Digital literacy follow up

Further to my post last week on Our transferable skills framework and digital literacy, with some help from Alan on the content (plus all the useful comments - especially Tris's natty Seven Cs of digital literacy) and Ian (our careers-adviser-who-is-also-an-occupational-psychologist) on the wording, we have come up with the following. Digital literacy is just one of nine competencies in our transferable skills framework - which is intended to be a framework that encompasses both the skills that our students need to develop and the skills employers are interested in. It's not final yet but it is much closer to what I'm looking for. Any comments would be gratefully received

Uses email appropriately and effectively

Understands and uses the range of email functionality and demonstrates positive email etiquette. For example when to use ‘Cc’, ‘Reply to all’, subject lines, how to manage your inbox, acknowledging received messages

Develops a range of online information acquisition strategies

Uses a range of search engines and bibliographic databases to source and cross check the authenticity of information

Uses word processing packages to format and present written work professionally

Produces professionally formatted and presented documents

Uses spreadsheet packages to process data

Understands the purpose and value of spreadsheet packages, and has grasp of core functions including inputting and sorting data, writing basic formulas, presenting data appropriately

Optimises use of presentation packages to support the development and delivery of presentations

Maximises functionality of presentation software, combined with knowledge of creating strong presentation design e.g. uses images appropriately, displays the right amount of information, clearly structures presentation, presentation engages and adds value, uses animations to enhance

Utilises online bookmarking tools to improve online productivity

Uses online bookmarking tools regularly to store, organise and retrieve information. Familiar with key bookmarking tools and functionality

Uses technology to support collaborative working

Utilises shared documents, video conferencing, screen sharing to carry out collaborative working efficiently and flexibly

Manages personal online identity

Proactively manages digital footprint to create a professional online identity to enhance professional credibility and employability

Uses a range of tele-communication technologies

At ease using various tele-communication methods, including telephone, mobile and online video conferencing tools

Manipulates images

Uses software or online resources to create, edit or utilise images for purposes of work e.g. presentations, training material, websites. Aware of copyright issues

Uses statistical software

Inputs data appropriately and running and interpreting relevant statistical analyses

Uses or creates video

Uses software or online resources to create, edit or utilise video for the purposes of work.  Aware of copyright issues.

Our transferable skills framework and digital literacy

I'm trying to get back into thinking about skills development and how our transferable skills framework can support it. We have a draft transferable skills framework identifying 9 separate competencies - one of which is 'using technology'. After a useful conversation with Alan earlier this morning (and links to a couple of his blog posts) I'm trying to get my thoughts organised.

The first step is to change the name from 'using technology' to 'digital literacy' - but then that begs the question - what is it? I've not got time to spend hours getting up to speed with the debate but I do need a much better summary of what digital literacies (for undergraduates and employees) looks like. Our transferable skills framework includes a descriptor (skills knowledge or attitude related to a particular competency - in this case 'digital literacy'), behavioural indicators (observable behaviours to provide evidence that the competency is being demonstrated) and examples of activities (inside or outside the curriculum) to develop and assess the competencies). Our framework also divides the descriptors and behavioural indicators into levels - level 1 being the more basic stuff and level 2 the more advanced.

Clearly this is work in progress but here's first very rough stab...

Things to include

• Using email professionally - when to use Cc, Reply to all etc. how to manage your inbox
• Using spreadsheet packages to process data - sorting, basic formulas, presenting data appropriately (could have a level 2 for this too - pivot tables)
• Using presentation packages to support presentations - using images appropriately, displaying the right amount of information, clearly structured and easy to follow
• Using bibliographic software to find and reference information (less employer focussed perhaps?)
• Using technology to support collaborative working - shared documents, video conferencing, screen sharing
• Using social media to build your networks and actively engage... (? suggestion please...)
• Manage your online identify - not just to avoid posting things you will regret but proactively managing your digital footprint

I'd really appreciate any links to what people are using already (either in HE or graduate recruitment/development - there must be lots!) as well as comments on the above.

If these aren't employability skills I'll eat my hat

By pesbo

In a meeting a few months back I recalled a particular section of the University of Leicester's previous Learning and Teaching Strategy (2006-2009). In the section on 'Aims of undergraduate programmes' it said the following:

Each undergraduate degree programme should enable development, in a discipline context, of a range of personal or transferable skills, including:

• problem solving
• communication skills (written and oral)
• basic numeracy
• team working
• IT skills
• information handling skills
• emerging learning technologies skills
• lifelong learning skills
• employability skills

Which is all very well - but what's 'employability skills' doing at the bottom there? a) as an afterthought and b) as if it doesn't encompass all the items above it in the list? I think things have moved on since then but I think it's an interesting insight into how people sometimes perceive employability - as only to do with CVs and applications and interviews and not with the skills employers are looking for to do the job in the first place, like these.

