The Shift towards Digital Literacy in Australian University Libraries: Developing a Digital Literacy Framework

ABSTRACT

There is a growing focus in Australian university libraries on digital literacy with a number of universities developing digital literacy frameworks and digital literacy programmes for students and staff. The Council of Australian University Library (CAUL) has developed a Digital Dexterity Framework that outlines the skills and capabilities that students will need to succeed in the workforce. In 2019 Edith Cowan University (ECU) Library made the strategic decision to develop a digital literacy framework after extensive benchmarking and environmental scanning on current digital literacy initiatives in university libraries around Australia. Extensive consultation on the framework was undertaken during the development of the framework, with consistent feedback indicating that students need digital literacy skills in order to participate in the workplace of the future. The ECU Digital Literacy Framework outlines the strategies and actions that will be implemented in order to equip students at ECU with digital literacy skills. Future initiatives include a collaboration between the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) and the Library Services Centre to embed digital literacy skills into the curriculum, utilising a Library staff digital capability survey to develop training programmes for staff and the development of a study essential module that includes digital literacy elements.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital literacy
• framework
• benchmarking
• university library

Introduction

In 2019, ECU in Perth, Australia made the strategic decision to form a digital and information literacy team with the goal of revising the Library’s approach to information literacy. ECU undertook an extensive benchmarking project and utlilised evidence based approaches in order to evolve current practice to meet the digital learning needs of students and academic staff across the University. After the benchmarking exercise and environmental scan of digital literacy initiatives in Australia, it became apparent that university libraries in Australia are placing greater importance on digital literacy through the development of digital literacy frameworks and programmes. Digital literacy is also acknowledged internationally in the UNESCO sustainable goals as an ‘essential set of skills needed to find information and communicate in today’s world’ (Antoninis & Montoya, 2018). The strategic decision was made that the Library would take the lead on digital literacy at the university through the development of a digital literacy framework (Edith Cowan University, 2019). The Library had already worked in collaboration with the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) on an online module that introduced students to the digital learning environment at ECU, and during consultation about the framework, there was consistent feedback that digital literacy skills were essential for both students and staff at the University.

Due to the growing interest in digital literacy in Australia, the Council of Australian University Libraries (CAUL) hosted a digital literacy webinar seminar in 2015, which led to the forming of a digital literacy Community of Practice (COP) (Salisbury, Arndell, & Lewin, 2016). In 2019, CAUL developed a Digital Dexterity Framework, based on the JISC Digital Capabilities Framework  (JISC), which outlines the skills and capabilities that students will need to succeed in the workforce of the future (CAUL). Each university in Australia has a digital dexterity champion that works with other digital dexterity champions around Australia in a community of practice that promotes the CAUL Digital Dexterity Framework.

A number of Australian universities have recently participated in a JISC digital experience survey, which was a three year study to understand students’ expectations and experiences of digital technology in their learning (Beetham, Newman, & Knight, 2019). There were 21,000 responses from students, with seven in ten students who responded using digital tools weekly such as search engines and library catalogues to find resources. Some of the digital inclusion issues students reported having included distance from campus, poor self-reported digital skills in older students, a lack of up-to-date technology and learning needs associated with conditions such as autism. Some students also felt there was a lack of full induction into university systems and services. This also tracks with Coldwell-Neilson’s (2017) findings that while students expect digital literacy support, research has shown that universities do not clarify expectations regarding digital literacy for commencing students, which can result in conflicting expectations between students and academic staff. These findings again supported the decision by ECU Library to meet the digital learning needs of students by refocusing the approach to teaching and learning and broadening the Library’s scope of instruction and support beyond the traditional information literacy instruction and support that was offered to students and staff.

