Building online employability: a guide for academic departments

This guide will help academic departments to support students to think about their careers and to use the online environment wisely. Used badly the array of social media and online technologies can seriously disadvantage a students’ career development, but if used well they can support students to find out about and transition into their future career.This work was funded by the University of Derby’s Research for Teaching and Learning programme

An experiment in blended career development: the University of Derby’s social media internship programme

It is possible to describe the capability of an individual to use the online environment to pursue their career as their digital career literacy. It is comprised of a range of different skills including the ability to: search; evaluate resources; communicate; network with other people; develop your reputation; and utilise an ever growing range of tools and environments as part of your career building. In another article in this edition of the NICEC journal Hooley (2012) has defined digital career literacy as encompassing changing, collecting, critiquing, connecting, communicating, creating and curating. This requires both the translation of offline skills and the development of new online ones. This article sets out the experience of running the social media internship programme (SMIP), an intervention to develop students’ digital career literacy at the University of Derby.University of Derby Teaching Informed by Research programm

Shifting themes, shifting roles: the development of research blogs

The study described in this paper investigated the use of research blogs by postgraduate students over a four-year period. An initial, one-year, pilot focused on the research blogs of three first-year doctoral students (Ferguson, Clough, & Hosein, 2007). Analysis indicated that blogs were used to promote a community where students were encouraged to reflect and share ideas, skills and stories of research life. The blogs also acted as memory repositories and encouraged collaboration. The main study followed the students’ blogs for another three years, as they completed their doctorates and took jobs as early-career researchers. It investigated changes in the use and content of research blogs during this period. All three students continued to make use of their blogs for reflection over this period, and the blogs’ use as a memory repository became increasingly important, especially during the period of writing up research. Once the students had made the transition to early-career researcher, the nature of their blog use changed and began to fragment. This was due, in part, to issues of confidentiality, and data protection associated with their employment. While they continued to use their original research blogs to promote community and collaboration, the constraints of their work meant that new posts were often posted in closed blogs, or were marked as protected. At the same time, they were required or encouraged to make use of project-related blogs as part of a planned communication strategy by their employers. The findings of this longitudinal study clarify the changing expectations and needs of learners, employers and society in relation to researchers’ blogs, and identify skills, awareness and knowledge needed to support the use of blogging by research students

A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education

This review focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education. It provides a synthesis of the research literature in the field and a series of illustrative examples of how these tools are being used in learning and teaching. It draws out the perceived benefits that these new technologies appear to offer, and highlights some of the challenges and issues surrounding their use. The review forms the basis for a HE Academy funded project, ‘Peals in the Cloud’, which is exploring how Web 2.0 tools can be used to support evidence-based practices in learning and teaching. The project has also produced two in-depth case studies, which are reported elsewhere (Galley et al., 2010, Alevizou et al., 2010). The case studies focus on evaluation of a recently developed site for learning and teaching, Cloudworks, which harnesses Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate the sharing and discussion of educational practice. The case studies aim to explore to what extent the Web 2.0 affordances of the site are successfully promoting the sharing of ideas, as well as scholarly reflections, on learning and teaching

Rethinking Assessment: Information Literacy Instruction and the ACRL Framework

Most information literacy instruction (ILI) done in academic libraries today is based on the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, but with the replacement of these standards by the new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, there is a need to re-evaluate current teaching strategies and instructional techniques so that they can better serve the Framework’s goals. This paper explores current trends in ILI instruction and in the area of assessment in particular, since ILI assessment provides an opportunity not only to evaluate teaching effectiveness but also to reinforce the learning goals of the new Framework itself. It proposes several ways that assessment strategies can be aligned with the goals of the Framework by using guided group discussion, online discussion platforms, and social media platforms, and proposes further avenues for research in the evaluation of such strategies

E-SKILLS IP – MASTERING THE 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

In this paper we will present the results of a case study carried out with attendees of an Erasmus Intensive Programme (e-skills IP - Competences for Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing in Digital Society), which has promoted the development of 21st century skills among participants. The 21st century skills are a set of abilities that students need to develop in order to succeed in the information age. The Intensive Programme took place during 2014 spring in Timisoara, Romania involving the participation of teachers (with skills in the areas of ICT, digital literacy, non-formal education and intervention, design & illustration and teacher education) and students (of teacher training, social education and intercultural relations and migration fields) from four different countries. The classes covered different tools and six tutors were involved. At the end, attendees were: able to master the different tools & applications; capable to use and select the most adequate web 2.0 tools & applications according with a specific situation; able to create and manage their PLE/N; able to share and work collaboratively in a synchronous and asynchronous way; able to communicate an idea and to interact with peers from different countries. The working methodology was hands on workshop based and a package of a two and a half weeks of sessions covering a variety of web 2.0 tools was prepared and delivered to the participants. The e-skills IP had a positive impact in the participants since they saw their 21st century skills enhanced along with foreign language skills improvement. They had the opportunity to learn about different cultures through the nation nights activities and to discover a bit more about cultural aspects of the host region/country through the social events. A website was built in order to aggregate all the contents and results of the IP. The IP gave an intense overview about the different tools that are available in the web 2.0 and that can be very useful for teaching/learning activities. Learning, literacy and life skills are key competences in this information age, with an impact not only in our daily lives but also in our professional and academic careers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Teaching with infographics: practising new digital competencies and visual literacies

This position paper examines the use of infographics as a teaching assignment in the online college classroom. It argues for the benefits of adopting this type of creative assignment for teaching and learning, and considers the pedagogic and technical challenges that may arise in doing so. Data and insights are drawn from two case studies, both from the communications field, one online class and a blended one, taught at two different institutions. The paper demonstrates how incorporating a research-based graphic design assignment into coursework challenges and encourages students' visual digital literacies. The paper includes practical insights and identifies best practices emerging from the authors' classroom experience with the infographic assignment, and from student feedback. The paper suggests that this kind of creative assignment requires students to practice exactly those digital competencies required to participate in an increasingly visual digital culture

Web 2.0 technologies for learning: the current landscape – opportunities, challenges and tensions

This is the first report from research commissioned by Becta into Web 2.0 technologies for learning at Key Stages 3 and 4. This report describes findings from an additional literature review of the then current landscape concerning learner use of Web 2.0 technologies and the implications for teachers, schools, local authorities and policy makers