The discovery tool is a developmental tool that students can use to self-assess their digital capabilities, identify their strengths and offers opportunities to develop their skills further to enhance their practice of learning.
It uses a series of reflective questions that relate to the JISC framework, building digital capabilities: the six elements defined.
Discovery tool questions are quiz-like and non-judgmental. They aim to assess your confidence and experience with a host of real-world digital practices. Just by answering the questions, you are made aware of digital practices you already have and new ones you might try.
After answering the questions, you'll receive a personal report that will include:
- An overview of your digital profile;
- Suggested actions to take;
- Links to useful resources, which will support the development of each individual capability.
Your Digital Capabilities Report will have marked you as "developing", "capable", or "proficient" in a range of digital capabilities and offered suggestions for improvement, but different people have different digital needs. So, before planning how to improve, it's useful to analyse your capabilities in light of your own study, career, and personal goals.
To access the Discovery Tool, you need to sign into the Jisc website:
Sign into the Jisc Discovery Tool
You will be asked to select your institution. If you type Abertay, "The University of Abertay Dundee" should come up for you to select, and if you are already signed into MyLearningSpace, it should take you straight in.
Once into the Discovery Tool, you should see that you are offered three different question sets to explore your digital capabilities: one for current students in higher education, one for current students in further education, and one for new students.
If you've only recently started at Abertay, choose the set for New students; however, if you are taking this after your first semester, are someone that has been at college before coming to university, or if you are someone who's been at university before, choose the set for Current students (Higher Education).
You'll just get slightly different questions depending on which question set you choose, but the report will be equally useful.