Defining Digital Literacy

Defining what digital literacy is and the elements of digital literacy was an important step in the development of the ECU Digital Literacy Framework. A number of definitions and frameworks were consulted in order to gain an understanding of the main concepts of digital literacy as well as how digital literacy has evolved over time. Paul Gilster first made the term popular in his 1997 book titled ‘Digital literacy’. He states that ‘digital literacy is the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers’ (Gilster, 1997, p. 1). This concept of digital literacy has evolved since its first inception to include the ideas of digital creation and growing concerns such as misinformation and fake news. In 2011 the American Library Association defined digital literacy as; “Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information, an ability that requires both cognitive and technical skills (American Library Association, 2013). In today’s technological age, being digitally literate is also an essential skill that is needed beyond higher education and in the workplace and people’s social lives and definitions and frameworks need to reflect this. Littlejohn, Beetham, and McGill (2012, p. 547) have quantified this idea in their definition, where digital literacy ‘means the capabilities required to thrive in and beyond education, in an age when digital forms of information and communication predominate’. In their digital literacy framework, Latrobe University describes digital literacy as a number of interrelated elements that include; information literacy, data literacy, media literacy and digital identity, communication and collaboration and innovation and creativity (Latrobe University). The Open University in the U.K explains how digital literacy incorporates information literacy, ‘but goes beyond this to encompass communication, collaboration and teamwork, social awareness in the digital environment, understanding of e-safety and creation of new information. Both digital and information literacy are underpinned by critical thinking and evaluation’ (The Open University, 2019). The ECU Library Digital Literacy Framework incorporated all of these important concepts of digital literacy to develop a definition that meets the current and future digital needs of students and staff at ECU. ECU Library defines digital literacy as ‘the ability to use digital technologies to access, evaluate, create and communicate information in a socially responsible and ethical manner’. This includes the elements of information, media and data literacy, digital creation and communication, digital citizenship and identity, digital technologies and digital learning. Figure 1 shows the five elements of the ECU Digital Literacy Framework.

Figure 1. Five elements of the ECU digital literacy framework.

Benchmarking

As part of the development of the ECU Digital Literacy Framework and revising the approach to delivering information literacy, a benchmarking exercise was conducted with five Australian universities. Meetings were conducted with a number of key staff responsible for managing digital literacy teams and programmes at each university in order to learn about strategic decisions and processes that had taken place in order to successfully guide the digital literacy strategic directions at their university.

A number of digital literacy frameworks were used to benchmark against and inform the development of ECU Digital Literacy Framework. These publicly available frameworks from Deakin University, Latrobe University and the University of Queensland (UQ) are discussed in the section of the paper on digital literacy frameworks. A number of other universities were consulted, with their frameworks still under development. The University of Melbourne currently has a draft Scholarly & Digital Capabilities Framework under development that outlines the capabilities needed for 21st Century learning, research and work (University of Melbourne, 2019).

Based on the meetings with staff, the following were seen as integral processes for successfully implementing digital literacy strategies, frameworks and programmes.

• Steering/advisory/working group committees in order to get buy in from university stakeholders.

• Students as partners and advisors to review digital literacy modules.

• Champions in the university to support and promote the digital literacy framework.

• Taking a consistent approach towards digital literacy instruction.

• Mapping course learning outcomes to the digital literacy framework.

• Documenting digital literacy initiatives across the university.

• Collaboration between learning advisors, learning designers and librarians.

Digital Literacy Programmes and Modules

University libraries are starting to develop digital literacy classes and materials about fake news and how to evaluate information in a digital environment. Auberry (2018) developed a news literacy module for college students that was embedded into the Learning Management System (LMS) and aimed to increase students’ ability to determine what is correct information and fake news through teaching three skills: understanding the information cycle, locating news sources, and evaluating news articles. Several colleges have developed one shot or drop in lessons on fake news and news literacy as well as libguides on news literacy (Neely-Sardon & Tignor, 2018; Wade & Hornick, 2018). Wade and Hornick (2018) outline the development of a drop in session on fake news for undergraduates that focused on social media platforms, visual literacy and evidence. In order to promote and improve attendance, the workshops were part of the Passport Programme at the college. Digital literacy programmes have also been developed for students who are studying through distance education. Librarians at the Open University developed online resources such as ‘Being digital’, which included activities such as ‘Deciding what to trust online’ and delivered synchronous online teaching sessions on news/media literacy and evaluating online information (Clough & Closier, 2018).

