Developing digital competencies in academic staff: One institution's experience of applying Lean

Conference: Lean in Higher Education Conference: Implementing, Measuring and Sustaining Change

Dates: 1-3 November 2017

Abstract:

Like many HEIs, Bournemouth University (BU) is grappling with the management of digital skills for students but more especially for staff. As the demand for digital competency both deepens and broadens (QAA 2016), BU is implementing a lean approach to deal with the growing pressures.

Through the Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL), a staff-facing department which promotes and supports teaching and learning for staff, BU has developed a central technology enhanced learning (TEL) toolkit to help staff wanting to develop their skills and capabilities. While the toolkit represents an evolutionary milestone in the development of a quality, accessible platform there is no personalisation for the needs of individual academic staff.

In order for BU to exploit the continuing investment in the toolkit and deliver measurable improvements for staff, an online questionnaire has been developed which asks staff to rate their levels of confidence in the tools within the toolkit and also their wider digital skills such as copyright, profile management and networking (Jisc 2016). Staff who engage in this process are able to make more informed decisions about their own developmental needs and opportunities and CEL can leverage its resources to create the highest impact across the university.

Source: Manual