Digital Students?Reporting on students' expectations and

experiences of the digital environment

Digital Student Project

» Phase 1 study reviewed students’ expectations and experiences of the digital environment at university

» Desk study | review of institutional data | survey of institutional stakeholders | student focus groups

» Present consultation phase to inform final guidance to institutions and further actions by funders

» Parallel study in FE and Skills plus review of practice in secondary schools

http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org2

Expectations - headlines

› Free, ubiquitous, robust access to wifi and services

› VLE – organisation, time/task, content – consistency

› BYOD but also access to institutional hard/software

› Continued importance of spaces and places

› Support for skills development?

› Support for digital practices??? 3

Experiences - headlines› Highly contextualised to subject area and

aspiration

› Not what was expected – unexpected is developmental

› Study habits with technology are hybrid – informal and peer supported practices + academic criteria

– Critical moments with technology (e.g.) e-journals, data analysis, reference management... formally taught

› Value perceived in retrospect

› Digital identity a critical motivation and outcome

4

Tensions and questionsdigital know-how ↔ academic practice

personal/social ↔ institutionalfamiliar/transactional ↔

transformationalexpectations ↔ requirements

frictionless adoption ↔ specialised practices

How do experiences in the digital environment influence satisfaction?

What is the relationship between expectations and experiences?

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Transactional vs transformational

Jisc Digital Student http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org.uk

Transactional Transformational

Accessing networksAccessing hardware and softwareAccessing general and course-related informationSigning on to university systemsBooking appointmentsSubmitting work, receiving grades

Sharing ideas, dialogueEncountering threshold concepts and practicesDeveloping independent study habitsCollaborating on projectsProducing new digital artefactsReflecting, reviewing, revisingReference management, data analysis, e-journals, specialist tools...

Expectations largely established in advance by transactions with other service providers

Expectations largely established during study in dialogue with tutors and peers

'Building the vision': consultation

Jisc Digital Student http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org.uk 7

A vision for the digital environment

»Ubiquitous connectivity and data exchange: all potentially useful content ‘a blink away’

»Continuous digital recording of experience

»Personal learning environment of devices, licenses, apps and services, networks, information sources

»Enhanced spaces and places: permeable to outside world

»Blend of formal (closed) and informal (open) learning

»Personal data/records → responsive, adaptive learning

A vision for the digital environment

Jisc Digital Student http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org.uk 9

'Building the vision': evidence

Jisc Digital Student http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org.uk 10

Evidence from Summer of Innovation 2013

Students 'really want' to:

»Network with like-mindedothers, learn from peers

»Keep track of progress

»Revise effectively; engage more effectively with lectures; receive more personalised feedback

»Manage study time and develop good study habits

»Enhance engagement with and impact of research (PGRs) 11

Challenges identified by institutions

»Preparing students to study successfully with tech

»Engaging students in meaningful conversations / managing student expectations

»Tension between innovative/open and secure/closed

»Shift from supporting infrastructure to enabling development

»Bring your own – risks, costs, opportunities, implications

»Staff skills

Challenges from 21st May event

» Engaging vice chancellors in this agenda – need to develop people as well as buildings and infrastructure

» Staff workload – difficult to do anything different/new

» Updating practice and knowledge as fast as it is changing

» Move from providing infrastructure/services to supporting people in a mixed environment (especially for IT services)

» Fragmentation of digital expertise, policy and practice

» Providing consistency of service and parity of experience while encouraging innovation and variety in learning/teaching

What institutions (say they) want

»Data clearinghouse (e.g. from institutional and national surveys) and horizon scanning undertaken nationally

»Advice, guidance and support, pointers to further research

»Support engaging senior managers; establishing best practice e.g. maturity assessment, benchmarking

»Support working with students develop digital envt

»National partnerships to find solutions e.g. data analytics, cloud services, BYO/build your own...

More about our findings

http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org

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Over to you

How are e-Learning teams responding (and helping HIEs respond) to students' changing expectations and experiences in the digital environment?

bit.ly/digistudent2

Over to you

How would you prioritise recommendations from this project?

Are there important recommendations missing?