> [!summary]+ Summary > This page explains a workshop designed to help guide faculty in their decision-making around the design and development of digital projects. The session aimed to spark interest, create realistic idea development expectations, and build awareness of available staff support. The conversation was to focus on teaching rather than tools. (See the bottom of this page for the results of this workshop.) # Is a Digital Project Right for Me? **Delivery details:** <u>Date</u>: Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 <u>Target audience</u>: University faculty <u>Delivery format</u>: Remote/Zoom <u>Duration</u>: 60 minutes ## About the workshop This workshop was the product of a joint effort between me and a director colleague to address digital literacy/fluency among George Washington University faculty. My colleague, the Director of Faculty Development, had expressed to me a long interest in exploring with faculty possibilities for digital projects in teaching and learning. But she had reservations because she wanted teaching practice to come before technology use. She didn't realize that we completely agreed. So as part of our pitch to [GWU Columbian College of Arts and Science (CCAS)](https://columbian.gwu.edu) leadership and faculty in spring 2023, we developed a couple of workshops along with plans for a *digital projects faculty cohort* to work on digital projects of faculty choice with our staff during the summer months. ### Workshop goal **To reasonably determine if participants are technically able to take on creating a digital project and what if any support they would need.** I designed and delivered this workshop with an Educational Developer and it ran in 7 parts: 1. What have we faced and what are we facing? 2. What is a digital project? 3. What is digital fluency? 4. Pathways and project types 5. Gallery walk 6. Advantages and challenges 7. "Is this right for me?" worksheet #### Part 1 Included a short discussion and contextualized in terms of the overwhelmingness of COVID-19 in the recent past (to the workshop), the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the present, and the expectation of future hybrid work and study. #### Parts 2 and 3 We then defined what a digital learning project could be, some things needed to make this happen, and talked through a scale of digital competence — digital proficiency, literacy, and fluency. #### Part 4 Had everyone discuss digital projects from the lens of digital immigrants and digital natives. Many of the faculty we worked with were digital immigrants. #### Part 5 My partner took the participants through a [digital project gallery](https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/3J2Pcjmr40x6G?) she created. I made some edits and additions to the listed projects. For each we gave a project example, related digital skills, potential digital tools, and other considerations. #### Part 6 Had everyone discuss fostering creativity and student skills, making creative assignments, and boosting digital fluency. This was balanced by addressing the need for time to design and develop a digital project, designing assessments for digital projects, and building the needed digital fluency to be successful. #### Part 7 We walked through a worksheet and discussed questions for making the decision on whether a digital project is something good to build. ## Slide deck <div class="container"><iframe class="responsive-iframe-sd" src="https://1drv.ms/b/c/13829E5D2EB238DE/IQTU6JIFifYNRYg1xGpQQPmgASzMOFtkhiqRYuW5-mnVxes" width="100%" height="400" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div> *Note: These slides were built using Google Slides. Generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI) was not used to create or write any aspect of the slide content. All stock images were provided by [Adobe Stock](https://stock.adobe.com).* ## 🎯 Results This workshop directly supported bringing faculty participants into the digital projects cohort of the Course Design Institute (CDI). Participants reported having a better sense of whether or not they should pursue creating a (new) digital project and if so, how much help they may need. As a result, it helped to spur consultations between faculty and staff.