The future is now:changes in the world of work

Helen Beetham | @helenbeetham

#UHR2016

What digital capabilities do University staff need?

What capabilities do staff need in a digital university?

Images CC Jisc

All universities are digital organisations

‣ Universities depend ondigital systems: theydefine the time, space andvalue of academic work

‣ Students’ first and lastexperiences of universityare 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

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

Can you see some challenges already?

OERu OL2 0 life cycles by J. Murray / CC BY

The world of workbit.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 securemore entrepreneurialfragmenteduncertainly locatedreputation-centredmonitored, quantifieddistributed human/machine

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And academic work?

• Friedman (2015) uses teachingstaff 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)

•

less secure

CasualisationFinancial constraintRestructuring 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 Dumbrowskihttps://www.flickr.com/people/53326337@N00

more entrepreneurial

New initiatives, moreproject-based working: ‘Now we have todeliver on particularshort-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’

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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.’

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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

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 tobuild a wall you findsomeone who has hada wall built and seewhat they have to say.Technology can reallysupport that.’

monitored and quantified

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2016

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’

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

There are new stresses as well as new opportunities

41% academics work over50 hours/wk, 15% over 60 hrs(UCU 2014)Digital communications are asignificant 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)

What changes have you noticed in the world of (academic) work?

#UHR2016

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?

The future is now:planning for change and

challenge in the workplaceHelen Beetham | @helenbeetham

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

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-developmentIdentity and well-being

Digital capabilities framework distinctive/new features

Data literacyExpanded idea of ‘innovation’Inclusion of digital well-being with digital identityApplicable to all?

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

Findings and conclusionsbit.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

How are you planning...?

... for the changes and challenges ofdigital work? #UHR2016