Presentation to ELESIG in 2009 - outcomes of the LLiDA study

1. Learning Literacies in a Digital Age (LLiDA)
Findings + 'Learners of the Future'
Helen Beetham
Lou McGill
Allison Littlejohn
Small-scale JISC study
Final report May 09
Joint Information Systems Committee
29/06/09 | | Slide 1

2. Three-pronged approach
1. Review available evidence
(a)Current research into literacies
(b)Conceptual and competency frameworks relevant to UK HE and FE
(c)The changing context and requirements for learning and literacy
2. Investigate current provision in UK HE and FE institutions
a) Institutional audits
b) Best practice exemplars
3. Present conclusions
a) Expert advisory group (institutional auditors, stakeholders)
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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3. Context: the 'post digital' vs the barely literate
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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4. Likely futures: educating graduates for...
 economic uncertainty
 high competition for employment in the global knowledge economy
 increased alternative, contract-based and self-employment
 the rise of inter-disciplinarity and multi-disciplinary work teams
 a networked society and communities
 multi-cultural working and living environments; internationalisation
 blurring boundaries of real / virtual, public / private, work / leisure
 increasingly ubiquitous and embedded digital technologies
 increasing ubiquity, availability and reusability of digital knowledge
 distribution of cognitive work into (human + non-human) networks
of expertise
 rapid social and techno-social change
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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5. as knowledge is increasingly accepted
as being multi-modal, always
potentially at least capable of digital
capture and sharing, then the
significance of 'the digital' as an
environment for learning and working
may recede
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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6. Present challenges facing learners

Learners over-estimate their information skills
 Many lack general academic critical and inquiry skills
 Most learners still strongly led by tutor / course practices

Most learners use only basic functionality, unwilling to
explore or creatively appropriate technologies
 Separate 'skills' support poorly engaged with, demotivating
 Problems transferring skills from personal or social
contexts to study or work
 Potential clash of academic/internet knowledge cultures
 Negative experiences of ICT in school
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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7. Findings: competence frameworks
Joint Information Systems Committee
29/06/09 | | Slide 7

8. Competence frameworks
academic
and prof
literacies
critical thinking
slow change,
problem solving
cultural and
reflection
institutional
academic
inhibitors writing
note-taking
concept mapping
time management
analysis, synthesis
evaluation
creativity, innovation
self-directed learning
collaborative learning
information
and media
literacies
searching and retrieving
analysing, interpreting
critiquing
evaluating
managing resources
navigating info spaces
content creation
editing, repurposing
enriching resources
referencing
sharing content
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
ICT
literacies
ICT skills change,
rapid
web skills
economic and
social networking
techno-social
using CMC drivers
using TELE
using digital devices
word processing
using databases
analysis tools
assistive tech
personalisation
…
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9. Competence frameworks
academic
and prof
literacies
information
and media
literacies
ICT
literacies
How knowledge and expertise
are communicated
How knowledge and expertise
are applied in authentic tasks
How individuals appropriate
knowledge and expertise
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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10. Findings: current provision
Joint Information Systems Committee
29/06/09 | | Slide 10

11. Current provision: strategies
Reviewed 60 strategic documents from 16 participating insts
 Only 2/60 address 'digital literacies' primarily

Information strategies most clearly focused on learner
capabilities (influence of SCONUL 7 pillars model)

Employability widely referenced as a concept but poorly
defined, rarely linked to specific interventions

Responsibility for' developing literacies split between
academic staff and central services

Students rarely addressed as responsible actors
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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12. Current provision: services
 Support in silos: library, learning development, ICT, WP...
 Information literacy well supported but:
 media literacy, e.g. critical reading and creative
production
 communicating and sharing ideas
 use of innovative environments to explore ideas
 Central service provision personal and developmental but
rarely reaches learners engaged in authentic tasks
 Little support for learners' personal use of ICT for study
 'Employability' poorly articulated: careers staff hard to
reach
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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13. Current provision: curriculum
 provision tends to be one-off and cohort-based
 staff perceive students as more digitally capable than they are
 tutor skills critical to learners' development
 feedback and assessment rarely used as opportunities
 huge diversity in competences considered in design, validation
 Three modes of integrating literacies:
–
Institution-wide programme, usually portfolio-based
–
Skills modules or sessions alongside 'subject' teaching
–
Fully integrated into modules / programmes of study
 Most examples from vocational and professional courses... (but)
 … deeply embedded examples perhaps not visible to our study
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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14. Current provision: peer support

Social software widely used for informal sharing and more
organised peer support

Study buddy and student mentor initiatives rarely address
digital literacies directly, but have scope to do so

Student help-desks commonly support learners' use of
digital devices and networks

Much peer support takes place under the academic radar
(but)

