Digital Skills Students

Our lives increasingly require the use of technology and digital tools, to access information, communicate with others, solve problems, or take care of our wellbeing. It is important for us to be digitally confident and develop the relevant skills to prepare for an increasingly digital world.

Here at Aston we support you to develop your skills ensuring you are ready for work and life, including equipping you with the digital capabilities and skills needed to succeed in your learning and your chosen career. We have joined with Jisc to provide some tools to help you assess and develop your skills.

Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework 

Jisc has developed the Digital Capabilities Framework to help you understand more about which digital capabilities are most relevant to you. The six key elements of the framework are: 

• Digital proficiency and productivity (functional skills)
• Information, data and media literacies (critical use)
• Digital creation, problem solving and innovation (creative production)
• Digital communication, collaboration and participation (participation)
• Digital learning and development (development)
• Digital identity and wellbeing (self-actualising)

Jisc Discovery Tool

Based on the framework, the Jisc Discovery Tool will present you with questions to help you self-assess your digital capabilities, identify your strengths and any areas you might want to develop.

After answering question sets (each set taking up to 20 minutes), you will receive a feedback report with resources and suggestions for how you might develop your digital skills further.

How do I log in?

1. Go to the Discovery Tool, click log in
2. Type Aston University in the search box and choose from the drop down list and sign using your Aston University details
3. Select your role (student or staff) and your level
4. Click on the the card to start using the Discovery Tool

What will I find? 

Use the question sets and reports to evaluate your skills. 

Use the resource bank to develop your knowledge and skills to be innovative, communicate, solve problems, participate and support others in a digital space. Covering a range of topics all related to digital skills from AI to digital communication, s you'll find information in a range of formats from videos to blog posts, academic papers to courses and games

How do I use the tool?

There is a detailed Discovery Tool: student guide which provides an overview of discovery tool essentials to help get you started with logging in, understanding the question sets and feedback reports, as well as resources and FAQs.