Building digital confidence: a student programme for skill development in the digital age

By Caroline Bearpark, University of Sunderland in London

The Context

In this post, we’re going to introduce you to a project that the Digital Learning team at the University of Sunderland in London delivered to improve our student’s digital skills, both for study and employment.

Like many other universities, students at University of Sunderland in London often lack the digital skills required for study, and by extension, employment. This was observed and reported to the team by staff from both the academic and Student Services teams. It was often reported that students were unable to use the digital tools required to complete their studies, such as our virtual learning environment (VLE), Canvas, and Microsoft applications. 

In 2022, the Digital Learning team decided to assess and address the issue. The team was primarily staff facing at the time and mainly supported academics in using digital tools for teaching. They are also responsible for the administration of the university’s virtual learning environment (VLE), Canvas, providing training for academic and administrative staff on how to use Canvas, and ensuring the creation of student accounts and modules. The student facing side of the team consisted of employed student digital coaches. An initiative launched in August 2021 – the digital coaches provide support to students with their use of digital tools. 

To kickstart the project, the student digital coaches ran the university’s first ever digital skills survey. Using their first-hand experience with students, they first identified what we needed to know regarding our students’ digital skills. For example, they noticed our students were struggling to use Canvas and aimed to find out why – was it because of a lack of confidence or did they not know about the platform? They then created a questionnaire on Microsoft Forms and distributed this. 

10% of the current student population at the time completed the survey, and it provided us with insights into the digital skills gap for our students. The results of the survey showed that the biggest barriers to using technology for our students are: not having a sufficient internet connection (53%) and lacking the required digital skills (43%). We also found that 24% of respondents require assistance with technology. That is, they don’t know how to use technology or can’t use it with confidence. 

What this also highlighted is that some of our students not only lack the basic digital skills required for study, but also for employment. In the UK where 82% of job openings require basic digital skills (UK Government stats, 2019), this could mean our students would struggle to gain employment after graduation. The Digital Learning team decided that action was needed and proposed training be developed in some form for “all things digital” for our students.

The solution

Our original aim was to co-design an asynchronous module with current students, that prospective students could self-enrol onto and complete to improve their digital skills prior to starting university. The idea behind this was that it would be great if students arrived having already developed the digital skills required for study. We planned for students to complete the Jisc Discovery tool to identify what digital skills they needed to improve and then be offered content to complete based on this. There would be no set time frame as this would depend on the skill level of the student. For example, if they needed to improve their ‘digital wellbeing’ they would be directed to complete learning, such as how to protect your device, aimed at improving this.

We then put the call out for student volunteers to test the module and make suggestions, with the incentive of an Amazon voucher. There was a huge amount of interest and 20 volunteers were selected based on criteria such as how long they had left studying with us and whether they were an engaged student in general. We envisioned the project taking a minimum of 6 months so we wanted to ensure that the students would be at the university for the duration. We aimed to recruit students that were engaged with their studies as we hoped this would mean they were more likely to engage with the project. The volunteers were required to complete the online learning and attend 2 sessions to give feedback and suggestions. But, disappointingly, only 1 of the 20 completed the course.

It was clear to us from this experience that ‘optional’ wasn’t going to work. Based on the fact that we offered an incentive to complete the programme to our volunteers, we felt students wouldn’t engage with or complete the programme if offered as an addition to their academic programme with no incentive. So, we took a different approach: embedding sessions into the students’ timetables. 

We designed a 4-session programme focusing on key digital skills:  Canvas (our VLE), Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, online communication tools (Teams and Outlook), and digital skills awareness (Jisc discovery tool, employability), with sessions typically lasting 90 minutes each. Due to the lack of engagement from students in the co-design process, we decided that we would not co-design these sessions. Instead we used the information gathered from the digital skills survey alongside feedback from our academic team and digital coaches in terms of what students struggle most with to design these sessions ourselves. Once designed, these sessions were then embedded into academic programmes in the first year of study. 

We liaised with 2 programmes initially to deliver this using 4 timetabled workshops. Each of the workshops are led by a member of the Digital Learning team, and for large cohorts the facilitator can enlist support from the student digital coaches. We aim to have 1 member of staff per 25 students. The sessions are delivered in person wherever possible so we can keep them very practical. When available, we use an IT lab for the sessions, and when we can’t use an IT lab, we request students bring their own devices. However, we also have a team laptop trolley which we bring along so students who can’t bring a device can borrow one. 

In the sessions we require students to complete tasks such as:

• Practicing submitting an assignment.
• Creating a PowerPoint presentation about themselves.
• Searching for jobs they’d be interested in applying for and identifying the digital skills and knowledge they’d need based on the job description.

The feedback from the initial sessions was overwhelmingly positive.

 “Overall this program is really fun and interesting as well as really helpful for me. After completely attending the class now I know about my digital proficiency, and I love the friendly environment you provided which makes learning really joyful.” – ACHIEVE Student participant.

In terms of how we could  improve, students suggested more time allocated to the programme. They also wanted the programme to be offered “at the beginning of any course in the university”. So, with this endorsement, we expanded the programme. Named ‘ACHIEVE Students’, it is now offered in just over half of our academic programmes. 

Managing the expanded programme

At the University of Sunderland each member of the Digital Learning team is responsible for a set of academic programmes. At the beginning of each intake, team members will email the academics leading their programmes to confirm which of their timetabled classes will be allocated to ACHIEVE Students. There is flexibility in the offer. The academic leading the programme can decide how many out of the 4 sessions we should deliver. Some programmes have 1 session, others have 4. We have compiled a range of content for the various topics that we can offer. Programme leaders can select content based on the requirements of their programme, for example, prioritising PowerPoint training if students are required to complete a group presentation as part of their assessment. 

Figure: In 2023/4, over 90% of students who complete the ACHIEVE Students programme agreed that all the learning outcomes were met.

The feedback from students who have undertaken the expanded programme has been very good with the learning experience rated 4.7 out of 5 on average. Most importantly, students reported that their digital skills and confidence had improved significantly. 

Figure: Students were asked to rate on a scale of 1 – 10 how much they felt their digital skills and confidence had improved since completing ACHIEVE Students. They rated this 8.3 on average.

What else?

There are a couple of challenges that remain. In terms of metrics, Student satisfaction, as shown on the feedback collected, is great, but is it enough?  One potential issue is that the skills improvement is self-reported. However, because of the practical nature and the design of the workshops,  the team can assess themselves in person the growth in students’ confidence with technology. The team is now looking for other ways to assess impact of the programme in other metrics, such as NSS results or submission rates.

Moreover, the digital skills support we are offering doesn’t address the gaps in access to technology and connectivity. Increasing the number of long-term laptop loans and other relevant initiatives that support access for students, in conjunction with the IT department, for example, will help ensure as a university we respond collectively to our students’ needs.

The Digital Learning Team’s aim is to continue expanding the programme. We hope that soon it will be a standard aspect of all academic programmes. 

With recent research indicating that over half (54%) of the UK labour force do not have essential digital skills (Future Dot Now, 2024, report available here: https://futuredotnow.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FutureDotNow-roadmap_final-digital.pdf) we feel programmes like this are vital. Not only for enabling students to be able to study effectively, but also in helping them to stand out when applying for jobs. We hope that they will proudly mention the digital skills they have gained on their CV and LinkedIn. And that this sets them apart from other candidates. 

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