Digital Learning Plan
UVic's Digital Learning Plan (DLP) outlines a series of goals and priorities that will act as a guide to equip students, staff and faculty with the required competencies for responsible and ethical engagement in digital spaces.
The University of Victoria has a history of using digital tools and technological supports for advancing learning and teaching excellence, including through delivering degree programs either fully or partially online, integrating digital tools in all teaching modalities, and supporting innovative and creative digital solutions to learning and teaching. Recently, the university has increased its support, most notably through the Division of Learning and Teaching Support and Innovation, the Digital Humanities Summer Institute and the Digital Scholarship Commons at the UVic Libraries.
The 2020 global pandemic accelerated the use of digital tools in learning and teaching, as classes moved fully online. In 2021/2022, the university transitioned to a blend of hybrid, online and in-person modes of instruction. Upon assessment of the current learning and teaching landscape, we have observed an increase in the development of digital tools, heightened proficiency of both learners and instructors using these tools and greater awareness of using digital tools to enhance accessibility across all learning modalities.
The increased use of digital tools for learning and teaching has created new ways of engaging in the educational environment. This has led to new opportunities for the university to support accessibility and further promote an inclusive learning culture. However, the widespread adoption of digital tools has exposed a ‘digital divide’ characterized by unequal access to digital technology for both learners and educators. Advances in technology and the increased availability of digital tools have implications for privacy, data security and academic integrity, as well as for space, capital planning and classroom infrastructure. As such, current best practices regarding these matters must be revised as necessary.
The BC Government launched the Post-Secondary Digital Learning Strategy (DLS) in 2022. The DLS outlines strategic priorities and recommended actions to support digital learning in BC using digital technology in post-secondary education. The DLS encourages post-secondary institutions to develop their own digital learning plans that reflect their specific context and digital needs. The purpose of the UVic Digital Learning Plan (UVic DLP) is to develop and implement a distinctly UVic approach to support digital learning by creating new and innovative ways to incorporate digital skills and tools into our learning and teaching.
Vision
UVic's DLP provides a framework for advancing the use of digital technologies in learning and teaching while promoting approaches that are grounded in equity, inclusion and access. The DLP will act as a guide for the continuous development of digital competencies in ways that enable our community to navigate an increasingly digital world.
UVic commits to increasing digital literacy for students, faculty and staff.
The DLP is forward-facing, people-centric and focused on innovation. It promotes ethical and responsible digital citizenship by facilitating the development of transferable, future-oriented skills. It will support the professional development of our instructors and staff.
Goals
- Promote digital literacy to equip students, staff and instructors with the competencies required to integrate appropriate digital technologies safely and effectively in their learning, teaching, work, and beyond.
- Promote digital equity to reduce barriers to learning and teaching.
- Provide a framework for responsible and ethical engagement in digital spaces (including academic integrity, the use of artificial intelligence, appropriate behaviour online, etc.).
A distinctly UVic approach
A distinctly UVic approach to digital learning is grounded in the vision of UVic’s Strategic Plan. Inspired by and honouring place, we are a community-minded, globally engaged university that transforms ideas into meaningful impact. In an increasingly digital world, UVic’s digital learning environment is an extension of "place" and is an important part of the student experience that we create. Well-designed digital learning spaces can engage and empower students, reduce barriers to learning and provide powerful tools for instructors. UVic is committed to providing and maintaining high-quality learning, teaching and working environments for students, faculty and staff across all teaching modalities.
The DLP aligns UVic’s aspirations to advance digital learning and skill acquisition with the recommendations articulated in the Government of BC Digital Learning Strategy as well as our own institutional plans, such as the Equity Action Plan, Indigenous Plan, and Accessibility Plan. UVic's DLP will promote the use of digital skills, tools, and approaches in ways that advance equity, access and inclusion.
Digital learning strategies must address accessibility concerns and barriers to learning regardless of teaching modality. UVic's DLP recognizes this and will be used as a guide when incorporating digital skills and technology into instruction while remaining true to our mission as a university for excellence in learning and teaching. Each pillar of UVic's DLP identifies a set of priorities that promote digital literacy, competence and ethical engagement, while also embedding equity, access and inclusion into all that we do.
Digital literacy is a multi-faceted concept that includes:
- The ability to use digital technologies to access, manage, interpret, and analyze information;
- The ability to use digital technologies to effectively construct, create, and disseminate knowledge;
- An understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and the ability to critically evaluate their benefits and limitations;
- Being a responsible digital citizen by engaging ethically and respectfully in digital spaces and adhering to academic integrity policies when using digital tools.
Priority: promote digital literacy across all learning modalities at UVic
Digital literacy should be a core competency and university-level learning outcome for all students, with a focus on helping students develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to a range of post-secondary and employment settings.
Priority: promote a culture of continuous learning with respect to digital technology
Encourage instructors to increase their digital skills, competencies and expertise through professional development initiatives, university resources and self-paced learning to stay up to date in an ever-changing digital world.
UVic's DLP focuses on digital inclusion to promote digital equity. Components of digital equity include:
- Equity in opportunities to create and share knowledge through digital technology;
- Access to digital literacy training;
- Digital content and applications that encourage self-sufficiency and independence.
Priority: encourage digital inclusion to promote digital equity
Support our community in acquiring the knowledge and skills required to fully participate in the digital sphere to reduce the digital divide.
In the context of UVic, the digital learning environment includes Brightspace (Learning Management System), classroom infrastructure (such as lecture capture and multi-access technologies), Echo360, (our video content management platform), student computing facilities, and our enabling/core infrastructure (such as the campus network and wireless network). The UVic digital learning environment is supported by other technologies and policies that protect information security and privacy.
Priority: provide secure and reliable digital infrastructure for learning and teaching, including access to internet
Priority: instill the importance of protecting information security and privacy while upholding our commitment to digital accessibility
Accountability and next steps
The inaugural DLP was developed by a cross-campus committee including representatives from the Office of the Vice-President Academic and Provost; the Division of Learning and Teaching Support and Innovation; University Systems; UVic Libraries; and faculty and student representatives. It launched April 2024.
- Five-year plan (2024–2029)
- Create a mechanism for sharing updates
- Review and monitor action-items and outcomes
- Evaluate state of digital technologies, accessibility, equity, etc. at UVic
- Conduct ongoing evaluation of digital technologies, including evaluation of evolving technological needs; barriers to learning and teaching, digital equity
- Identify strategies to mitigate barriers (e.g., audit of technologies/ practices, bursaries, hardware loan program, licenses, open-source choices, etc.)
- Develop guidelines for ethical, safe and responsible use of educational technologies and engagement in digital spaces
- Update related policies and practices as needed
- Regular reporting through the Academic Action Plan
- Establish a Digital Plan Implementation Committee
Definitions
Digital citizenship: the norms of appropriate and responsible use of technology.
Digital content: the high-quality academic material which is delivered through technology. Digital content is more than a PDF or a Power-Point presentation, and ranges from new engaging, interactive software, to new presentations of classic literatures, to video lectures, to games.
Digital equity: Conditions for ensuring individuals and communities have the information, technology and capacity necessary for full participation.
Digital fluency: the ability to discover, evaluate, and use digital information ethically and effectively.
Digital learning: the digital components of in-person, hybrid and remote programs.
Digital literacy: skills and abilities for the ethical and effective use of digital tools in a variety of contexts to access, interpret and critically evaluate information.
Please email projcom@uvic.ca to provide feedback on UVic's draft Digital Learning Plan.