The University of Queensland (UQ) library has developed a digital essentials module that aims to build the digital skills of students and introduce them to the systems of the university with modules in UQ systems, digital citizenship, internet essentials and communicating and collaborating online (University of Queensland Library, 2019). This was developed in response to a student technology survey and provides guidance to academics who want to utlise the module or specific elements of the modules in their units. Deakin University has developed a professional literacy suite that is embedded in the Bachelor of Commerce course in the first and third year. Librarians wanted a consistent approach to digital literacy in the school, rather than an adhoc approach. They mapped their digital literacy framework against the Course Learning Outcomes for the course. The suite which was developed in Smart Sparrow includes three overarching modules on: Essential Digital Literacy; Introduction to Professional Identity and Professional Literacy (Deakin University Library).

Digital Literacy Frameworks

The benchmarking and environmental scan revealed that several Australian university libraries had developed digital literacy frameworks, with others either in development or utlising current frameworks such as the JISC Digital Capabilities Framework (JISC) or the CAUL Digital Dexterity Framework. Outside of the education sector, frameworks such as European Commission’s DigComp outline competencies including information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation and safety in their models for citizens (Vuorikari, Punie, Carretero, & Van den Brande, 2016). ECU’s Framework built the CAUL framework into the Framework through actions that utilise the CAUL Digital Dexterity Framework and the knowledge of ECU’s digital dexterity champion to provide training opportunities for Library Services Centre staff and the wider University community. Deakin University, Latrobe University and the University of Queensland all have publicly available digital literacy frameworks (Deakin University, Latrobe University, University of Queensland). Latrobe University developed their framework in 2015 (Salisbury et al., 2016). UQ’s Information and Digital Literacy: A Strategic Framework for UQ Library 2016–2020 framework is ‘guided by five core principles to help all parties understand the value of adopting a strategic approach to the development of information and digital literacy capabilities’ (Hallam, Thomas, & Beach, 2018). A number of other universities were consulted during the benchmarking process and have frameworks that are either under development or in draft form. JISC’s Digital Capabilities Framework outlines five elements of digital literacy: Information, Data and Media Literacies; Digital Creation, Problem Solving and Innovation; Digital learning and Development; Digital Communication, Collaboration and Participation and; Digital Identity and Wellbeing. All of these frameworks were used along with consultation across the university to inform the development of the five elements of the ECU Library Digital Literacy Framework: Information, Academic, Media and Data Literacy; Digital Creation and Communication; Digital Technologies; Digital Citizenship and identity and Digital learning (Workplace and Lifelong). All of these elements are considered to be essential skills that students and staff need in order to be digitally literate, both in their academic, social and future work lives.

Development of the Digital Literacy Framework

The digital literacy framework was developed after extensive benchmarking and in consultation with the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT), Graduate Research School (GRS), Careers and Employability Services, Associate Deans of Teaching and Learning (ADTLs) in the Schools and selected academics working on digital literacy projects in the Schools. An environmental scan of existing frameworks was conducted as well as a benchmarking project that included meeting with universities in Australia that either already had a framework or were currently developing one. An environmental scan of the literature on digital literacy frameworks and programmes was also conducted. Existing policies and frameworks of the University were consulted in order to align the Framework with the existing teaching and learning strategies. This included the curriculum design policy, ECU Course Learning Outcome Exemplars, ECU Strategic Plan, the Technology Enhanced Learning Blueprint, and the Student Success Blueprint. The consultation process included attending meetings with the ADTLs, sending the draft framework to key partners in the University for review and working with design staff to develop the published version of the Framework. The Framework was approved by the Universities Education Committee before being officially launched by the Library Services Centre. Once the Framework was approved it was promoted at teaching and learning meetings across the University, an internal teaching and learning conference and to academic staff at various course review and planning meetings.

The Framework outlines and builds on the work already done throughout the University in the area of digital literacy as well as outlining strategies and actions the Library Services Centre will take the lead on (in collaboration with other Centres and Schools) in order to equip students at ECU with digital literacy skills. The framework aligns with ECU curriculum design policy and the ECU Course Learning Outcome Exemplars which include digital literacy at all degree (coursework) levels.

