wellbeing and responsibility: a new ethics for digital educators
TRANSCRIPT
Wellbeing and responsibility:a new ethics for digital educators?
Helen Beetham | @helenbeetham
http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.orghttp://digitalcapability.jiscinvolve.org
The LLiDA project: Thriving in a digital age
The ‘Digital Student’ projectsafety, diversity, belonging
What do (digital) students say they want?
‣ Inspiring teachers (perhaps teaching in hybrid spaces)
‣ A chance to explore and project new identities
‣ New ways of belonging (to their course, cohort, institution)
‣ Closed, private → open, public spaces(‘walled garden : paths out’) ‣ Credibility
(established norms) but also distinctiveness (‘make me stand out’) and resilience (norms will change)
Digital student: outcomes
Beetham and Sharpe 2010
Elements of digital literacy
Beetham Littlejohn and McGill 2009
Not all students thrive in digital spaces
‣ Digital divide narrower but wider: can amplify other inequalities and cultural differences‣ ‘Digital natives' story hides many contradictions:
learners' engagement w digital world is v differentiated ‣ Up to 85% MOOC participants already educated (at
least) to graduate level‣ Active knowledge-building, creating, sharing are minority
activities typically introduced by educators (Selwyn). ‣ Consumer practices & populist values dominate in
digital space - many feel excluded or worse
Not all of us thrive equally in digital spaces
safety | respect
Not all students thrive in digital spaces
Everybody say ‘aahh’...
‣ Students cite digital distraction and time management as major concerns (confirmed by Pew Foundation 2015)
cc yo-bro.deviantart.com: any cat picture really
Not all of us thrive equally in digital spaces
bored, cynical
dispersed
fearful, anxious
focused/obsessed
observed, exposedignored, unfriended
bullish, boorish
compulsive, evangelical
left behind permanent upgrade
Not all of us thrive equally in digital spaces
Online legitimises opinion: people feel free to say and do things that have become unacceptable
face to face.
It's too easy to fall into just looking at 'are they using the technology to be good learners?' It's
about respect, social awareness.
Digital student: outcomes
cc. Simon Rae 2015
Digital students are different
digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org
Digital students are different
digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org
Benchmarking the Student Digital Experience
digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org
Benchmarking the Student Digital Experience
belonging | inclusion | engagement
Elements of digital literacy
Beetham Littlejohn and McGill 2009
Framing digital capabilities for staff
‣ Desk study and horizon scanning 60+ references: summary of issues now, <3 yrs and >3 yrs out
‣ Frameworks review 57 reviewed, 43 scoped in less detail: summary review
‣ High-level descriptive framework + consultation, feedback, refinement
‣ Interviews (50+): key issues‣ Further projects: 12 potential projects scoped with
prof bodies; interest from universities and collegesdigitalcapability.jiscinvolve.org
Issues identified in interviews
‣ Changing nature of work inside and outside institutions‣ Changes in how individuals achieve, record, demonstrate
capability‣ Individuals continue to value recognition, validation and
belonging in their learning and professional development‣Digital capabilities are both generalised and specialised:
organisations need both and links between them‣On the whole education providers do not reward,
recognise and retain digital talent well, and struggle to develop generic staff skills
‣Digital capability is not yet well embedded into strategic thinking and planning
Issues identified in interviews
‣ Changing nature of work inside and outside institutions‣ Changes in how individuals achieve, record, demonstrate
capability‣ Individuals continue to value recognition, validation and
belonging in their learning and professional development‣Digital capabilities are both generalised and specialised:
organisations need both and links between them‣On the whole education providers do not reward,
recognise and retain digital talent well, and struggle to develop generic staff skills
‣Digital capability is not yet well embedded into strategic thinking and planning
Issues identified in interviews
Digital wellbeing‣ personal health and wellbeing
stress, workload, work-life balance, permanent upgrade... (cf students: distraction/attention, exposure, loss of f2f relationships, safety/bullying...)
‣ data issues: responsibilities to learners and to institutional data systems
‣ ethical issues: environmental impacts; globalisation impacts; intercultural awareness
‣ organisational issues: access and inclusion; parity and equality
Digital stresses in the academic workplace
Whereas once upon a time there were people who collected and worked with data... [all of us] are now
increasingly expected to not just access the data but to update and manage and use it for all sorts of monitoring
purposes.
Fundamentally I spend more time at work or at home in front of a PC than in any other activity. So how I'm
engaging with that keyboard and the basic interface... is how I spend my time.
... a lot of work to be done with staff who are either at a very low point in terms of skills or in terms of morale.
Findings: framework analysis (DRAFT)
‣ ICT proficiency = core skills‣ Information, media and data
literacy = critical use‣Creation, scholarship and
innovation = creative production
‣Communication, collaboration and participation
‣Learning and self-development
‣ Identity and well-being
Findings: framework analysis (DRAFT)
data literacy | creativity and innovationwell-being and values
‣Comment on the blog (later)
‣Amend the benchmarking tool (at break)
‣Define digital wellbeing:for yourself, your colleaguesand your students (now)
How can you get involved?
digitalcapability.jiscinvolve.orgfor outcomes and next steps
#LTHEchat for online discussion tomorrow (Weds) 8pm-9pm