamlined. Technology is driving so many different processes and it's changing the landscape. And again, because of this, we are seeing that the need that again, once again, our education curriculums, both even from school level through to college, through to university level, we need to make sure that that education process is going to underpin and support anyone that's going into industry. And that's really very kind of where those the graduate outcomes and the graduate expectations coming. And we are definitely hearing across the sector. And I'm sure those that would have been in some of the sessions from my colleagues looking at the digital experience insights survey responses, the learner expectations has changed. And we are very much being driven by what the students want. And one of the most important things I think for students again, and our learners is that digital capabilities because they are they are fundamentally really important key employability skills. And in many of the government initiatives that we are seeing it's all about creating a real agile, a flexible graduate that can come into the workplace and is able to adapt to the job. And again, one of the one of the really interesting things that I find in working in technology over the years is that when we started off in primary school, the jobs of tomorrow literally did not exist. And I remember reading something from the World Economic Forum in 2016 that I think it was 65 percent of primary school jobs wouldn't the the jobs that they would be doing didn't even exist yet. And then I read a recent thing, a recent one in 2018 from Dell and they said 85 percent of jobs wouldn't exist. So I can only imagine looking at that moving forward where we are now. So how can we prepare our graduates for jobs that don't exist, particularly in a world that is evolving with huge, huge momentum with technology to how do we make sure that our graduates have those kind of key skills and employability skills that are going to enable them to be able to thrive really successfully in a quite a dynamic changing world. So how do we do that? So there are many different ways that we can look at doing this at the university. And again, part of my role is I get to speak to lots of higher education institutions and just understanding how how we can give the students exposure to this so they can really drive that that that digital area. And again, things like the immersive technology is really helping us give students access to those experiences that they might not have had previous have that access to before. And I think certainly the pandemic has driven that. But again, at the heart of that is really about how do we make sure that we can show our students how to use this effectively? How do we embed digital fluency throughout the curriculum? So it is not just something that's introduced at the beginning of their induction process. It's something that's ingrained throughout. And again, I always liken it to almost like the heartbeat and the blood pumping through the university. It should be something that is throughout the curriculum and it's something that they're exposed to at all points. And again, I think with that, that's that's part of giving them access to different technologies, different, different pedagogical medical models and different sort of assessment techniques as well. And again, underpinning all this is that digital capability and that digital fluency. So it's making sure that our students and when they go into that graduate sort of phase, they are ready to be able to adapt to that lifestyle when they move on and get that job and to be able to thrive successfully. And I think as part of a sort of an education point of view, we need to look at those pedagogical models of teaching and learning delivery and how that would support digital skills as well. And particularly as we move forward into a more hybrid delivery mechanism with institutions, I think that's really, really important. So I don't want to draw massively on the recent data that's come out. I know my colleagues did a wonderful job at a recent session, but we have just published our recent digital experience insight survey for our students and listening, particularly to the voice of the students in terms of their digital skills, I think has been really interesting. And whilst there's been some fantastic work across the sector, given what everyone had to do quite quickly, I think there's still a huge amount of work that needs to be sort of invested in to really make sure that students have that really clear understanding of what their what their digital skills are. So to give them that awareness of these are the digital skills that you need to be able to thrive successfully in your course and and and reward that. I get to speak to a lot of institutions that are actually making this part of the sort of reward process. So if you have a an institution, for example, who has a student pathway where they have to submit certain credits and do certain work embedding digital skills, and that is so critically important. And we are seeing we are seeing more and more of that. So it's really interesting to again listen to the learner views and the student views in terms of what they are expecting. It's given them that really clear understanding that these are the digital skills that you need for your course. But how do how do we assess that? How do we how do we ensure that they know what their own skills and what their own kind of awareness is on that? So that's something that I think is, you know, an area that we can certainly do some more work on. So what I wanted to just do is just have a quick discussion and again around the discovery tool. So for those that may not be aware of the discovery tool, it is a self-reflective diagnostic tool that basically allows an individual to be able to take that time