Academic staff attitudes and central service initiatives
send important messages about what is appropriate
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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15. Recommendations
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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16. Recommendations (1) further research
 How learners differ wrt technology use, impact on their
learning experience
 How learners develop technology-enabled strategies of
learning and study
 Themes: digital knowledge practice, personalisation,
assessment, peer support, attitudes to risk
 Institutional case studies – models and outcomes
 Course level practices – impact of tutor skills and attitudes,
integrated vs modular approach
 Relating digital research and teaching (scholarship?)
 ... Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
Learners’
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17. Recommendations (2): what do we wish for?
 Learning, living and working are understood to take place in a digital
society: there is no separate space of learning which is 'digital'
 Learners are blending their own personal and shared learning
environments
 There is an entitlement to access and basic skills of learning in a digital
age, plus a recognition of diverse needs and preferences for study
 Literacies for learning are continually assessed and supported: the
emphasis is on producing digitally capable lifelong learners
 The focus is on what formal post-compulsory education can uniquely
provide:
–
e.g. self-direction, self-awareness, depth of attention, a critical
stance, apprenticeship in professional and academic practice,
creativity and innovation, social entrepreneurialism...
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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18. From
To
We know, we teach you
Learners' digital skills being
recognised, rewarded and used as a
resource for the learning community
Established methods, based in
disciplines
Emerging and mixed methods,
interdisciplinary problem spaces
Induction and one-off training model of
literacy support
Ongoing review, progression and
just-in-time support
Students become 'qualified' in specific
kinds of academic knowledge practice
Students need to strategically
manage a range of knowledge
practices, for different contexts
Technologies are introduced according
to the requirements of the curriculum
(Yes, and) the curriculum is
continually modified by the impacts of
technology in the environment
Disaggregated services, deployed at
particular points in the learning cycle
(library, ICT, study skills, careers)
Integrated support for students'
learning development and different
learning pathways
Stable job market, 'employability' has
clear features, particularly in specific
vocations and professions
Unstable job market: adaptability,
resilience, multi-tasking, capacity to
exercise judgement and
management of multiple roles to the
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
fore
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19. 'Learners of the future'
 Define 3 key capabilities that 'learners of the future' will need
 Express in these terms: a capable learner will be able to...
–
They may not be 'digital' capabilities but think about
how they would be expressed in a digital age
 What kind of interventions might support development of
these capabilities?
–
Interventions may be focused on the curriculum, or
on individual learners
 How could we evaluate their impact and benefits?
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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20. Institutions will need to:
 Reassess the capacities that are taught for, supported and assessed:
– Digital participation, production and enquiry
– Multiple modes of knowing, multiple media, multiple communities
– Self-management of learning, career and reputation
– Creativity, innovation and agility
 Reassess how these capacities are supported
– Peer learning, informal learning, 360 degree support and review
– Authentic contexts for practice, including digitally-mediated contexts
– Individual scaffolding and support
– Making explicit community practices of knowledge and meaning-making
– Anticipating and helping learners manage conflict between practice contexts
– Recognising and helping learners integrate practices
– Interdisciplinarity? Cross-contextual learning? Learner-generated contexts?
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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21. Institutions will need to:
 Reassess and reassert how these capacities are valued
–
Transparency over processes and values
–
Recognition and reward (staff and student, cultural and
financial)
–
Digital scholarship needs to saturate learning and teaching
practice
–
Digital talent needs to be recognised and nurtured
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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22. Current provision: challenges for institutions
 Work across curriculum / services boundaries to integrate provision
 Respond to the need for new kinds of capability: recognise and
represent graduate capabilities in new ways
 Articulate vision for '21st century graduate skills' and embed ambition for
students to thrive in C21st across the curriculum
 Prepare themselves and their students for an uncertain future
 Develop institution-wide approach to assessing and progressing
learners' capabilities
 Foster digital talent and innovation, wherever found (staff/students)
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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23. http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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24. literacies
relatively stable
aspects of the person
attributes
strategies
skills
access
changeable and contextrelated aspects of the person
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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25. literacy as common entitlement
 a foundational knowledge or capability, such as reading, writing or
numeracy, on which more specific skills depend
 a cultural entitlement – a practice without which a learner is impoverished
in relation to culturally valued knowledge
Ensuring all learners
have functional
access to core
technologies,
services and devices;
developing core
literacies; building
capacity to learn
across the lifecourse.
attributes
strategies
entitlement
skills
equality of
access
access
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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26. literacies as difference
Enabling learners to
 communication – expressing how an individual relates to culturally
access and integrate
significant communications enhancement
in attributes
a variety of media
own technologies,
expression of
services, and learning
 the need for practice – acquired through continued development and
communities;
difference
strategies
refinement in different contexts, rather than once-and-for-all mastery
supporting the
 a socially and culturally situated practice – often highly dependentof sociodevelopment on the
technical practices;
context in which it is carried out skills
supporting
 self-transformation - literacies (and their lack) have aachievement of
lifelong, lifewide
personal goals and
impact
access
learning journeys.
 an ongoing process which is never completed
Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning Workshops: November 2008 – March 2009
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