Jeni Brown, Head of the Digital Skills Lab speaks to undergraduate and DSL columnist Kara Jessup and shares her insights on what digital tools will help students in the workplace and the importance of sticky learning.
Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and what exactly you do at the Digital Skills Lab?
I'm the Head of the Digital Skills Lab, and I have been in this type of role since I joined LSE in 2006. The focus has always been on the leadership and management of a team whose purpose is to develop the digital skills of staff and students across the institution. I didn’t come from a technical academic background, I studied English literature. When I entered the workforce, I did a lot of secretarial and temp work, and very quickly became aware that digital skills were everywhere, in every job I was going to do. I decided to become a technical trainer, and the rest is history!
You have been developing digital skills at LSE quite a long time. Since you started, how has it grown? How do you see it evolving in the future?
When I joined, we were part of IT services, and we focused only on Microsoft Office training. Over the years, we’ve analysed post-course evaluation and other survey data to better understand what tools people are using for their coursework, to get into employment, and to do their jobs, to see what else we should offer. We’ve expanded our offering both in terms of the software we cover, but also in the ways that we help people: for instance, we now cover key data science tools like Python, R, and Git, and support specialist research software like Stata, SPSS, and NVivo. In addition to open workshops anyone can join, we offer more tailored support for academic departments, such as pre-sessionals in Python, or using Excel for data modelling in Accounting. We have daily drops-in, a curated set of online self-paced courses, employer sponsored practical challenges, and one-to-one support for staff who might have really specific things they need to do. We're always asking for feedback to understand what works, what doesn't work, how can we change it to make it more effective, more convenient, more enjoyable.
A great early example of this shift was when we had the opportunity of working with LSE100, to help students from any discipline gain more data skills. This was done by incorporating tools such as Tableau into the programme, but also equipping the LSE100 teachers with the skills and confidence to support their students in using the technology. This was a great way of making sure that digital skills weren’t just something you did if you had a free hour, but were actually part of the academic education at LSE.
Where are we going in the future? More experimentation and adaptation, making sure we continue to ask questions about how we can make the most valuable learning opportunities for students, how we can integrate digital skills into their learning, and support their goals.
How do you use digital skills in your role and how do they help you?
One of the biggest ways that I use digital skills is in communication, and that's especially true in the last few years, as we've been dealing with the pandemic and focusing on how to do things effectively when we can't see each other face-to-face. I use Outlook all the time. As a student you may not use it much, but once you get into the workplace you’ll find that it is fundamental to everything you do. I spend a lot of time looking at people's calendars and seeing when they are going to be available to have a chat or to do some work, or even just to keep track of who's on leave.
One of the interesting things to think about is how these different tools work together. You have Outlook, which has a calendar function, and you have Teams that has a calendar function and the two are actually related. But how do you work with those two and how do they integrate with each other? Is a message more appropriate to put onto a Team's chat or is it more appropriate as an email? Should you do a video call or should you send a message? Beyond that, I love Excel, so I will use Excel anytime I can.
Digital skills can mean everything and it can mean nothing, and there's so much out there that you can do. What advice would you have for someone who's interested in beginning their digital skills journey but feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the possibilities?
I think you're going to get the most out of it if you start from the question of “What do I want to do?” It's not about learning a piece of software and then trying to figure out how you can apply it to your life. It isn’t about saying everyone should learn Excel, even though Excel's really cool, but to think about how you do things in your life and whether software is helpful. Maybe there's a problem that you have, something you feel you could do better or be more efficient in or you would like to make some kind of a change; is there software, or a tool or technique that could support you in doing that? Then learn how to use that tool for that purpose. Motivated, applied learning is sticky learning – it's easier and more effective than learning something for the sake of it or because you “should”.
If you're had one piece of advice to offer students while they're still at LSE, what would it be?
Take a breath and enjoy the ride. I've always been incredibly impressed with how talented and intelligent and driven LSE students are, they’re some of the most amazing people I've ever come across. That can also create a highly stressful environment and people can be exceedingly hard on themselves, especially when they're surrounded by people who are also super impressive. This is a short period in your life and it can offer great opportunities for the rest of your life but you don’t have to do all the things and make all the decisions now. You have decades left to have all kinds of experiences, to decide what you want to do and where you want to go. Make sure you take a breath and enjoy this experience while it’s happening.