to reflect on their own digital capabilities and to be able to really understand their strengths and weaknesses and to be able to improve on them so they can have those skills to be able to thrive in a digital world. Now, whilst we have access to staff aside as well, I'm going to particularly focus on the student side today. And I wanted to then start to draw on some of the examples that we are seeing from some of our customers and our members on how they've been embedding this and how it supported them in creating that real agile graduate that can really thrive successfully in giving the students that exposure to be able to take that ownership of their digital skills, understand why they're important and understand why they need them in an evolving digital world. So with the discovery tool, we have three different question sets for students. In essence, we have a new students question set, which is aimed purely at the kind of the students when they arrive in that kind of sort of induction process. And again, I'm going to go into a little bit more detail on that one in a moment. And then we also have a larger current students question set for HE and we have one for FE as well. And one of the things that I find really interesting when I speak to institutions is that we are really starting to see a big shift in being very much about the students because of that learner expectation, because students are very much driving those institution decisions on what they want and how they want to absorb their learning. I think this is becoming really quite an interesting area. So what I wanted to do is just focus in on a couple of different examples of how some institutions have been using these question sets and on our service to really support the student journey and to really support that digital fluency as part of their curriculum. And that so that we end up with these graduates, as I've mentioned, that are really that are really flexible and they're adaptable because they are very much then used to that attitude of lifelong learning. So we're very fortunate that we have lots of wonderful customers who are able to kind of embed the question sets in a much larger setting. So we have a number of institutions, for example, that will introduce our new students question set, which goes across seven areas of digital capability right at the start of that university journey. So what some institutions have done is actually as soon as the students have enrolled and they've got the university credentials and their IT passwords, they will actually expose them to this. So they will introduce digital capabilities and why it's important to them, because I think it's really important that we don't assume that all of the students that are coming through are not going to say digital natives, but they may not be digitally confident. They might have exposure to different technologies, but do we know that they have the skills to be able to make the decisions to use the right one in a certain scenario? So one of the one of our institutions has done some fantastic work where they've actually embedded this during the August sort of September time when students join. And the idea is that they're exposed initially to this concept that we're going to ask you to reflect on your digital skills and ask you to have a think about why, you know, you might have a strength in a certain area, but maybe have needs and sort of development in another area. And it really starts that kind of that cognitive process of that cycle of continuing pressure, continuing professional development as well for our students. And I think that's something that's really important, because when we hear about industry feedback and we hear about what they would like from their graduates, it's very much about we want students to be able to be adaptable and to be able to make their own decisions. We don't want to drip feed information. We want them to be able to make the decisions to do that themselves. So we'll see a number of institutions, particularly in higher education, where they will embed the the sort of that new student question sets as part of that induction process and again, then use that data that they get from the from the the anonymised aggregates data to then drive those further initiatives so identify areas where students might need support and again, bring that bring that report that they get back into their conversation with maybe their personal tutor or perhaps as a collective group of students. So there's lots of different ways that we are seeing that many of our institutions are starting to use that. And again, that induction is a really great way to start to start that process where the students understand that lifelong learning attitude of of continually upskilling. So the other one, which I find really, really fascinating and again, during a little bit on my personal background is looking at our larger question set, which is called our current student question set, which goes across all of our 16 areas of digital capability. And it's about how we embed that into the curriculum so that it becomes something that's more sustained and it's not just something that's introduced as a one off and and left. It's something that we we continually do. And what we are starting to see, particularly with a lot of our institutions is where they will embed this, perhaps the on a yearly cycle where they will ask the students to undertake that larger question set because it really does go across so many different areas of digital capability, such as digital well-being, digital creation, etc. And really look at how we can use the data that comes from that but also get the students to reflect on what their reports telling them. So when they've gone through that question set and they've identified, say, for example, that perhaps they're not so confident in a particular