What Problems were being addressed?

• The need for students and staff to self-assess their own digital skills competencies with the use of a digital skills diagnostic tool
• The need for a comprehensive digital skills repository for students and staff

Who was involved?

The SATLE 2 project was led by Cormac McMahon. The TU EDTL Student Intern, Kyle Wright, worked closely with Maurice Mark Boland on the Digital Skills work package.

Why did you choose to address the challenges this way?

• The digital competency of staff and students needed to be gauged, so their needs could be met
• There was a clear need for a TU Dublin digital skills repository
• Being Ireland’s largest technological university, it was essential for students to have access to digital skills resources through the TU Dublin website

How were the goals achieved?

TU Dublin’s unique story formally began on January 1st 2019, when three Institutes – Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, Dublin Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Tallaght – merged and became a pioneer of technological higher education. The combined student population received a new and wide range of resources – but there were some issues facing the digital integration, which is why this staff and student partnership played such an integral role.

Since 2019, a digital transformation programme was initiated across TU Dublin to transform and unify digital and technology services for students and staff, as well as a new organizational redesign. This created a challenging digital environment for students to thrive in, so creating a comprehensive student digital skills resource was a priority. And what better way of succeeding than having a student as a partner.

The SATLE2 Project:

When the TU EDTL Intern, Kyle Wright, joined the SATLE2 project – the Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement Funding 2020 – at TU, his role was to support and work closely with the Project Lead from the Digital Skills work package, Maurice Mark Boland. The partnership was focused on combining perspectives and creating the most effective digital experiences and resources for staff and students.

Here were the objectives of the staff and student partnership:

• Pilot a digital skills diagnostic tool to enable students and staff to self-access their
• Create a digital resource repository

Diagnosing Digital Literacy

The benefit of this new digital beginning, as well as the partnership, was the opportunity to assess and address staff and students’ digital needs, while also saving them time and improving their academic life. The duo spent weeks researching possible digital skills diagnostic tools and finally decided to begin the digital redevelopment with JISC – the UK higher, further education and skills sectors’ not-for-profit organization for digital services and solutions.

So, what exactly does JISC do?

• Operate shared digital infrastructure and services
• Negotiate sector-wide deals with IT vendors and commercial publishers
• Provide trusted advice and practical assistance for universities, colleges and learning providers

Before implementing the discovery tool, Maurice and Kyle met with academic leads from Nottingham University, Plymouth University and GMIT, all of which had previously and successfully launched a digital skills campaign that utilized JISC. The intention was to provide themselves with an efficient strategy for the weeks to come, as well as gain an insight into the possible ways of introducing the digital resource and ensuring their promotional campaign reached their audience.

When they returned with a plethora of ideas, the plan was to conduct a pilot launch during the spring of 2022. This pilot of the JISC Discovery Tool was initially aimed at students and staff from two schools, School of Languages, Law, and Social Sciences and the School of Computer Science. Later the pilot was expanded to include professional services staff within TU Dublin.

This initial pilot of the JISC tool gave Maurice and Kyle the opportunity to evaluate the needs of students and staff in relation to their digital skills. It also highlighted ways in which the tool could be launched effectively to all students and staff for the new academic term.

The EDTL Student Intern:

The EDTL Student Intern played a vital role in the branding of the digital resource, as he understood the student perspective: the sort of language they did and did not like; what sort of resources and skills interested them and did not. As a result, Wright developed a series of engaging posters and marketing material to promote the new digital service effectively to his fellow students.

He also understood the challenges that some students may face when they join a new University – from information overload to adjusting to new ways of learning. It was therefore important that the JISC tool needed to be highly accessible to students.

To achieve high visibility and engagement for the JISC service, Maurice and Kyle combined their expertise once again, and used them to embed and promote the digital skills diagnostic tool within the TU Dublin Student Success Portal module. This module is accessible to all students via their VLE homepage.

The JISC tool will also be available via the TU Dublin ‘Getting Online’ guide for new students and the ‘Online Refresh ‘guide for returning students, via the TU Dublin website.

Developing a Digital Resource Repository

Previously, digital skill resources were not centrally accessible within TU Dublin. Many useful how-to-guides, webinars and more informational content related to developing digital skill capabilities, were accessible through multiple communication channels, such as SharePoint and across multiple VLEs throughout the University. To address this, Maurice and Kyle worked closely with the TU Dublin Web Team to develop a custom searchable digital skills repository for use within the TU Dublin website.

The TU EDTL Student Intern, Kyle Wright, was just as committed as his academic partner, Maurice Boland, to determining the practicality and reliability of the 300+ digital resources that they were directing students to. And although it was extremely time consuming, it guaranteed the student’s digital skills resource was as efficient as it was direct and succinct.

Following this, a digital skills repository known as the Digital Skills Learning Hub was created and placed within the TU Dublin website. It contains internal resources, such as free online courses, how to guides, webinars, videos and more. It also contains resources that previously existed across different platforms, and the external digital resources that the staff and student partners had worked on grading and assessing.