The LACOL Digital Competencies Working Group has formed to build on prior work related to Digital Competencies, Digital Studies, Digital Fluency, and Digital Literacy. These terms cover a group of related concepts, all of which reflect concepts and skills that are vital to the 21st Century learner and citizen … what we might call Digital Agility.
New Publication:
Digital Agility: Embracing a Holistic Approach to Digital Literacy in the Liberal Arts
by Beth Bohstedt and Sundi Richard (Jan 8, 2020, EDUCAUSEreview, Transforming Higher Ed.) This post, co-authored by Sundi and Beth, developed out of ongoing working group discussions in 2019.
The goals of the working group are to make concrete progress on ideas develop at the 2017 Think Tank and 2018 discussions. LACOL members are invited to join the group; reach out for more information!
- Group members include faculty, librarians, technologists, instructional designers.
- A top priority is adjusting the language of the Bryn Mawr Framework to fit individual/collective needs of our schools. Major elements of the Bryn Mawr framework are:
- Digital Survival Skills
- Digital Communication
- Data Management and Preservation
- Data Analysis and Presentation
- Critical Making, Design and Development
- Another priority is developing a shared survey of recent grads on their acquisition, use, and needs for digital competencies.
- Some in the group will engage with liberal arts research around competencies that are critical to the future of work – what fits and what are the disconnects?
- These ingredients will be used to engage with faculty more deeply in student-centered digital competency conversations and collaborations.
Roadmap:
JANUARY 2019 – Create a statement about using the Bryn Mawr Digital Competencies Framework as the starting point for developing institution specific frameworks.
FEBRUARY to APRIL 2019 – Use this statement to establish institution specific channels to adjust, promote, and adopt a digital competencies framework. Find ways to connect to institution specific initiatives (Academic Strategic Plan, seed grants, exemplar courses).
FEBRUARY 2019 following ELI workshop – Develop and send out a shared survey across several schools to recent grads around the use and needs of identified digital competencies. Use to adjust digital competency framework and strategies.
LACOL team contributed to the ELI Liberal Arts Workshop: Local and Global Decisions: Development and Assessment of Digital Competency Initiatives on Feb 19, 2019 in Anaheim, California.
SPRING 2020 – reconvene (contact Sundi Richard for details.)