area, also bearing in mind that this is a very subjective process because we're reflecting on our own skills. This isn't a way to assess. It is a personal reflection of our own skills. So how do we how do we get them to reflect on that and how do we build that into curriculum? So some of the things that we are seeing across the sector at the moment is some fantastic work where they are asking their students to identify their strengths, perhaps for maybe a Moodle online course, perhaps any portfolio system where they will actually draw and identify maybe their top three areas of digital capability and then maybe comment on why that they felt that that was their top area. And then again, with the in terms of the where areas they may feel less confident is to be able to then identify where they may feel that they could do with some additional support. And again, during on the resources that the Discovery Tour give them and again from their own institution, how they're going to then improve that their own understanding and confidence in that area. And it's really about giving that empowerment in that safe space to be able to kind of look at our own digital capability and understand why it's important. And again, what we're seeing with a lot of institutions is this is but this is really feeding into that sort of curriculum development work with students. So feeding it into program work and feeding it into module activities. And I think the more we can embed and having a look at that reflection on digital capabilities throughout the curriculum, whether it be a module that lends itself to that, or if it's a different area or maybe they're more subject specialist area where you know that there's those kind of critical skills, it's really embedding that. And I think that's something that we are definitely seeing an awful lot more of. And again, for me, I think one of the most one of the areas that's really definitely changing. And again, I think this is driven again by the government initiatives. It's looking at that careers and the employability. So it's it's getting our students more and more exposed to having that real attitude that we never stop learning as adults. We don't stop learning. If we stop learning, technology would soon overtake us. And we need to be able to make those appropriate decisions and those safe decisions with with what what digital skills do I need? What digital capabilities do I need? What's the best tool for this? How do I know when I go into the workplace? How can I adapt and make those skills transferable? And again, it's really about that kind of lifelong learning attitude as well. So we're seeing a huge amount of work in the sector on that at the moment. And just focusing a little bit more on employability. I think if we look in the sort of the wider picture, I think there is still some work in that on that alignment between industry and that educational sector on what what the expectation of our graduates are. We know that they need those transferable skills to support the jobs that we know aren't even existing yet. But there are those there are a lot of ways that we are seeing again, universities, colleges, they're creating these student accredited pathways that are really going to support the students in having that understanding of that lifelong learning. So making sure that they're able to take those skills and adapt them and then be able to apply them when they go into the workspace. Because when you go into the workspace, as we all know, being ever from being graduates, we go into there, it's a huge learning process. We're always going to be learning. So we need to provide our graduates with the ability to be able to adapt. And again, it's so soft skills, but it's so soft skills with that digital focus. So before it might be having been able to have a conversation with someone, well, now we need to be able to have those conversations online. We need to be able to make those appropriate conversations and decisions on how we do that online. It's looking at data, it's being able to analyse data and being able to be safe online. So there's those digital transferable skills, which really do that are really supported by understanding our digital capabilities. And one of the one of the areas that we are certainly seeing an increase in and one of the fantastic improved enhancements that we've had with the discovery tool is our report overlay. So it enables an individual, whether that's staff or student, to be able to choose between any of the two reports that they've previously done with the discovery tool, where they've gone through and had that time for self-reflection and they've identified where their strengths are. Perhaps they've gone away and had some time to do some work and then they can repeat the process and have that have that sort of self-assessment, if you like, of how I feel my confidences are in this area. And then it would actually overlay that in a report. So we can kind of see there a lot and again, because this is part of our new enhancements since the beginning of August, there are going to be some really exciting pieces of work that are going to be coming through from some of our customers on how they've used this and knowing some of those processes and some of the ideas that they're looking to put in place to support this, particularly with students, is really exciting. And again, pulling into where we we embed this, have it have it embedded throughout the curriculum. So that is something that has seemed to be quite continuous and not just we three do this at the beginning of the year and then that that's that. Let's just make it continuous. Let's make this attitude of lifelong learning continuous. So as I draw to hopefully I'm running fairly decently on time, just some final thoughts and again, more than happy to follow up any conversations after the session