D4 - Hashtag training! developing digital researchers

Day 2 at 13:45 - Hashtag training! developing digital researchers
Day Day 2
Session D
Start time 13:45
Strand Postgraduate Research
Code D4
Presenters

Davina Whitnall - Graduate Training Programme Manager for Life Sciences, University of Manchester

Dr Emma Smith - Researcher Development Manager, University of Warwick

Yvonne Budden - Scholarly Communications Manager, University of Warwick

Conference workshop themes covered

  • New approaches to enabling researchers to reach their potential and make powerful career choices 
  • New and interesting ways of supporting mobility - international, intersectoral, interdisciplinary and virtual mobility 
  • Researchers' development across boundaries

Workshop outline

This workshop takes as its starting point the increasing ‘digital skills gap’ within the workforce, exploring how we might adapt our training practice to help researchers develop their digital literacy and face the future employment landscape. 

The workshop will zoom in first on social media use and later on programming, which are both valuable skills for researchers and potentially useful tools to enhance teaching and learning. Drawing on examples of theory, practice, and researchers’ perspectives, we will share ideas for training interventions and invite workshop participants to participate actively in this practice-sharing. Theories such as the Honeycomb framework of social media will be set alongside examples taken from an e-learning case study (the University of Warwick’s ‘Digital Tools for Researchers’ online course) in order to map out some of the challenges and benefits involved in designing resources to develop digital researchers. Participants will also have an interactive opportunity, using a Raspberry Pi, to explore an innovative approach to developing programming skills.

Workshop topics:

  • Supporting the needs of researchers in an age of digital scholarship
  • Identifying digital skills gaps within the researcher community
  • Exploration of theory and practice in digital skills development
  • Considering the benefits and challenges involved in developing researchers’ social media literacy 
  • Sharing examples of modern, sustainable training practices
  • Secondary topics include: Developing researcher developers; Collaborative approaches to delivery

Workshop outcomes:

By the end of the workshop participants will have:

  • An awareness of theory and policy regarding the digital skills gap for researchers 
  • Discussed theories and practices to support the development of researchers’ digital literacy
  • Considered the benefits and limitations of e-learning as a sustainable, collaborative approach to researcher development for institutions
  • Touched on the challenges involved in developing interactive, impactful online learning
  • Engaged in an experimental learning activity using Raspberry Pi’s
  • Considered possible future directions for developing digital researchers in their own institution

Format 

Presentation, practice-sharing and interactive activities