Any thoughts?

Identifying employability in the curriculum

By andercismo

I've had a couple of snatched conversations with Richard (our Career Development Manager) recently about identifying employability in the curriculum. Academic departments are now much more keen to engage with us (which I'm very pleased about) because they are under increasing pressure to show how they are contributing to students' employability. This has resulted in some departments swinging from one end of the spectrum (we're not interested in employability) to the other (let's have lots of employability), which presents us with a different set of problems (I know, I know, some people are never satisfied!). One department recently approached us with the idea of a full 10 week module on careers skills featuring week 1 - CVs, week 2 - applications, week 3 interviews etc. Which whilst laudable in many ways would a) be stretching the content a bit and b) feel very bolt-on from the students' perspective. Our experience is that the more contextualised and relevant to the course of study the employability content is the better, so Rich has come up with the idea of using competencies to help departments understand what they are already doing in the curriculum that relates to employability but might not realise it.

Rich stumbled across the SHL Universal Competency Framework which identifies eight core competencies (they call them the 'great eight') that they say are crucial for good performance in the workplace. SHL define universal competencies as:

It is a single underlying construct framework that provides a rational, consistent and practical basis for the purpose of understanding people’s behaviours at work and the likelihood of being able to succeed in certain roles and in certain environments.

I know very little about SHL other than they are a commercial company, and there may well be a better list of competencies somewhere, but they seem like a useful starting point for conversations about employability, and indeed learning development, in the curriculum. The eight competencies are:

• Leading and deciding
• Supporting and co-operating
• Interacting and presenting
• Analysing and interpreting
• Creating and conceptualising
• Organising and executing
• Adapting and coping
• Enterprising and performing

You can see the descriptions of these in the table below and I reckon that students are required to do a lot of this stuff as part of their degree.

Competency	Description
Leading and deciding	Takes control and exercises leadership. Initiates action, gives direction and takes responsibility.
Supporting and co-operating	Supports others and shows respect and positive regard for them in social situations. Puts people first, working effectively with individuals and teams, clients and staff. Behaves consistently with clear personal values that complement those of the organisation.
Interacting and presenting	Communicates and networks effectively. Successfully persuades and influences others. Relates to others in a confident and relaxed manner.
Analysing and interpreting	Shows evidence of clear analytical thinking. Gets to the heart of complex problems and issues. Applies own expertise effectively. Quickly learns new technology. Communicates well in writing.
Creating and conceptualising	Open to new ideas and experiences. Seeks out learning opportunities. Handles situations and problems with innovation and creativity. Thinks broadly and strategically. Supports and drives organisational change.
Organising and executing	Plans ahead and works in a systematic and organised way. Follows directions and procedures. Focuses on customer satisfaction and delivers a quality service or product to the agreed standards.
Adapting and coping	Adapts and responds well to change. Manages pressure effectively and copes with setbacks.
Enterprising and performing	Focuses on results and achieving personal work objectives. Works best when work is related closely to results and the impact of personal efforts is obvious. Shows an understanding of business, commerce and finance. Seeks opportunities for self-development and career advancement.

So, for instance, a useful exploratory question when talking to an academic from a department could be: what are your students already doing in the curriculum that involves analytical thinking or solving complex problems, or learning  new technology, or communicating in writing (Competency: analysing and interpreting)? Presumably quite a lot. Or how about what are they doing that involves planing ahead and working in a systematic and organised way, or following directions and procedures (Competency: Organising and executing). Some competencies will be easier to identify in the curriculum than others. For instance, 'Leading and deciding: takes control and exercises leadership. Initiates action, gives direction and takes responsibility.' This is probably easier to identify outside the curriculum, perhaps in involvement in clubs and societies, but even this one you could identify some elements of in lab work and fieldwork.

Clearly these competencies were written for a different context; the workplace. But if we need to identify how students are beginning to develop workplace skills then it seems like a good place to start. Once existing employability-related elements in the curriculum are identifying we could then work to supplement these with more traditional but contextualised careers skills. It would also help us when talking to employers to articulate our students' skills in a language they understand.

What do you think - are using competencies a good idea or not? What are the disadvantages? Have you tried it already? How will academics react? Is there a more appropriate set of competencies somewhere? Do you think the idea has legs? And if it has someone must have already done this somewhere else. As I'm new to this careers stuff I could do with some help.