Delivering lasting change in digital skills and literacy across our university

What we set out to do 

The Digital Skills and Literacy workstream was created to support the University’s vision for flexible, inclusive and future-ready learning. Our aim was to ensure that support was embedded into everyday practice. 

We focused on the following: 

• For students to be supported and encouraged to develop the digital capabilities necessary for their University studies and in preparation for the workplace beyond.  

• For staff to be supported and encouraged to develop, maintain and enhance the digital capabilities relevant to their roles.  

• For digital capabilities to be integrated and promoted across the University through our culture and practices. 

What has been delivered? 

Thanks to the dedication of colleagues across the University, the workstream has delivered a wide range of impactful initiatives, including: 

• Establishing use of a shared language as a starting point for further contextualisation.
• Facilitating self-assessment of digital skills for students and staff through the Jisc Discovery tool and incorporating these within Welcome resources for students and staff.

• Data-informed decision making- using the anonymised institutional data to enable updates to learning activities – as demonstrated in case studies from the Manchester Access Programme and Faculties.

• Establishing a University commitment to digital equity through co-creation with  the Students’ Union of the Digital Equity Charter. The Access and Success Team subsequently launched the Digital Equity pilot fund for students.

• Support for embedding digital capability in the curriculum, creating resources and hosting events where colleagues shared effective practice. University programme and unit development forms are being updated to incorporate representation of how students will develop their digital skills,building on a pilot that took place withinthe Faculties of Humanities and Biology, Medicine and Health. ‘Digital and study skills’ are represented within the Central Learning Environment University template, pedagogical standards, and signposted within the University Programme Handbook template for 2025/26. 

• Promoting peer support with the co-creation of a new Digital capability Student Rep role in partnership with the Students’ Union.

• Providing opportunities to enhance skills and gain recognition of development through the pilots of LinkedIn Learning for students and staff and of Microsoft Certifications for students. An expanded selection of industry-recognised certifications will continue to be offered through The Library during 2025/26. Representation of work by colleagues to support digital capability is now included within Teaching & Scholarship Promotions criteria.

• Introducing university-wide evaluation of the digital experience in partnership with the Technology workstream through the implementation of the Jisc Digital Experience Insights surveys. 

• Raising awareness of support available through comms and engagement activities with students and staff  

Testimonials of our collaborative achievements 

"Being involved in various opportunities, such as volunteering to be a Digital Capability Student Rep with the Students’ Union and the Flexible Learning Digital Skills team, has opened doors for me to learn about some amazing initiatives. One of the standout opportunities was the chance to pursue the Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals certification...For me, earning this certification was a significant milestone.”  - Tushar Jhanwar, MSc Business Analytics: Operational Research and Risk Analysis, University of Manchester Graduate. 

“The University of Manchester has demonstrated exemplary use of both the Building Digital Capability service and the Digital Experience Insights service provided by Jisc. By leveraging data from these services, the institution has made informed decisions to support its digital transformation initiatives. The meticulous planning and comprehensive approach to enhancing digital capabilities among staff and students have garnered significant interest within the sector. 
 
The institution's strategy involves engaging multiple stakeholders to ensure a holistic approach to digital capability development. This methodical planning was highlighted by Professor Jane Mooney at our joint community of practice event, where she shared Manchester's approach. The institution's involvement in digital transformation pilots and their presentation at the nationally and internationally recognised Digifest conference has further amplified interest in their methods. 

Manchester's dedication and hard work have inspired many other higher education institutions to explore similar approaches. We look forward to further disseminating this effective strategy through case studies and podcasts, thereby contributing to the sector's ongoing digital transformation efforts.”  - Dr Becki Vickerstaff, Higher Education Senior Consultant at Jisc.

What happens next? 

The impact of the workstream will continue through ongoing embedding of activities for students and staff. 

Student-facing digital development support will continue to be provided through the Library and Careers Service.  Staff-facing support will continue to be provided through the Digital Learning Servicechampioning embedding in the curriculum and Talent Development.   

We’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of the workstream. Your commitment, insights, energy and collaboration have been instrumental in changingpractice, in terms of how we think, talk aboutand embed support for digital capability, across the University. 

There is more work to be done. As we continue to see, the digital capability requirements of students, staff and our partners will continue to evolve.  Through the activities initiated, promoted and embedded, we have laid foundations the University can now build on as the implementation of the Manchester 2035 strategy progresses.