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Digital Skills Newsletter Issue 12

WelcomeWelcome to the spring 2021 issue of the Digital Skills Newsletter for our staff and students.

As the Digital Skills and Training team prepares for our first ever Digital Skills Festival at the end of May, we're showcasing some of the exciting resources and training we offer to help you thrive in digital environments.

This month we take a holistic view of digital skills development with a broad look across the six core digital capabilities upon which the University's Digital Skills Framework is based, and what they mean for you. Jisc’s Digital Capabilities Framework below gives you a quick overview of what these are, and throughout the newsletter you’ll find more details on each capability alongside resources to help you develop your skills in each.

Digital capabilities framework ©Jisc CC BY-NC-ND

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We hope you enjoyed reading our last issue in January 2021, which focussed on digital skills development for 2021 and skills and technology support for semester 2. If you haven't had a chance to browse through it yet, make sure you check it out for a range of student-centred resources. You can find links to all our issues on our website.

As always, we appreciate your feedback. If you have any comments or suggestions, please click the button below to contact us.

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Digital Skills Festival: 24-28 MayJenni Houston, Head of Digital Skills and Training

The University’s first Digital Skills Festival, a programme of online events to develop digital capabilities, exchange ideas and celebrate all things digital, is running between Monday 24th May and Friday 28th May. Free to attend to University students and staff, the festival includes a number of interactive events, presentations, workshops and courses delivered by speakers from within and outside of the University.

The varied programme is divided into themes based on the six digital capabilities and includes something for everyone. Events must be booked in advance and places are reserved on a first-come-first-served basis. Take a look at the Festival Programme to browse events and book your place.

The festival follows a year in which, through necessity, the digital environment has really dominated. As an organisation, we’ve driven and witnessed massive changes to the way in which we deliver our core and supporting services and digital has been at the heart of the transformation. As restrictions ease and we move forward, we need to build on our digital momentum and take newfound tools and practices with us to help us be the best that we can be. By consolidating on the progress we’ve made in developing individual and organisational digital capabilities over the past year we can put the organisation, our staff and students in a strong position to face the future.

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ICT (Digital) ProficiencySatu Kapiainen, Digital Skills and Training Team Manager

ICT (information and communications technology) or digital proficiency is a useful place to start when using the University’s Digital Skills Framework, based on the Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework. This capability, which refers to the ability to use and adopt up-to-date digital devices, applications, software and services in order to carry out tasks effectively and productively, underpins the other five digital capabilities outlined in the following articles.

As digital tools have become increasingly integral to our daily lives, it’s important to be able to assess the benefits and constraints of different devices and systems and to take into consideration the accessibility of the digital tools we use and adapt them to personal requirements. For an example of the types of resources the Digital Skills and Training team offers to support your ICT proficiency development, check out our Introduction to Microsoft Office 365 course, a 1.5-hour introductory webinar aimed at individuals who are new to the University or new to using Office 365. You can book onto this course, as well as all offerings in our Digital Skills Programme, through the University’s Event Booking system.

To assess your current digital proficiency level and to identify strengths and areas for development in each of the six digital capabilities outlined in this newsletter, we highly recommend using the Digital Discovery Tool, an online self-assessment questionnaire developed by Jisc. The questionnaire takes about 20 minutes to complete and generates an individual report illustrating your current digital skill levels categorised by capability, which you can then use as the basis for a development plan.

Click on the button below to learn more about the Digital Skills Framework and check out our Resource Finder for your one-stop portal to over 600 resources and training courses to develop your digital skills through a variety of learning formats from over 30 providers.

Digital Skills Framework

Resource Finder

Information, Data and Media LiteraciesChristina Hussell, Digital Skills Trainer

Data literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, manage and share digital information. Data skills are now an essential requirement for the vast majority of roles in the modern workplace. Staff and students need to be able to competently interpret, analyse and utilise data to make decisions and predict trends.

In the Digital Skills and Training team we offer several webinars to help you develop your data literacy skills including:

Introduction to Excel – This session comprises information on the characteristics of Microsoft Excel and demonstrations on spreadsheet layout and basic formulas and formatting using Excel 2016 for the PC.

Basic Data Visualisations – Data visualisations are a popular and effective way to graphically represent data sets. This is an introductory talk on why visualisations are useful and factors to consider when creating them.

