Digital skills are more important than ever for universities, for staff, and for students. But how do we identify skills gaps in a rapidly evolving world of AI and new technologies? How do we close those gaps? How do we foster a culture of digital literacy and fluency that supports digital transformation?

This interactive presentation explores the Jisc digital skills framework and discovery tool, and how they are used in tertiary education. Through case studies we introduce successful approaches, such as embedding digital skills development into HR processes, the curriculum, careers support and wider strategic projects.

Developed with the sector, the digital capabilities framework provides a shared language for addressing digital skills. The discovery tool offers self-assessment questionnaires on overall capabilities, online teaching, AI, accessibility, digital leadership and digital skills for employability. Personalised action plans and curated resources suggest next steps for staff and students. Anonymous data dashboards represent the organisational picture, supporting planning and allowing benchmarking.

The framework and discovery tool together empower individuals to develop essential digital skills and equip leaders with data and models to drive digital transformation.

This practitioner paper presents a reflective account of engaging with the Beyond Blended Learning resources developed by JISC, as part of their pilot programme running from January 2025. The initiative involved participation with 17 universities in the UK and Australia, and included a series of masterclasses and peer-learning activities designed to explore flexible and inclusive blended learning designs. As part of involvement with the pilot, the Beyond Blended resources were integrated into a postgraduate diploma module in Academic Practice, on teaching online. The module, delivered to a cohort of academic staff, served as a live testbed for applying and critically evaluating the framework within real teaching contexts. Through structured engagement with the Jisc resources, discussions, and design sprints, participants explored models for live online, or asynchronous delivery, developed plans, and trialled active digital pedagogies. Insights gathered from this process fostered rich dialogue among practitioners about optimal modes of participation, blend and flex, and the institutional strategies and resources for online and campus-based spaces and places. The paper concludes with key reflections on the impact of participating in the JISC pilot, considerations for wider adoption, and the value of community-based professional development in navigating the evolving landscape of higher education teaching and learning.

SurveyMonkey, launched in 1999 is generally regarded as the first online survey tool designed to gather and analyse data quickly and easily. Google Forms (2008) and Microsoft Forms (2016) provided big name respectability resulting in the widespread displacement of paper-based surveys for academic research.

This case study examines the use of Microsoft Forms to design and distribute a short classroom survey “on the fly” in order to rapidly gain deep insights into student behaviours with a view to adapting teaching approaches.

When students don’t engage with a labour-intensive innovation, the lecturer may be tempted to verbally challenge the class to explain. Psychologically, this may result in confrontation, defensiveness and hostile silence.

A short online survey (3 questions, 1 open-ended) accessed via QR code and utilising student smartphones, tablets or laptops can elicit deeper individual responses quickly, painlessly and confidentially.

The sincerity of the responses coupled with insights into the realities of the student experience caused us to build in reminder mechanisms into the process and to reevaluate our expectations of the students.

More generally, this serendipitous development provides a new channel for rapid information gathering for classroom research purposes or for quickly analysing classroom quandaries.