DigiLit LeicesterLucy Atkins - Digital Literacy Research AssociateRichard Hall – Head of CELT

A bit of context…2 year Knowledge Exchange Project:•Richard Hall – De Montfort University•Josie Fraser – Leicester City Council•23 Leicester City BSF schools

•Developing secondary school staff digital literacy, through the implementation of a self-evaluation framework.

A bit of context…The project has three key objectives:•To investigate and define digital literacy, in the context of secondary school based practice;•To identify current school staff confidence levels, and what the strengths and gaps across city schools are, in relation to this definition;•To support staff in developing their digital literacy skills and knowledge - raising baseline skills and confidence levels across the city, and promoting existing effective and innovative practice.

Defining Digital LiteracyIn the context of secondary teaching practice

DigiLit Definition‘To be digitally literate, educators must be able to utilise technology to enhance and transform classroom practices, and to enrich their own professional development and identity. The digitally literate educator will be able to think critically about why, how and when technology supplements learning and teaching.’

Framework Strands

Finding, Evaluating and Organising

Creating and Sharing

Framework Strands

Assessment and Feedback

Communication, Collaboration and Participation

Framework Strands

E-Safety and Online Identity

Technology supported Professional Development

Framework Levels

Entry

Core

Developer

Pioneer

Identifying current confidence

Strengths and areas for further support

2013 DigiLit Survey• Online survey

• Open between April and July 2013

• All staff who support learning - school leadership, teachers, classroom assistants and library staff

• 24% completion rate across city - 450 staff out of the total cohort of 1912

2013 Headline Findings• High overall confidence

• 52% Pioneer

• 26% Entry

• Highest confidence: E-Safety and Online Identity

• Lowest confidence: Communication, Collaboration and Participation

Supporting Staff Development

Raising baseline skills and confidence

2013 Recommendations• Sharing and promoting pioneer practice• Supporting entry-level staff in raising skills

and confidence• Strengthening links between E-Safety and

Online Identity and Communication, Collaboration and Participation practices

• Increasing knowledge and confidence in OER use and creation

• Encouraging engagement with CPD online – particularly through the development of Personal Learning Networks

Project Activity• School Workshops• Innovation projects• TeachMeet DL14• Website Resources• Autism and E-Safety project• OER project• Twitter workshops

DMU DigiLitKnowledge exchange

Staff Digital Literacy Plan• A new Enhancing Learning through

Technology strategy

• Emerges as a strand from a new ELT Programme (organisational development)

Staff Digital Literacy Plan• Sukhtinder Kaur – ELT Officer

• Recontextualising DigiLit for H.E.

• Involvement of community

• Mapping plan to existing support and resources

• Linking to external schemes like the UKPSF

Staff Digital Literacy Plan“Digital Literacy refers to and necessitates various digital capabilities, knowledge and skills in engaging with digital information and digital communities. In the context of higher education and teaching practitioners, digital literacy refers to the way in which one is able to utilise technology to enhance teaching practices, transform participation and engagement for students, and enrich ones own professional development through sharing effective practices and building knowledge networks. Being digitally literate is being able to make informed decisions about the appropriate situative use of technology in all areas of ones professional and personal activities.”

Key Lessons LearntTo support the digital education plan

• Importance of involving community in each stage of the project

• Importance of building and maintaining relationships with the community

• Importance of supporting staff in understanding how technology can be used to enhance their practice

• Importance in committing to openness – supporting the sharing of practice

• Professionalism and radical collegiality

Resources

The Project Website: http://www.digilitleic.com/

Project Reports: http://www.digilitleic.com/?page_id=261

Lucy’s blog: http://latkin00.our.dmu.ac.uk/

The CELT Hub @ DMU: http://celt.our.dmu.ac.uk/

Digilit Leicester is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.