The document discusses how digital technologies are changing the world of academic work. It notes that academic work is becoming more fragmented, uncertainly located, reputation-centered, monitored and quantified. It also discusses how work is becoming more entrepreneurial and distributed between human and machine tasks. The document proposes a digital capabilities framework to help university staff develop the skills needed to adapt to these changes in the digital university. It emphasizes the importance of developing digital skills for all staff roles.

1. The future is now:
changes in the world of work
Helen Beetham | @helenbeetham
#UHR2016

2. What digital capabilities
do University staff need?
What capabilities do staff need
in a digital university?
Images CC Jisc

3. All universities are digital organisations
‣ Universities depend on
digital systems: they
define the time, space and
value of academic work
‣ Students’ first and last
experiences of university
are typically digital
‣ Digital technologies, media,
practices and ideas originate and thrive in universities
‣ Digital technologies have generated a global market in
learning and learners, in knowledge and research.
Image CC Jisc

4. All universities are digital organisations
The digital context we can see...
... and the digital context we can’t.
OERu OL2 0 life cycles by J. Murray / CC BY
Image CC Jisc

5. Can you see some challenges already?
OERu OL2 0 life cycles by J. Murray / CC BY

6. The world of work
bit.ly/digitalknowhow (2015)
Digital technologies are driving some significant
changes in the world of work, and are deeply
implicated in others.
C21st work is likely to be...
less secure
more entrepreneurial
fragmented
uncertainly located
reputation-centred
monitored, quantified
distributed human/
machine
LatrellG:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMWPLYKFLAVGSuTFCbj2kGQ

7. And academic work?
• Friedman (2015) uses teaching
staff to exemplify the gig economy
• disaggregation of professional roles (Coppola)
• insecure terms of employment (Standing)
• constant restructuring and reskilling
• 'Digital Taylorism' - the potential to standardise and
automate intellectual labour - 'rises up the value
chain' (Brown et al. 2015)

8. less secure
Casualisation
Financial constraint
Restructuring and innovation
‘All institutions want to be seen to be doing
something innovative - looking for new markets,
changing the teaching model...’
‘We have had to be extremely flexible and open to
change. And we will be even more so because the
new employees coming in are so used to the pace of
change.’
CC Quinn Dumbrowski
https://www.flickr.com/people/53326337@N00

9. more entrepreneurial
New initiatives, more
project-based working:
‘Now we have to
deliver on particular
short-term outcomes – things like student employability,
student satisfaction, retention’.
New roles (‘new professionals’) e.g. learning technologists:
•identified with institution and its systems
•mandated innovators / intrapraneurs, ambiguously located
•‘The digital plays an important role in being entreprenueurial’
Image CC Jisc

10. fragmented/unbundled
‘Teaching’ =
- course design & validation
- leading module teams
- developing content
- lecturing (online & face to face)
- supporting small group work
- supporting individual learner development...
‘Traditional teaching practices can be seen as costly
and inefficient.’
CCJonasBergstenhttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Bergsten

11. uncertainly located in time and space
•hot-desking, flexible working, Bring Your Own Device:
multiple campuses, virtual environments...
•Digital connectivity
as a demand to be
'always available' to
students and
colleagues.
•The feeling that there
will 'never be enough
time' to catch up and
keep up with digital
technologies.
Image CC Lally/Sclater InterLife project

12. reputation centred
‘Practices such as blogging... are expected of you.’
‘My online identity is very different from my staff biog
page [which] probably doesn't represent me and
therefore the institution as well as it could’.
‘Peer recommendation is a really interesting thing. If
you want someone to
build a wall you find
someone who has had
a wall built and see
what they have to say.
Technology can really
support that.’

13. monitored and quantified
imageCCJisc2016
Citation indices, REF, TEF, NSS, ISB, DLHE, KIS,
research income, feedback scores, learning analytics...
‘individuals are now increasingly expected to not just
access the data but to update and manage and use it
for all sorts of monitoring purposes’
‘more and more of the job roles... are about managing
data’

14. human/machine distributed
‘Some kind of digital capability is essential for virtually
all posts.’
‘I spend more time in front of a PC than in any other
activity.’
‘Digital capability is ... changing the whole mindset
of what it means to be
working.’
‘How do you say to a
professor that you have to
become your own IT support?’
image CC Jisc 2016

15. There are new stresses as well as
new opportunities
41% academics work over
50 hours/wk, 15% over 60 hrs
(UCU 2014)
Digital communications are a
significant source of workplace stress (Pignata 2015)
Fears expressed about:
• Changing quality of relationships with students and
colleagues
• New ways to fail e.g. IPR, reputational damage
• Being stalked or shamed online (student-facing staff)

16. What changes have you noticed in the
world of (academic) work?
#UHR2016

17. Are these changes... 😔
😔
• affecting the quality of
workplace relationships?
• increasing stress?
• fragmenting roles and
undermining professional
identity/autonomy?
• tipping the balance
towards performance
measures and targets?
• creative, liberating?
• meritocratic
• making staff more agile,
responsive to change?
• flattening existing
hierarchies, creating
more fluid structures?
• efficient, productive?

18. The future is now:
planning for change and
challenge in the workplace
Helen Beetham | @helenbeetham

19. What digital capabilities
do University staff need?
• Staff digital capabilities
identified as a challenge
(consultations 2014-15)
• Work commissioned to
understand what digital
capabilities are needed now
and in the future
• Develop a shared framework
and understanding

20. Digital capabilities framework
ICT proficiency (core skills)
Information, media and
data literacy (critical use)
Creation, scholarship and
innovation (creative
production)
Communication,
collaboration and
participation (engagement)
Learning and self-
development
Identity and well-being

21. Digital capabilities framework
distinctive/new features
Data literacy
Expanded idea of
‘innovation’
Inclusion of digital well-
being with digital identity
Applicable to all?

22. Digital capabilities framework:
current developments
• A series of profiles (librarian, teacher etc) produced
in collaboration with professional bodies
• Case studies from institutions adopting/adapting
• Discovery tool for individuals, producing a profile
and leading to...
• ... a playlist of content resources to
support development

23. Findings and conclusions
bit.ly/digitalknowhow
• Digital practice and identity are intrinsic to professional
practice and identity
• Accreditation, appraisal and CPD processes should
interface better with personal technologies/digital ID
• Organisations need to develop digital specialists
alongside generic digital capabilities for all
• Recruit, retain, reward and recognise digital talent,
across all roles
• Effective digital leadership means leadership in a digital
landscape, not (only) leadership with digital tools
• Be a workplace that fosters digital wellbeing

24. How are you planning...?
... for the changes and challenges of
digital work? #UHR2016