Knowing what you need to know – Supporting your digital literacy in teaching

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There is a national drive in Higher Education to support the digital literacy of teachers and students to ensure that we are maximising the resources available to us to function in today’s increasingly digital society.  Given the dizzying pace of technological output, it is a relief that the goal of digital literacies isn’t about having to know about everything and be using all the latest gadgets and gizmos (an impossible task even for Learning Technologists like me!).

Instead, it is about being aware of the full spectrum of areas in which digital technologies can have an impact. It is ensuring an understanding of the basic principles of how the most relevant tools can be used to support teaching, learning, administration, and research. It is equipping ourselves with the knowledge in which to make critical appraisal of technologies to make an informed choice for their inclusion in our practice, along with our existing knowledge and skills. It is more about why to use technology rather than how to. However, it can still feel like there is a lot to keep up with!

Digital literacies at BSMS

Here at BSMS we want to help our teachers navigate this digital world. We have recently launched a new self-assessment survey for our teaching faculty and course administrators to complete during May 2017. It is based on a framework from the University of Brighton and national guidelines, and has comprehensive links to relevant information for help. The goal is to help our course teams see where their strengths and weaknesses are and point them to resources to fill in the gaps. It will also be used to direct the BSMS Learning Technologies team in supporting our course teams in teaching.

If you are involved with teaching BSMS students, please do feel free to complete the survey and use the supporting information:

BSMS Digital Literacies Survey 2017 (teaching faculty)

Data collection and analysis is anonymous. Get in touch with me if you would like to know more (t.r.vincent@bsms.ac.uk).

 

External links:

Digital literacies at University of Brighton – the University is taking a leading position in HE with their digital literacies mapping and model. The BSMS model is a tailored version of this one (thanks to the CLT team!).

JISC Digital Capability Discovery Tool (Beta) – This new discovery tool from JISC gives you the opportunity to find out more about your own digital capability through a series of reflective questions across a very broad range

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