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Identifying the Need for a Digital Skills Self-Assessment Tool at City, University of London
In response to the findings from the 2021/22 JISC Digital Experience Insights survey, conducted at City, University of London, it became evident that there was a significant gap in assessing students’ digital skills. Only 28% of the 245 students surveyed felt they had received an assessment for their digital skills, a decrease from 31% in the previous academic year 2020/21. To address this gap, a project was made during the subsequent summer to develop a digital skills self-assessment tool. This tool was set for launch in the 2022/23 academic year and was designed to be inclusive and applicable across all courses offered at City. The university-wide self-assessment tool was developed to avoid overly specific questions that might not apply universally across different schools within the university, this was achieved by focusing on fundamental digital literacies required and expected by a student studying at City. Additionally, the number of students who agreed to have had an assessment for their digital skills has increased to 34% in the current academic year 2023/24, suggesting that the self-assessment tool may have played a role in helping to maintain or improve this percentage.
Data for each academic year the JISC digital experience survey ran
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The digital skills team acknowledges the persistent challenge of ensuring students are well-informed about the specific digital skills required for their respective courses. In response to this challenge, and in light of the JISC survey findings from 2021/22 revealing that only 19% of students at the City Law School felt adequately assessed on their digital skills, a specialised self-assessment tool was developed for the solicitor’s program for a rollout of the academic year 2023/24 on a collaboration request from the programme director. This project involved integrating the same set of questions found in the university-wide tool, supplemented by additional questions contributed by senior lecturer Danon Prichard from the solicitor’s program and removing any questions that didn’t relate to any type of learning done on the SPP. This collaboration brought titles for each question, contextualising their relevance to the legal profession. Additionally, a set of well-being questions were incorporated following the framework for digital transformation in higher education (JISC, 2023). By providing tailored assessments focused on digital well-being and relevance to the field of law, this tool ensures that students from the City Law School understand the importance of digital skills in their academic and professional journey in the field of Law.
University wide data for the academic year 2021/22
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Developing the Self-Assessment Tool and Collaborating
The development of the university-wide self-assessment tool was a collaborative effort between myself and another student digital assistant during our time at City University as students. Drawing from our own experiences as students, we identified specific skills that we wished we had known from the start of our courses, such as recording audio over PowerPoint slides. This student-driven approach allowed us to create questions that were relevant and practical for our peers. Before creating the questions, we conducted thorough research, including testing out the JISC discovery tool. This helped us understand how to construct reflective digital skills questions and effectively provide guidance to users. By leveraging our first-hand experiences and utilising resources, we developed a comprehensive self-assessment tool tailored to the needs of our fellow students at City, University of London.
Both self-assessment tools were developed using City Qualtrics, a choice made by the student digital skills team instead of purchasing a JISC discovery tool. This approach provided us with the flexibility to create city-specific questions tailored to the City VLE Moodle, ensuring relevance to our student body. Additionally, using City Qualtrics allowed us to seamlessly integrate signposts to City student guides and LinkedIn Learning courses, creating an awareness of resources already available within our university.
Reflective Moodle questions from the university wide self-assessment tool created by student digital assistants
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The self-assessment tool developed for the solicitor’s program was constructed using the university-wide self-assessment tool as the foundation. This approach was chosen because Moodle and Microsoft Office skills are essential digital literacies for all students at City University. Additionally, a set of well-being questions was added by the program director following the JISC 2024 digital capabilities framework. These questions were designed to highlight the importance of digital well-being in the legal field. The questions inquire whether students know how to manage notifications on their devices or adjust online reading materials’ font and colour to aid their digital well-being. Based on an algorithm that detects students’ needs for well-being support, students are automatically directed to resources such as the City well-being app and guides on digital reading. This ensures they have access to the necessary support and resources to enhance their digital skills and well-being.
Digital Wellbeing questions for the solicitors program created by the course director
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Creating an Algorithm Through City Qualtrics
In both self-assessments, students are presented with a series of reflective questions for each section, focusing on specific digital tools such as Moodle, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. For example, within the Moodle section, students are asked questions like, ‘I know how to favourite a module on Moodle that will be regularly accessed,’ to which they respond with agree, neutral, disagree, or never used for each statement. When student selects disagree or indicate they have never used a feature, they are automatically prompted with guidance. Additionally, if a student selects neutral twice within a set of questions, they are also prompted with guidance to ensure they have the necessary support to enhance their digital skills.
Self-assessment tool’s response to identifying a student in need of guidance
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Furthermore, the assessment tool is designed to recognize when a student demonstrates proficiency in a particular tool. This is determined when a student agrees to every statement within a section, indicating an advanced understanding of the tool. In such cases, the tool automatically directs the student to an additional LinkedIn assessment specific to the proficient tool, offering them the opportunity to gain a skills badge on LinkedIn to validate their expertise in the area.
Self-assessment tool’s response to a student demonstrating proficiency
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Analysing the Impact of the Self-Assessment Tool
Since its launch in September 2022, the self-assessment tool gained 604 responses, primarily promoted during university induction weeks, for the academic year 2022/23 and 2023/24. Among respondents, 57% were from undergraduate courses, 36% from postgraduate courses, and the remainder identified as pursuing other course levels. Additionally, the team has integrated the use of bit.ly links among the guidance links to track clicking analytics, they have been able to spot which guidance’s are being used by students.
Following the 2022/23 induction week, an analysis of self-assessment results revealed prevalent areas of difficulty for students across the university. A significant number of students struggled with basic Excel formulas. In response, a quick tips video was promptly developed, offering essential guidance on navigating Excel for basic formulas, which was posted onto the student digital support community, reaching an estimated 600 students. Additionally, the analysis uncovered a lack of awareness among students regarding digital accessibility tools, with 55% reporting no prior use or awareness of Moodle Ally, a tool integrated into Moodle to facilitate alternative formats of course materials. The student digital skills team took proactive measures to address the gap during the next induction week workshops for the 2023/24 academic year to include a dedicated section on utilising Ally effectively and raise awareness of the tool.
Data from the university-wide self-assessment after 2022/23 induction workshop
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The self-assessment tool tailored for the solicitor’s program is course-specific and has been actively promoted within the course materials. Since its launch, it has gained 35 responses. The program director has presented findings indicating that students within the program demonstrate a high level of proficiency in Moodle. This observation may be attributed to the continuity of students previously studying at City University who directly enrol on the course.
Exploring Future Plans
In the future, there is potential to explore incorporating questions related to students’ awareness and utilization of artificial intelligence for their studies into the self-assessment tool. This addition would aim to ensure that students are knowledgeable about leveraging AI responsibly and being aware of the AI guidance provided at City.
Furthermore, with quick access to data provided by the self-assessment tool, there is always an opportunity for the student digital skills team to consider developing additional resources to offer immediate guidance to students as they have been doing. These resources would be tailored to address specific areas where students may require assistance.
Overall, through collaborative efforts and leveraging City resources, the self-assessment tool has been successfully integrated into course materials and has gained significant responses, indicating its effectiveness in engaging students, addressing their digital skill needs and actively using the resources provided
Danon Pritchard, Senior Lecturer, The City Law School
“I led on the development of a new postgraduate blended law programme for Solicitor training at The City Law School and was keen to include an interactive digital skills activity into our induction programme. City’s Digital Skills Team supported us by adapting an existing online survey to the requirements of our new programme, to reflect the digital skills and tools needed for their learning as well as for students’ future careers in legal practice. This interactive activity enabled us to facilitate students’ self-evaluation of their digital skills and allowed us to signpost sources of support early in the programme”.
