This event (part of a series being run around the country) focussed on the digital capabilities that practitioners, teachers, librarians and advisers in UK higher and further education need. The series of presentations and workshops were practitioner led and enabled the sharing of good practice in relation to technology and learning.

Here is a link to the resources from the day:

https://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/connect-more-in-england-birmingham-29-jun-2017#resources

The first keynote was about preparing staff and students to be digitally ready and was given by James Kieft, group learning and development manager at Activate Learning. James shared how they approached the development of their staff's digital skills including some of the challenges and barriers they faced and how they worked to resolve them.

Digital Diagnostic: identifying staff digital capabilities at Staffordshire University

Speakers:

Julie Adams, academic skills tutor, Staffordshire University

Helen Walmsley-Smith, e-learning development officer, Staffordshire University

This session provided an overview of the digital transformation work undertaken at Staffordshire University over the last 12 months, with a particular emphasis on the digital learning project and the Digital Diagnostic tool which has been developed.

This online tool allowed all staff to self-assess their current level of digital capability, provided an overall 'score' and directed them to relevant development and training material available at the university.

Curriculum confidence: designing for digital capabilities in the curriculum

Speakers:

Sarah Knight, head of change - student experience, Jisc

Scott Hibberson subject specialist (online learning and the digital student experience), Jisc

This workshop builds confidence to design and deliver a digital curriculum; one that will prepare students to learn successfully in digital settings and to thrive in a digital world.

Three activities were introduced and attendees were encouraged to share ideas about completing them. Participants were then able to take away the associated resources and complete, reflect on and follow up the activities in their own time.

Enhancing students' digital experiences: taking a programme-level approach to embedding digital practice

Speakers:

Laura Hollinshead, learning technology adviser, University of Derby

Rob Higson, learning technology adviser, University of Derby

This workshop outlined the approach taken by the University of Derby to strategically embed digital practice at programme level through a benchmarking process aligned to digital practice baselines. Opportunities were provided to engage with the tools used as part of this approach and explore how this might translate into changes in digital practice.

Discussions took place around the challenges faced with such an approach and how these could be overcome, alongside exploring what the wider benefits to improving staff and student digital capabilities could be in the attendees own educational institutions.

These PechaKucha style presentations (20 slides at 20 seconds each) from attendees at the event focussed on how they have implemented digital capabilities to enhance learning and teaching at their institutions.

With contributions from:

• Alicia Wallace, digital learning manager, Gloucestershire College
• Joseph Hibbert, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) transition lead, Gloucestershire College
• Mark McManus, cloud services business manager, Microsoft
• Christine Fenton, international student employability and enterprise support, University of Warwick