This module looks at a broad classification of learning disabilities and the forms of technology that are best suited to overcome the associated challenges to learning.

This module explores the range of accessibility assistance, from common mainstream software, apps and tools, through to the specialist or bespoke technology for complex individual needs, and its implications for teaching and learning practice.

Replacing paper-based approaches to completing a learning plan (ILP) with technology has markedly improved its capacity to accommodate more voices and the immediacy or currency of its construction.

Self-employment is the norm in many industries, from bricklaying to music to childminding to professional consulting, and growing in importance. The self-employed often love their work, but few are keen on the essential business, finance and admin that is taken care of behind the scenes in...

This module looks at how to combine and mix existing resources to create more relevent content for learning. It examines how this can be used to enhance the development of your pedagogical practice with EdTech. It follows on from the module Creating content: adapting and editing.

Developing independence in solving practical problems is an important life skill and essential for employment. This module looks at how we can go beyond reliance on chance and build some of these events into the assignments, tasks and experiences we create, making a controlled space for...

Search engines will present you with online content for just about any subject, much of it free to use; presentations, videos, images, quizzes and more. But often there is so much to choose from - where do you start? This module looks at how you can make your searches for subject-specific...

Learner created content is a foundation stone of the shift from dependence to independence and on further to the collaborative interdependence that characterises modern employment. This module looks at ways that teachers can support development of the necessary skills, behaviours and attitudes to...

Organising learning consists of two distinct stages: deciding what you want learners to do, then managing the subsequent learning workflow from the start of each topic to its completion across an entire course or programme.

A digital identity is a chosen and created state by which a user presents themselves to the web and all it has to offer. It is defined in the accounts held, the actions, interactions and transactions carried out.

Communicating well is a skill in every aspect of life. Learners particularly need to learn how to collaborate and present their learning and accomplishments. Technology can help with making it easier to communicate in terms of its reach and immediacy but can also be a means to misreading what...

The main cause of heightened health risks associated with using technology come from making compromises in the physical arrangements made in accessing devices. They are exacerbated by prolonged periods of concentration that suppresses awareness of time spent in poor posture and without breaks.

When we go online we build up, piece by piece, online identities that can have positive and negative outcomes for our well-being, our sense of self-worth and for our future prospects, all based on how others react and respond to our activity. Each time we contribute to the web, we add to an...

Each time we contribute to the web, in public spaces and in private spaces we share, we leave a trail for others to find. The modules Digital well-being for all (Part 1) and Digital well-being for all (Part 2) explored how this is done and how we might manage it for the best outcomes. In...

Cyberbullying is generally understood as bullying that takes place over digital devices and uses the web to make the connections. The physical separation makes it easier for actions to be conceived as bullying even when it is unintentional as well as actions that are designed to cause hurt and...

This module looks at how learners can be encouraged and supported to take greater responsibility for management of their own learning. This is by using widely available technology to build the self-reliance and resilience needed to succeed in employment or higher education.

Technology facilitates the creation, collection, recording and publishing of learner's work. It demonstrates a learner's skills and supports course certification. Teachers may be involved in asserting its authenticity and accuracy and can help each learner manage how and where...

The main channels for jobs, whether full time, contract, intern or apprenticeship, are online. It is essential that learners can both find appropriate opportunities and be found by recruiters, who are looking for good potential employees, just as keenly as learners are looking for good jobs.

Employers looking for staff and individuals seeking contractors for a range of services regularly search the web for recommendations, reviews and personal information about candidates.

Getting employers involved in the planning and delivery of particular elements of courses is mandatory across a range of vocational areas and widely welcomed by educators and employers alike.

A benefit of using technology in content production is that it creates records of use (footsteps). These processes and products are referred to as data and data has value. This can often be exploited for commercial gain or to coerce or influence situations where there is no consent.

Managing and organising personal and curriculum team workload is an essential task for teachers in an increasingly complex work environment. A growing emphasis on team working, with many colleagues on sessional contracts across a number of institutions can make it difficult and time-consuming to...

Technology has brought dramatic changes in the way we live. It is not possible to second guess the nature or rate of change in any particular aspect of life with any accuracy, but it is possible for learners to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding that will help them to adjust and thrive.

Changes in work opportunities and the jobs market have seen increasing numbers of learners becoming self-employed, freelancing or working for a number of employers on temporary contracts, rather than finding long-term permanent employment. Getting a job is no longer a one-off exercise.

The gig economy in Britain provides work for nearly 5 million people at the last count. It’s a growth sector in an increasingly complex and varied employment market facing learners. Without digital technology platforms, this form of work would not be possible. This module looks at the...

Much of the process of networking and engagement with employers is the remit of senior managers. Individual teachers can have a big impact on teaching, learning and assessment in their own vocational area by building collaborative networks of employers in Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)...

Teachers help ensure that personal data is stored securely and used only for the correct purpose. Nothing is held beyond need or relevance, and that it is accurate, up to date and undertaken with the consent of learners concerned. The practical issues in protecting learners' personal data...

This module looks at the impact on teaching strategy of learners who bring their own devices. This has implications for users of assistive technology and for those learners who prefer to work on their own devices.

A useful definition of Blended Learning is the “combination of face-to-face learning and dynamic digital activities and content that facilitate anytime/anyplace learning.” (Jisc, 2017). This module follows on from the New forms and formats for face-to-face learning module and looks...

This module is the first of a pair, with the New forms and formats for Blended Learning module following on. This module looks at how changes in pedagogical thinking and our understanding of learning give the opportunity to renew the way we use technology in face-to-face learning.

Using technology well in supporting remote learning can maintain most learning activity affected in closing the physical classroom. Some subjects, such as: joinery painting and hairdressing are harder to replace, especially, those that are lab or workshop based or programmes such as counselling...

Immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) make a distinctive contribution to learning and to individual learners that cannot be replicated by any other media currently available to educators. What makes it special for educational content creators is its ability to fully immerse the user...

There are a number of widely available tools to create Augmented Reality learning objects. These enable you to put together creative and pedagogically effective learning resources that fully exploit the graphical capabilities of digital technology.

Homework traditionally follows classwork: a teacher introduces the subject matter then homework reinforces the learning. Now that facts and information are just a quick search away, learners need to know more than ever how to evaluate, understand and apply information. Flipped learning...

Synchronous learning occurs when the teacher and learners are present in real time. Meeting face-to-face remains central to most statutory and higher education. Asynchronous learning allows learners to choose the time and place at which they learn. It depends on access to resources rather to a...

A teacher's digital skillset must develop continually as digital pedagogy evolves in line with technical developments and emerging opportunities for new ways to improve teaching, learning and assessment. The DTPF offers an ideal framework around how to structure the ongoing development of...

Our online identities are the keys that unlock personal, social and commercial accounts and transactions. They create portraits of ourselves that others can access and by which they will judge us - as friends, colleagues, and potential employees. We explored the importance of a digital...