Digital Literacies

Digital Literacies Skills for the future Pat Parslow p.parslow@reading.ac.uk

Skills for the future • Digital Literacies: • Make your life easier • Increase your employability • Allow you to have an Agile approach

Employability?

What are “Digital Literacies”? Yes, that is a question – that means you get to answer it! Please fill in Questionnaire 1 now

The JISC defines them as: By digital literacy we mean those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society: for example, the skills to use digital tools to undertake academic research, writing and critical thinking; as part of personal development planning; and as a way of showcasing achievements.

How do you learn new digital skills? License Some rights reserved by DeusXFlorida

Parrot fashion Or… Trial and error Networking – learning from friends Web searches Methodical exploration of tools Training courses … How do you work out the best way to learn, for you?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greyloch/5180620832/ CC-BY-SA licence Pirate Learning Assess, Analyse, Acquire, Articulate, Reflect: AAAR!

Why?Maybe a little motivational song…

The ‘Elevator pitch’: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=begvbqFAYnM

The Digitally Ready project is funded by JISC and the University of Reading Neither of those organisations is in any way responsible for this song! You are welcome to take the lyrics and make something better… (CC-SA) Lyrics and vocals by Pat Parslow (who has no shame), music by Microsoft Songsmith

Learning goals • Understand need for continuous improvement of digital literacies • Recogniseimportance of self assessment • Understand importance of Digital Literacies for Employability • Understand the Pirate Model of learning (AAAAR!)

Need for continuous improvement of digital literacies • Rapid rate of innovation • Adaptation of skills to new working environments • Always-beta style of software • Knock on effect to your learning in general…

Importance of self assessment • Provision of courses is sub-optimal • You need to understand your own skills • You need to be in charge of your learning • Understanding your “knowledge gaps” is critical

Importance of Digital Literacies for Employability • e-Skills UK research reported in their ‘Technology Insights 2011’ demonstrates the demand for digital literacies for employability: • Across the UK economy, 22 million people, 77% of the workforce, use IT in their jobs, and this will continue to rise. 92% of job advertisements require applicants to have basic IT skills and 1 in 10 UK businesses report gaps in IT user skills. • 1.5 million people in the UK are currently employed in the IT sector and 500,000 new staff will be required in this sector over the next 5 years. http://www.e-skills.com/research/research-publications/insights-reports-and-videos/technology-insights-2011/technology-insights-2011-key-findings

Pirate Model of learning (AAAAR!) • AAAR! • Assess – yourself, and your needs • Analyse – the gaps between these two • Acquire – gain skills and competencies • Articulate – communicate your skills to others • Reflect – on the process, how you can learn better

Figure 2 CC-BY rfduckhttp://flickr.com/photos/rfduck

Figure 4 CC-BY Tony Fischer http://www.flickr.com/people/tonythemisfit

Figure 3 CC-BY-NC-SA Pigallehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/pigalleworld

Figure 1 CC-BY-SA CafeYak.com http://www.flickr.com/people/14893221@N06

Getting the message in to curriculum • All curricula are different… • Students have responded well to the ‘song’ • Students respond well to Pirate Learning… • Write a poem, fitting Pirate Learning (AAAAR!) and ideas triggered by one of the four images in the context of your subject area… • …go on, what’s the worst that can happen?

What are “Digital Literacies”? Yes, that is a question – that means you get to answer it! Please fill in Questionnaire 2 now

Digital Literacies