3. Small Multi-Disciplinary Faculty
on satellite campus in Saldanha
Campus is the domain of the
Department of Defence
All students serving members of
the DoD
Half the student body composed
of distance learners.
Limited resources and outdated
infrastructure.
Full integration with Stellenbosch
University’s ICT system.
4. Challenge wrt staff and student
readiness for e-learning
Student group diverse with highly
disparate competencies
Faculty members also diverse ito
willingness to utilise technology in
teaching – resistance can be a
challenge
Current online learning is too
static and not sufficiently
interactive
6. Enhance staff digital literacy
Particularly within the Web 2.0 space
Intervention will assist staff in improving
their online profiles
Create platforms for staff to share their
research and teaching online
Improved collaboration with other
scholars
Create a safe space for staff to explore
and develop
Improved digital literacy should carry
over into teaching practice
Increased visibility of scholars and their
work
8. The Faculty of Military Science is
geographically and intellectually isolated
The online sharing ethos clashes with
the military culture of securing
information
Collaboration in terms of research and
teaching practice between scholars in
the FMS and other institutions is less
than half the national norm
Many staff members lack confidence wrt
utilizing new technologies
Lecturers are responsible for the uptake
of new tech in their courses
Training and support effort is often
directed to the student level and not the
staff level
10. Staff training has taken the form of scheduled
but limited workshops or lunchtime sessions
often focusing on using the LMS
In 2012 we were more innovative and
introduced a weekly session on a specific
emerging tech
Not enough hands on training and follow
through in terms of introducing new tech
Most staff currently have limited web profiles
Only one of approx 65 faculty is currently
actively curating his research online
Almost no research dissemination effort after
publication
No active sharing of ideas etc via
blogging, Twitter etc
12. Tools were selected based upon various
affordances highlighted in the literature
Tools selected were:
◦ Academia.Edu
◦ LinkedIn
◦ Slideshare
◦ Twitter
◦ Google Sites
Academia.Edu
◦ Collaboration
◦ Research streams and updates
◦ Curatorship
◦ Networking
◦ Tracking tools
◦ SEO
13. LinkedIn
◦ Widely used in the Faculty
◦ Can embed Slideshare presentations
◦ Great SEO
Slideshare
◦ Media Sharing Service so encourages
extended literacy with regards to other
sites such as YouTube and Flickr
◦ Great platform to share teaching ideas
◦ Promotes Open Education
◦ Provides Information on who accessed
your presentations
14. Twitter
◦ Micro Blogging
◦ Aggregator of latest information
◦ Dissemination Tool to ensure research
gains traction
Google Sites
◦ Ready platform for e-portfolio
◦ Robust echo system including many apps
and tools
◦ Track citation impact
◦ Offers research and teaching tools
◦ One common online identity
15.
16. Description of Intervention
This is a teacher to teacher type intervention
The aim is to utilise the 5 selected tools,
introducing one a month over six months in order
to develop the digital literacy skills of the selected
participants. In doing so they will create,
enhance and improve their online profiles and
collaborative efforts. Links to their research
papers will be uploaded as well as their best
presentations being housed in Slideshare.
Finally participants will be encouraged to create
e-portfolios for life long and life wide learning
and curatorship.
The Project Group
◦ 5 Faculty members selected
◦ Demographically diverse
◦ Middle of the road tech users
17. Description of Intervention
Survey used to indicate their uses of online
profiles
Followed by project briefing and
introduction of first tool
Outcomes were constructed in order to
ensure buy-in and listed as
◦ Improved digital literacy
◦ Free online digital makeover
◦ Curatorship competencies
◦ Expansion of networks and collaboration
opportunities
◦ The ability to assess how often online presence/work
is being viewed or utilised
◦ Participation in the growing open access environment
19. Maintaining enthusiasm and “buy-in”
from staff
Strong selling points are required to
ensure continued participation
Ensure that some of the tools are not
replicating the functions offered by
other and that management of too
many streams becomes difficult
Find a balance between maintaining
momentum in the project and creating
a pressure situation for participants
20. Provide rapid training for each tool
with best practice guidelines
Provide ongoing feedback and support
It is crucial not to lose sight of the fact
that that the primary aim of developing
digital literacies remains the end goal
of this venture, with the development
of the online identities being a
secondary goal.
21. How did I go about exploring what I
needed to do?
Started by searching a few blogs and
Slideshare
I discussed my idea with my edutech
colleagues
I searched the online profiles of numerous
faculty members and decided there was
definitely a need for such an intervention
I researched and evaluated a number of
tools
I conducted a small survey of the group
members
22. How did I design my learning activity?
The main point of departure was to ensure that the
tools selected complemented each other
The 6 month timeframe was chosen in order to
provide a month to master each tool as well as to
ensure the activity fitted into one semester
The decision to hold rapid group training sessions
of one hour per tool was made in order to fit
training into a lunch break and make it accessible
to all faculty members
Each tool is therefore presented as an independent
entity with a “clip-on” type of approach
The personalised support model is designed to
ensure one on one support and contact in order to
ensure the continued commitment of each
participant.
23. How did I formatively evaluate my
prototype learning activity?
evaluated the comments on my blog
discussed various strategies and
ideas with my colleagues
participated in the online meetings of
the digital literacies group
noted the facilitators comments
As I learnt more and read more I
made adjustments to my initial plan
25. The project is still formative to an extent and adjustments
will probably still be made
One recommendation is to design an online course for
this intervention which could be accessed across different
institutions
The intervention creates safe spaces for scholars to
explore a number of Web 2.0 tools in a manner which is
directly relevant to them
It would be possible to conduct some interesting research
in terms of how these scholars developed and if they
became more engaged with other scholars as a result of
participating in this intervention
One recommendation by our web manager is to do away
with static online profiles on the Faculty website and
instead create link through buttons for each members to
their various platforms. Should this become policy it will
almost make the maintenance of online academic profiles
mandatory. The intervention is therefore timely
A final recommendation is make the training/briefings
accessible to all interested staff members. The initial
group will continue as planned however for purposes of
evaluation and development
28. The building blocks of the networked scholar (Laura
Czerniewicz,
Academics’ online visibility, Slideshare)
29. Two excellent guides
http://openuct.uct.ac.za/article/academ
ics-online-presence-guidelines
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsci
ences/2011/09/29/twitter-guide/
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