What is Digital Learning?

Digital technologies have revolutionised our world and are now central to the way our students live, work and study. Instant access to resources is taken for granted, as well as participation in social learning groups, while mobile devices enable engagement with learning to take place anywhere.

Blended learning

All our programmes and modules support learning via multiple methods where appropriate, through online resources and face-to-face activities, where academic staff carefully design the correct blend for their discipline and students. Techniques such as ‘flipped learning’ combine the strengths of online independent study and social learning during lectures.

Open learning

Many academics want to share their knowledge with the widest possible audience, and curate online resources and courses that are open to all. The University has partnered with FutureLearn to offer Massive Open Online Courses that have reached hundreds of thousands of learners.

Social learning

Most students use social media to stay in touch with friends and family across the world, so using it to support learning and develop a professional online presence is a natural step. Digital literacies are key skills that students need to develop, from good communication using multiple media to actively managing their online presence.

LinkedIn learning

LinkedIn Learning is an online library that teaches the latest software tools and skills through high-quality instructional videos taught by recognised industry experts. All students and staff at the University of Southampton have full, free, unlimited access to all the online tutorials in the library. Thousands of your peers and colleagues are using LinkedIn Learning to learn new skills as part of their academic, vocational and personal interests. Visit http://go.soton.ac.uk/lil to join them.

Narrative media

Digital media have become an important means of communicating information and ideas, and modern technologies and software mean that anyone can create and share video and audio. There is still a role for professionals who use their technical skills and understanding of the medium to produce high quality learning resources.

Interactive media

Online training that develops and tests knowledge and skills can be accessed through standard web browsers using PCs or mobile devices. Typically created by a team that includes subject experts, media developers and learning designers, these resources can be expensive and are best suited to large cohorts. However, online authoring tools enable some fantastic low-cost creative activities such as interactive timelines and virtual reality videos.

Unsupported apps or online services

Thinking of using an app or online service in your teaching which is not provided by the University? This guide explains what to consider first.