Moving from ‘e’ to ‘d’ – what does a Digital University really look like?

Bill JohnstonSheila MacNeill

University of Dundee, eLearning Symposium, 31 May 2013

Overview

• A presentation of in 2 parts• Part 1 – What is the digital university?• Part 2 - Possible directions for “digital”

Dundee

(in the light of Dundee teaching and learning strategy and e-learning strategy documents)

The rise of digital

Image: www.centerdigitaled.com

“The new competition, the real threat . . . is the emergence of entirely

new models of university which are seeking to exploit the radically

changed circumstances that are the result of globalisation and the

digital revolution.”

An Avalanche is coming, Higher Education and the Revolution Ahead IPPR , March 2013

(http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/10432/an-avalanche-is-coming-higher-education-

and-the-revolution-ahead)

“There is no doubt that digital technologies have had a profound impact upon the management of learning. Institutions can now recruit, register, monitor, and report on students with a new economy, efficiency, and (sometimes) creativity yet, evidence of digital technologies producing real transformation in learning and teaching remains elusive”

Decoding Learning, the proof, promise and potential of digital educationNesta, November 2012 (http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documentsDecodingLearningReport_v12.pdf)

What is a digital university?

Where is a digital university?

Image: newsroom.cisco.com

Digital = global?

• Global citizens are “digital”?• What does this mean at a local level?• What is a digital citizen? • What kind of profile(s) should staff/students

have? • What would 20 credits for digital citizenship

look like?

Aspirations for Dundee

• “If our aspiration is to be a small, research intensive institution which uses that research strength to inform its learning, recognised as a significant contributor to society globally, then we need to look at how resources can be best deployed to support that.”

(University of Dundee, Teaching & Learning Strategy, 2012)

Directions for Digital Dundee: Glocalization?

• Notions of “Global community” and “multi cultural world”

• How are these represented in the curriculum and experienced by lecturers and students?

• Glocalization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glocalization)

A Digital University: key themes

Our model for the digital universityDigital Participation Information Literacy

*Glocalization *Widening access*Civic role and responsibilities*Community engagement*Networks (human and digital)*Technological affordances

*High level concepts and perceptions influencing practice*Staff & student engagement and development*Effective development and use of infrastructure

Curriculum and Course Design Learning Environment

*Constructive alignment*Curriculum representations, course management, pedagogical innovation*Recruitment and marketing*Reporting, data, analytics

*Physical and digital*Pedagogical and social*Research and enquiry*Staff and Resources

Digital ParticipationDigital Participation University of Dundee Learning &

Teaching Strategy

• Glocalization

•Widening Access

•Community Engagement

•Networks (human & digital)

•Technological affordances

Aim 1: Our graduates and postgraduates make an impact in their chosen fields, with the skills and knowledge to shape and lead society in the professions, research, and the wider world.

•(http://bit.ly/wMgL0W)

Curriculum & Course DesignCurriculum & Course Design University of Dundee Learning &

Teaching Strategy

•Constructive alignment

•Curriculum representations, course management, pedagogical innovation

•Recruitment and marketing

•Reporting, data, analytics

Aim 2 Our curricula are designed for breadth and depth allowing for experimentation, change and diversity: breadth to recognise the need for our graduates to experience inter- and cross-disciplinary learning; and depth, because our graduates need to develop critical enquiry and deep thinking skills, enabling them to have open minds to challenge problems.

•(http://bit.ly/ypTdqx)

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy University of Dundee Learning &

Teaching Strategy•High level concepts and perceptions and influencing practice

•Staff and student engagement

•Effective development and use of infrastructure

Aim 2: Our curricula are designed for breadth and depth allowing for experimentation, change and diversity: breadth to recognise the need for our graduates to experience inter- and cross-disciplinary learning; and depth, because our graduates need to develop critical enquiry and deep thinking skills, enabling them to have open minds to challenge problems.

(http://bit.ly/zaZX7H)

Information Literacy

• "Information literacy is the adoption of appropriate information behaviour to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, leading to wise and ethical use of information in society.”

(Johnston, B. & Webber, S. (2003) Information literacy in higher education: a review and case study. Studies in higher education)

Learning environmentLearning Environment University of Dundee Learning &

Teaching Strategy

•Physical and digital

•Pedagogical and social

•Research and Enquiry

•Staff and Resources

Aim 5: We will create a sustainable learning environment which exploits all the appropriate approaches and technologies, maximises income and ensures that all our students, in Dundee and elsewhere, are supported for success

•(http://bit.ly/JJIDhJ)

Learning Environment:Key features

• prepare students for lifelong, self-regulated, cooperative and work-based learning;

• foster high quality student learning;• change teaching methods in response to students’

increasing metacognitive and self-regulatory skills, • increases the complexity of the problems dealt with

gradually and systematically.

Vermunt, J.D, Student Learning and University Teaching (2007), British Journal of Educational Psychology

Process orientated teaching: key features

• lecturer skills - diagnostician, challenger, monitor, evaluator and educational developer.

• self-regulation for students e.g. collaborative working spaces, complex projects and personal reflective spaces.

• Institutional support to encourage this type of student in a self regulating researcher culture.

The Dundee “Learning Journey”: what and how?

• Where and how would students get credit that related to your “big” aspirations for ‘global community ”and “multi-cultural world”?

And finally

• Take our model• Work with it and build it • Extend our conversation

Contact Details

• Bill Johnston b.johnston@strath.ac.uk• Sheila MacNeill s.macneill@strath.ac.uk @sheilmcn

Blog posts: http://bit.ly/wUzP2p