Making Digital Decisions: Upskilling staff and students
'We enhanced the capacity of our lecturers to teach online by improving their training in e-facilitation. We also trained our students online on how to engage with digital learning, especially for the big number of face-to-face students who were used to the traditional lectures.’ (Dean of School)
’I have participated in a number of online CPD training workshops. There was a lot of upskilling of my teaching, and learning VLE skills and so forth. I'm now participating in the advanced online teaching and learning certificate. I gained people management skills; I gained emotional intelligence skills; I gained leadership skills; I gained technology and online skills.’ (Faculty member)
Providing appropriate training and guidance for staff and for students is essential for any successful transition to greater use of online and digital learning.
Training staff
When computers become the primary means through which teaching and student support occurs, staff need to be proficient and feel comfortable in this world. The points below are important to consider:
- Training that is delivered online can get staff comfortable with online teaching and help them to see what their own students will experience.
- Encouraging staff to develop their skills and knowledge can bring benefits to the whole institution in adapting to change and making better use of technology.
- Online teaching can be observed or reviewed as a means to plan improvements and direct further personal development.
- Further training is often needed when moving platforms and introducing new tools.
Training students
Students need support to study online and engage with digital technologies. At the same time, the digital literacies they gain will improve their personal development and career opportunities. Considerations for this include:
- Planning in time and support for all the technologies that students will be expected to use.
- Exploring frameworks for digital literacy and considering how the development of these can be built into teaching.
Example – Peer and alumni support:
‘I invited former students to come to discuss online with the current students. I think the students found it very valuable, to realise that people almost of their age were capable of using the various tools and demonstrated their understanding of the applications. This helped the students then to connect with the course and motivated them to use the tools that we wanted to expose them to.’ (Director of Capacity Development and Associate Professor)
Key decisions
- Plan for staff to be ready to teach with technology from the start of their course and continue to enhance their skills and understanding
- Introduce key tools and the development of digital literacies as part of the design of courses.