The following strategies form the basis for the ECU Framework for facilitating the development of digital literacy skills at ECU:

Equip staff within the Library Services Centre and wider university community with the digital literacy skills required to meet the digital learning needs of students.

The Library plans to utilise the the CAUL Digital Dexterity Framework to provide training opportunities for Library Services Centre staff and provide opportunities for academic staff to develop digital literacy skills.

Ensure ECU students develop information, academic, media and data literacy skills.

The Library will collaborate with key areas of the University to develop and embed information, academic, media and data literacy curriculum for students. One action arising from this strategy is a collaborative team approach between librarians, learning advisors and learning designers which utilises the skills of each team member to work with academics to embed digital literacy skills in curriculum.

Educate ECU students about digital citizenship and their digital identity.

In this strategy the Library will continue to develop and update our digital learning modules and work with academics to ensure that the curriculum incorporates information about digital safety and respect of others when communicating in digital environments and the risks of sharing information.

Enable students to be able to create and communicate in digital environments.

This strategy aims to equip students with the skills to be able to communicate with other students in digital learning and social environments as well as providing students with access to and education about new digital learning technologies.

Promote digital literacy as a lifelong learning concept and equip students with digital literacy skills needed in the workplace.

Digital literacy is an important skill needed in all aspects of students’ current and future lives and this strategy involves developing workplace digital literacy modules and resources in collaboration with relevant schools and service centres and equipping students with the ability to manage an academic and professional identity.

Future Directions and Conclusions

In order to equip Library Services Centre staff with digital literacy skills, it was important to gain an understanding of Library staff members’ understanding of digital dexterity, current digital literacy practices in the workplace, and future training priorities and needs. A digital literacy capability survey was sent to staff with future plans to utilise the results to develop a training programme for staff. Future plans also include surveying academic staff on their digital learning experiences and digital literacy training needs. Results from this survey will be utilised to develop digital literacy workshops and materials for both academic and professional staff at the university.

With the growing number of online courses being offered by the University, the development of digital literacy programmes and materials will be developed for both face to face and online students. ECU Library worked in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CLT) to develop the Student Learning in a Digital Environment (SLIDE) module which introduces students to the digital learning environment at ECU. This module offers an introductory overview of aspects of digital literacy and future plans involve the further development of a more advanced study essentials module that incorporates essential information on the Library, information literacy, digital literacy and academic literacy skills. In order to develop a contemporary and user friendly module, the Library has hired a web designer to work on this project in collaboration with the digital and information literacy team. The usability of the module will also be tested with students.

A mapping project will also be undertaken in collaboration with CLT to map digital literacy learning outcomes in each course and map where digital literacy content is currently embedded. The ECU Course Learning Outcome Exemplars include digital literacy at all degree (coursework) levels and a recent review of Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) has recommended that key general capabilities such as digital literacy are included in qualifications as appropriate. This shows the importance that Australian universities are placing on including general skills such as digital literacy skills in courses and provides opportunities for libraries to work with academics to identify digital literacy gaps in course content.

The Digital Literacy Framework will guide the direction and actions the Library takes in order to shift the focus from current practice which has focused on information literacy to the evolving practice of digital literacy. Promotion of the Framework around the University and working in collaboration with relevant stakeholders will ensure the successful implementation of the strategies and actions outlined in the Framework.

Implications for practice

In Australia there is a shift towards digital literacy as a focus for university libraries, which has implications for library practice including broadening libraries scope beyond information literacy instruction.

The shift towards digital literacy also has training implications for library staff. In order to teach and develop digital literacy modules and materials, digital technology skills are required.

Developing a digital literacy framework involves working in collaboration with other centres and schools/faculties across the university and consultation is necessary in order to get buy in and support for digital literacy initiatives.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the support of staff at the five Australian universities where benchmarking was undertaken. For reasons of confidentiality their names are not listed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicole Johnston

Dr. Nicole Johnston is the Associate University Librarian of Digital and Information Literacy at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia.