Library SkillUP : Digital information skills module for students at the University of Hertfordshire

Abstract

This project report describes the workflow model used at the University of Hertfordshire to develop and test a suite of new digital information skills materials for students. The approach taken was informed by findings from the Jisc Student Digital Experience Tracker and good practice from Jisc’s NUS Benchmarking tool. Content was mapped against the digital information literacy segment of Jisc’s Digital Capabilities framework and CILIP’s information literacy definition. The project set out to reuse, refresh and repurpose existing online resources and identify new content where necessary to provide a set of up to date learning objects, which academics could easily embed at point of need into their programmes of study, according to the university’s Guided Learner Journey principles. The project also sought to make an informed decision around which digital technology/platform to use for content creation. Due to the required functionality, Instructure’s Canvas, which is already used by the university for all its courses, was chosen as a platform for the materials. The team used University College London’s ABC Learning Design methodology to design the curriculum and writing teams followed a pedagogical approach to create content and interactive learning elements for the Canvas Library SkillUP module. Students were consulted and provided feedback at all stages of the project.