What do the Student Digital Champions do?

MOOC participants may well come across the #digichamps hashtag in social media conversations about the web Science MOOC. But who are the Digichamps and what do they do? Here, one of our new digichamps, Merel van Dijke, sheds some light on the subject:

“The Student Digital Literacies Champions (or in short Digichamps) are a group of students from the University of Southampton with a passion for technology and education. We collaborate on events, workshops and projects to create engaging and interactive experiences, but also share, inspire and teach both other students and teachers how to use digital technologies in their personal and professional lives. Because we do so much, we are constantly working on different things. At the moment we are working at the Creative Digifest 2013 (#SXSC3) but also on a Twitter workshop, a multicultural social media event, a social media and employability lecture, Random Hacks of Kindness, and of course the launch of the Web Science MOOC.

New projects keep pouring in, so we do know how to keep ourselves busy! If you want to know more about us, check out our blog and this neat video:

We always have time for doing even more University projects, so don’t hesitate to contact us when you need any help!

Personally, I really like being a Digichamp! When I first heard of the program, I knew that I needed to join. With my Master-degree in communications, I already had a lot of scientific knowledge about social media, but I felt that I could learn a lot more by putting my knowledge into practice. Now, I’ve been given the chance to use my expertise on Social Media to help others understand its possibilities! In this digital and knowledge-based world there are so many options for people to explore, and it’s great that I can help them find their way. This help can be provided in many different ways, so being a Digichamp is never boring. I could be writing blogs today, while teaching, tweeting, making a Storify or making photos and videos on an event tomorrow! Not only do I enjoy doing this a lot, I think it will help me with my future career as well, since I’m gaining so much hands-on experience.

I feel very fortunate that I can do all these things that I love to do with a great group of people. By joining the Digichamps I have made a lot of new friends from different (cultural) backgrounds and disciplines, who all have different views and opinions on technology, social media and, well, life. This not only helps me grow as a Digichamp, but also as a person. Therefore, joining the Digichamps has been one of the best decisions I made when I came to the University of Southampton. I can’t wait for all the new events to come, to keep learning and to keep growing.”

Tom says:

November 11, 2013 at 8:43 am

You don’t talk much about any critical angle to your work. Is there anyone in the group that is critical of all things digital or is it pretty much a group that accepts all aspects and digital life and helps people do them better?

Merel van Dijke says:

November 11, 2013 at 9:35 am

Hey Tom, Good point! We do our best to always stay critical when we are doing a job. In the Twitter workshop we are doing in a few weeks for example, we don’t only talk about the benefits of Twitter, but also about the dangers and that you should always use your social media account responsibly. It’s important for us to educate this to the people that don’t use social media as much as we do (yet), so that they get an adequate view of the pros and cons. Next to that we always look critically during events what the best tools are to enhance engagement and content. So if this means interviewing or filming next to tweeting, we also do that. It is the reality now, however, that a big group of the people coming to events are using social media and it is therefore important that we are at those media too :) I hope this answers your question! See you around!

kathy says:

November 11, 2013 at 5:56 pm

Dear Digichamps,

I’m a teacher of the visually impaired and for many of my students, the web and devices like the IPad have been a game changer, so to speak: access to instantly downloadable books (vs waiting weeks for expensive braille editions) shopping (vs waiting for a sighted friend to take them to the store) etc etc etc – but web sites and apps are useful only when their authors make it a point to make their products accessible.

May I ask you to keep accessibility in mind wham you discuss or evaluate web tools?

Merel van Dijke says:

November 12, 2013 at 10:53 pm

We are always trying to do that Katie, but I’ll mention it again explicitly in our next meeting to bring attention to it once again :)