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Basic Charts in Excel – Charts are a popular way to graphically represent data sets. This short demonstration on creating charts in Excel introduces column, line, and treemap charts, and shows you how to add an additional series and a trendline to your chart.

Selected Excel functions – This session comprises demonstrations on the If (logical function), Round and vlookup functions.

We also offer a six-month Developing Your Data Skills Programme, a flexible programme for staff and students to develop your data skills at beginner, intermediate and advanced level. The managed programme runs until July each year but online resources are available for independent study.

To find further resources in data literacy (and all digital capabilities) use the Resource Finder in the Digital Skills Framework to search by digital capability.

Data Literacy Support for Cara Syria

As part of our team’s contribution to the wider community, we were delighted to provide an Excel webinar recently to help with budgeting for research projects for the Cara Syria programme. This programme supports academics who have left Syria during the current conflict to ensure they can fulfil their critical role as educators, and includes a series of webinars relevant to academic researchers and teachers. The programme provides opportunities for Syrian academics to work and continue to grow professionally and is run by Cara (the Council for At-Risk Academics). Cara was founded in 1933, and supports refugee and other academics displaced as a result of conflict or persecution.

Digital Creation, Problem-Solving and InnovationCatherine Koppe, Digital Skills Trainer

Digital creation, problem solving and innovation encompasses the ability to design, create and re-use digital content, use digital evidence to solve problems and answer questions, and adopt and develop new practices with digital technology. This capability is wide-ranging and dynamic; it includes programming, web content creation, audio, video and image production, use of open educational resources (OER), as well as digital skills to produce a thesis or dissertation.

Digital creation will be celebrated in our Digital Skills Festival with many events on this topic running on Tuesday 25th May. We have already scheduled social media graphics with Adobe Spark, audio recording and editing with Audacity and video subtitling courses, with more in the pipeline.

We also have many digital creation courses available year-round:

Introduction to Python and Python for Data Science: Self-paced online courses introducing programming with the simple yet powerful Python programming language.

Effective Digital Content (staff only): Self-paced online course covering good practice in writing and structuring information for the web.

DIY Film School : Collection of online learning materials to help you get the most out of shooting videos with a smartphone.

Gif It Up – Introduction to Gif making (20th May): Webinar teaching gif making from open licensed materials.

Adobe Illustrator Basics : Collection of LinkedIn Learning videos to help you get started with the popular graphics software.

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Media Hopper Create: Introduction (18th May): Webinar introducing recording and managing videos with the University’s media asset management solution.

Producing a thesis or dissertation using Word : Self-paced online course showcasing time-saving features of Word for producing a long document such as a dissertation or thesis.

Unless otherwise indicated, courses are open to all members of the University (staff and students). Details for all these courses, and more, can be found by searching the Event Booking system.

To coincide with the Digital Skills Festival, the Open Educational Resources (OER) Service is also launching a new self-paced online course. Topics covered include how copyright laws intersect with University practices; what open licences are and how to use them; how to find, use, create, and share Open Educational Resources; an introduction to Open Textbooks; and an overview of open practices, including open education assessments, Wikipedia in the classroom assignments, and student co-creation. The course launches on 24th May and you'll be able to access it from the Learn Self Enrol menu. In the meantime visit Open.Ed or contact Stephanie Farley for further information.

Digital Communication, Collaboration and ParticipationAndrew Kirk, Digital Skills Trainer

Digital communication, collaboration and participation is a complex capability that covers everything from communicating effectively and respectfully in digital media and spaces to working with others and building meaningful connections and networks using shared digital tools and services. Since the start of the pandemic and the shift to hybrid methods of working and studying, this capability has become integral to the ways in which we engage with our students and colleagues, as well as our friends and families, as restrictions on in-person gatherings have been in place.

Several training sessions, including Getting Started with Microsoft Teams and Introduction to Zoom Video Conferencing, were added to our programme soon after the Digital Skills team, and much of the University, transitioned to working from home. The Teams and Zoom sessions have been attended by more than 660 people since April 2020, illustrating the importance of using online meeting and collaboration tools not only for digital skills development, but also for engaging colleagues and students in discussion. The same topics have also been popular on LinkedIn Learning.

