Starting a digital transformation cadre

The Ireland Training Fund subsidises the running of a 15 week post-graduate training programme in digital transformation on my local university campus. Here are thoughts from our first weekend.

Into the Generativism Matrix

For the past two years, I’ve shared my perspective of Digital Transformation (using the short code DX) with groups of post-graduate students who want to improve their professional skills. In many of Ireland’s top-performing companies, digital transformation is a key performance indicator. I distill several dozen KPIs into an academic module and focus on three key deliverables.

An Academic Framework of DX

Since it’s a Level 9 academic programme, I feel compelling to assess 55% of the marks for documents prepared in response to overhead questions about inevitable emerging trends. We use Kevin Kelly’s The Inevitable and Mairead Pratschke’s Generative AI in Education as our two main texts. We read and break down accessing, cognifying, filtering, interacting, remixing, screening, sharing, and tracking, using Kelly’s framework for our starting point.

All of our online sessions start with Campfire Reports during which we share hands-on usage of digital tools. We share how the tools or the workflows are transformative. Those campfire sessions are worth 25% of the marks in the DX module.

Mairead Pratschke’s easy-reading Springer text breaks down a cross-section of AI services for readers. I need to see how students are using AI services that I recommend for their deep dives into the technology.

AI Tools Used

Throughout the semester we share first-hand examples noted while using these specific services.

• Claude.ai

• ChatGPT

• Eleven Labs

• Fabric.so

• Gamma.app

• Google Gemini

• Invideo.io

• Lens

• Microsoft Copilot

• Napkin.ai

• NotebookLM

• Notion.so

• Perplexity.ai

Twenty per cent of the marks of the Digital Transformation module accrue through demonstrated competency with the tools that are used during time-limited hands-on sessions running in the academic module.

We started the work during a hands-on session on campus during the last weekend in January 2025. Some people wrote their first entries by hand into their Prompt Engineering Notebooks (mandatory by-product). Another team walked the halls to record a sample video clip that we will use in several multimodal exercises.

I hope the energy and the output of this industry-focused Springboard programme continues receiving the benevolent support of the Ireland Training Fund.