November 2024

The Digital Capabilities project began in February 2024 - as part of the Digital Strategy, focusing in particular on digital capabilities development among staff and students across the University.  
The aim of the project is to understand digital capabilities needs, existing support, and gaps in provision - and write a final report to go to relevant University committees in February 2025.

Follow these links to view the project aims and timeline.

Completed activities

Information gathering and benchmarking

The results of internal and external surveys (e.g.DTS survey, National Student Survey) were reviewed – and responses related to digital capabilities and digital experience identified. Along with meetings with Heads of Directorates and some academic colleagues, this supported the project’s understanding of digital capabilities and began a conversation about priorities and areas which require additional support. This included areas such as students’ familiarity with MS Office software, staff awareness of training and support opportunities.

Through meetings with digital capabilities teams at other Universities, and reviews of Jisc case studies, common areas of digital capabilities support were identified, along with an analysis of team structures and remits. This supports the recommendations and output of this project by developing an understanding of the potential support model at the University of Reading.

Working with the Student Support Community of Practice the Digital Capabilities Officer mapped existing student support against the Jisc digital capabilities framework. A webpage signposting existing staff- and student-facing support was created in order to support general awareness of digital capabilities support.

Communications

The Digital Capabilities Officer has worked with colleagues in DTS, Student Communications, RSU, and Internal Communications to share project updates and encourage engagement with feedback activities through blogs, newsletters, and mailing lists. Project information was also shared in the 2024 internal T&L Conference, during the Staff DEI Survey.

Ongoing activities

Staff feedback

The Staff Digital Experience Insights Survey ran during July - August 2024. It provides a snapshot of colleagues’ digital experiences – identifying issues with training, infrastructure, and support as well as allowing a comparison to the sector and identifying areas of good practice as well as areas for improvement. The Digital Capabilities Officer is working with DTS and Internal Communications colleagues to disseminate a summary of results from the survey, and invite further comment. 

Student feedback

A Student Inclusion Consultant workshop in May 2024 provided valuable feedback on students’ digital experiences and familiarity with digital capabilities definitions, and awareness of support at the University. It may be possible to hold another workshop in Semester 2 to gather further feedback.

The Student Digital Experience Insights Survey ran during October - November 2024, following approval from UBTLSE. 226 student responses were received. The results of this survey will be reviewed alongside the results of the staff survey in order to support the identification of gaps in digital skills provision or awareness of support. 

Project Action Group

A Digital Capabilities Action Group was created, including representatives from Directorates and Academic Schools. The group meets monthly and provides feedback on project activities and outcomes, as well as sharing good practice and ideas across the represented groups.

Future activities

Action plan

Recommendations to address gaps in provision and support the future of digital capabilities development will be shared with stakeholders during Semester 1, before a final report is released to relevant University committees. Updates will also be published on this website and the DTS blog.