We continue to offer a range of sessions to help learners develop their digital communication, collaboration and participation capabilities, including:

Academic Blogging: Blogging to build your professional profile – A one-hour webinar that introduces the Academic Blogging Service and provides an overview of the benefits of writing blogs.

Introduction to blogging for hybrid teaching – A one-hour workshop exploring how academic blogging can be used to support remote and hybrid teaching.

Introduction to Zoom video conferencing – A one-hour webinar aimed at those who are new to the University's Zoom video-conferencing service for informal, non-confidential meetings and collaboration.

Teams Live Events (online learning) – Self-paced online training videos and guidance for using Teams Live Events to run large-scale events for up to 10,000 audience members.

Most courses are open to both staff and students, unless otherwise indicated. Find more information on these courses and similar sessions via the Event Booking system. A one-off Hosting Online Events webinar will also take place during the Digital Skills Festival so be sure to book on.

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Digital Learning and Development Made Easy with LinkedIn LearningAndy Todd, LinkedIn Learning Service Manager and Digital Skills Trainer

Digital learning and development comprises the capacity to participate in and benefit from digital learning opportunities and the ability to support and develop others in digitally-rich settings, such as our University. As learners and educators, this capability is arguably one of the most important for us to develop in order to study and teach as effectively as possible.

Thankfully, through its continued commitment to developing the digital skills of its staff and students, The University of Edinburgh provides all users with free access to the online skills development service LinkedIn Learning. To help get you started, the Digital Skills team have used LinkedIn Learning to create a Digital Learning and Development collection (playlist).

This collection contains courses on topics including e-learning tips, study skills, using Microsoft Teams for education and how to teach online in addition to a host of other subjects. It has been designed to be used by both staff and students.

LinkedIn Learning collections (playlists) can be created and shared by any user and are an excellent way to pull together and organise assets from LinkedIn’s library of over 16,000 courses and 250,000 videos in business, creative and technical skills. Collections are particularly useful for users who intend to share multiple course or video links with other users as everything is kept in one place and accessed via one single link. In our experience, user-created collections tend to have a higher uptake than sending multiple video and course links.

To find out more about using LinkedIn Learning for study, teaching or skills development, visit our LinkedIn Learning support webpages, book a space on one of our LinkedIn Learning webinars or view this How to use LinkedIn Learning video tutorial . You can also book onto our Introduction to LinkedIn Learning webinar during the Digital Skills Festival.

Digital Identity and WellbeingVicki Madden, Digital Safety Support Officer

Digital identity and wellbeing are themes that have been spotlighted frequently during the pandemic, especially within higher education settings. It’s not difficult to see why considering the skills associated with managing digital identity and wellbeing both harness and support each of the capabilities introduced above.

As many of our day-to-day activities now take place online, including work, study and socialising, it’s important to consider the identities we project while engaging with digital technologies and how our online profiles and behaviours affect both personal and professional reputation. Equally, it’s crucial to reflect on the impact that technologies and digital services have on our mental, physical and social health, in other words, our digital wellbeing.

The Digital Skills team has created a host of online resources to help students and staff at the University manage their digital identity while prioritising digital wellbeing. In addition to our Digital Safety and Citizenship web hub, which offers curated information on everything from staying safe while learning and teaching online to expectations for students while engaging online as members of

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a diverse community, we developed an openly licensed Digital Citizenship Guide to help foster safe and inclusive learning spaces.

Currently, we also run a monthly Digital Safety and Citizenship for Students webinar, which covers everything from how to stay safe online to ideas for creating a positive digital footprint and top tips for prioritising digital wellbeing. This session will run again on Friday 28th May as part of the Digital Skills Festival, in addition to several other events under the umbrella of Digital Identity and Wellbeing, including Securing Digital Events and Meetings, Hacking Humans, Effective Networking on LinkedIn, and Digital Self-Care: Being a Woman Online, a special one-off session run by the Empower Project, an Edinburgh-based organisation specialising in online and tech abuse. We hope you’ll join us for some of these sessions and share your experiences of digital participation.

Keep in touch – newsletter, social media, webWe hope you enjoyed this issue of the Digital Skills Newsletter. Keep an eye out for the next issue due to be released in July. If you no longer want to receive the Digital Skills Newsletter, find out how to unsubscribe from the mailing list.

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