or after old C. But I think digital capabilities, the message we are getting, particularly from lots of the institutions that and and organizations we work with is that digital capabilities has to be sustainable and it has to be ingrained into all of the processes that we can possibly have that are in a pedagogically appropriate and support students. And because that student learning that their needs really have changed, we need to then make sure that that digital lifelong learning is there to empower students. It's there to give them the skills so that when they go into the workplace, they are really confident and they are able to then look at those jobs and adapt into that. But we also need to support the staff as part of that. So it's a really interesting time. I I'm very fortunate that I get to speak to so many organizations as part of my role. And I'm really excited to see where I think this is going it's going to evolve and particularly as we move forward and technology advances and we start to see that that kind of those more automated, the augmented reality and things like that come in. I think it's going to be really interesting and exciting time. So I think I've come to the end and I think that's a great time to stop. And I'm hoping I'm running on time and open it to some questions. I'm running perfectly to time. Thank you for that, Becky. Very well timed. We haven't had any questions come in the chat just yet. So I'm going to be kind of cheeky and ask one of my own if you don't mind. So the discovery tool seems like a really valuable way to get students to reflect. I'm just curious, has there been much of a kind of disconnect between what what students feel are important digital literacy skills and then what institutions feel are important and then what the employers think are important or do you think those are already kind of well aligned? So that's a really interesting question. So that probably lends itself more to kind of some of the data that we get from our digital experience insights survey. But what personally from what I've sort of experienced when I've been talking to institutions as well and also drawing on sort of my 19 years in higher education, I do think there's still some disconnect. And I think particularly from industry and sort of education, if you like, I do think that there is still some disconnect because there is that the idea that there is still some sort of feedback that we need the graduates to be more kind of agile. And it is about having them have being able to be more adaptable rather than we don't want to drip feed. We want them to kind of, you know, have those different experiences to be able to make those different decisions and explore those sort of different learning sort of methods in terms of what students students need and in terms of what say a university might understand students need. I don't think there's a huge disconnect. I think if I'm honest and again, I'm going to draw on previous background, I think a lot of it comes down to capacity with universities being able to support that. I think it's also about having having that understanding at that higher sort of stakeholder level. So sort of a really high sort of leadership level, how important digital capabilities is. And I think without that kind of understanding that it is so important, it's really difficult to kind of get that buy in and to be able to support students and staff with that. And I think where you have an institution that has a really good, I mean, digital transformation is still very much going on across the sector, as I'm sure everyone has sort of drawn on throughout the conference. And I think there is that disconnect there. But I think a lot of it is probably down to is a resourcing a resourcing issue with some of the organisations as well. And I think it's how do we support that? And that's where the Discovery tool is a fantastic tool because it has those wonderful resources already built in. It has those question sets that's been developed in line with the sector as well and tried and tested as well with so many different users. So I think there's some really great quick wins and more than happy to fill up any conversations on that as well. Yeah, I mean, it's a great segue into Yvonne's comment. So check if we have access to Discovery tool and if we don't persuade people that we do. And I'll just end with one final question from Peter Hartley. Is there a consensus among employers around what or which digital skills are really important? Oh, that's a great question. I would love to answer on behalf of all of the sort of the industry. And I can I can join some experiences. My husband works in the in the sector. And there's I think the ones I mentioned previously, it's about that digital communication. I think previously the soft skills, those transferable skills that we've had before and things like being able to collaborate, being able to communicate really well in person. I think those skills have now become more digital because we are very much still working in that hybrid approach. And a lot of offices are still not face to face with we've moved away from that, I think. So I think it's it's having it's those soft digital skills that I think are really important and being able to adapt to technology that's changing, I think, is particularly with the way that that's kind of going with technology advances, etc. I think I can't speak for everyone, but I know from some previous discussions that there's probably really important kind of key digital skills, if that makes sense. That's that's great. Thank you very much, Becky, for joining us today. And I'll echo the thanks from the chat as well. Lots of applause running in there. And thank you everyone for joining us for this session. Please enjoy the rest of the conference. We've got a few more sessions left today before we wrap up.