A teacher's professional digital skillset consists of two components; technical and vocational knowledge. This requires teachers to develop sound digital pedagogy – applying technologies to best effect in teaching and learning – and to keep up-to-date in the changing role, impact...

As with all other aspects of teaching, changing subject and industry practices and requirements emerge as ideas, fashion and skills develop. A lot of changes occur by or through technology and it is an essential mechanism for its dissemination and adoption.

The pace of technological change means we have to look for emerging ways to improve even when everything is going well. This module looks at how the cycle works in education, where changes in curriculum and better understanding of effective teaching and learning are powerful drivers of...

The decision to dedicate scarce time and resources changing digital technology and practice has to be rewarded by the greatest possible impact on teaching, learning outcomes and experience. This module looks at the example of a single teacher and a subject team determining their innovation plan.

This module follows business tutor Alicja and her colleagues as they apply the innovation matrix and the SAMR model to find innovative ways to deal with the problems that emerged in the module Innovation and the need for change. It looks at the goals and issues that were identified when they...

Many problems can be examined and innovative solutions implemented by the creativity of individual teachers and teaching groups. This module follows on from and extends the example and analysis introduced in Identifying the Need for Change and leads into Identifying and Assessing...

The goal and measure of successful innovation must always be that each individual teacher can work with their learners in new ways to achieve better outcomes. This module looks at the part to be played by teachers in implementing such innovation and innovative practice.

This module looks at the range of innovation from individuals to whole organisations. It also looks at how to recognise the signs that it is time to change. This module is part of a linked group with Innovation: 'Review process and practice' and 'Identifying and assessing...

This module examines how we currently use the data available to us, how we might find ways to develop it further to improve teaching and learning and what the emerging field of learning analytics might contribute.

Educational technology is a pedagogical tool like any other. It should not be used for the sake of it, but rather because it has greater impact on learning outcomes or other desirable education goals than alternatives.

Effective blended learning calls for all aspects of the design to be seen as parts of an integrated whole, all equally important in ensuring the best possible learner outcomes. Learning activities and experience, resources, online content, support, guidance and teacher oversight, assessment and...

The continuing growth of blended and online learning has shifted an ever-increasing proportion of learning activity offsite, away from reassuring presence of teachers and support staff. The guidance and support that teachers have always provided for learners in the classroom remains essential if...

Learning analytics evaluates data available on learner activity and performance, together with administrative data such as system logins and entry/exit swipe in records to guide individual feedback and targeted interventions.

Technology improves productivity through working with others, by accessing and engaging with ideas and in improving the administration of life activities. As a consequence, when done well, it provides more time to pursue higher, perhaps more pleasurable things in life and improved general wellbeing.

In a world of competing voices, reputations for one's ideas are hard won and easily damaged and are only as good as the last contribution to a body of work. Consequently, professional standing as a teacher is important and can be managed through maintaining the quality of contributions to...

Using technology, like any other human activity, has an impact on the wider environment. Consumption and pollution from how our devices are made, used, and disposed of, is offset by the changes in environmental costs of behaviour changes that come from where and how those devices are used.

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...

Using technology has taken teachers ability to interact with one another onto a global platform. The challenge is matching up the right audience with the content shared. It follows that extra care is needed when posting to a site where the audience isn't known.

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...

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.

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.

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...

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...

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...

The non-profit Creative Commons (CC) organisation was set up to make it easy to share and use creative content online. Licensing is simple and free on the organisation’s website. This module looks at Creative Commons as a method of copyrighting work and the advantages for users and authors...

The internet is full of information and it’s not all accurate. This module looks at the different types of error to be found, from unintended to deliberately misleading and how to prepare learners to recognise and deal with them.

Netiquette is short for internet etiquette. A code of behaviour for communications on the web. It arose in the early years of the internet to address the difficulties fast emerging in online communications, from frustration and misunderstanding at one end of the spectrum, to unpleasantness and...

The government formally recognised digital skills as the third essential skill, together with English and Maths. This module looks at the framework and standards and considers how they might affect both ICT and other teaching staff.

Plagiarism is wholly unacceptable in an educational context. When carried out with the intention to pass the work of others off as your own it is fraudulent; when done without that intent it is lazy or negligent. This module looks at how to ensure that learners understand the boundary between...

This module looks at the importance of respecting the intellectual property rights of others by role modelling behaviour and rethinking the way we approach teaching and assessment activities.

The module explores the practical underpinnings of good attribution and referencing. It looks at how to develop and reinforce the judgement learners need in order to avoid plagiarism. This module pairs with Dealing with plagiarism.

This module looks at a systematic approach to assessing the reliability and validity of information that is likely to end up embedded in learning resources and teaching practice.

Many learners come into education with confidence in front of a computer that disguises a patchy skills profile that does not add up to digital literacy.This module looks at the difference between being tech-savvy and digitally literate and its implications for teaching and learning.

Formative assessment is a core part of instruction. It delivers challenge, embeds knowledge and enables learners to measure their own progress and needs; it is a natural candidate for delivery through technology.

The embedding of digital technology across all forms of subject-assessment creates opportunities for developing learners’ transferable skills over and above vocational expertise that is at the core of their learning programmes. This module looks at how you can make transferable skills...

Peer assessment happens when learners find inspiration and insight in the ideas, suggestions, criticisms, contributions and thoughts of other learners, relative to their own contributions. As a result, learners can refine actions, comments and contributions to make their own learning and work...

Polling tools have stretched far beyond their original function of carrying out surveys and reporting results. Anyone who bought goods or services online will have encountered them; they underpin user satisfaction reporting across the board in the burgeoning online retail market, from...

Using videos, structured sets of annotated still images and sound recordings can be a great way to provide feedback. This is particularly true when the work you are assessing is an event or performance of a task: when you want to know how well an apprentice changed a washer, not how well they...

Quizzes have long been recognised as a useful method to test learners' knowledge and check their understanding, but they offer more than that. Their effectiveness lies in their ability to be accessed when learners want to check learning and can be repeated as often as leaners want,...

Computer-based tests and digital media are widely used in formative assessment. This module looks at their use for enhancing low stakes summative assessment activities, where the goal is to test and confirm that a learner has completed a block of work, and for programmes such as NVQ, where...

Feedback response times are a critical lever for improving learner engagement and success. This module looks at how technology can support improved assessment and feedback methodologies and interventions, to lower turnaround time.

Written text remains the most common way of providing feedback to learners on their outcomes and performance in assessment. Many digital tools are now available for creating and delivering written feedback in different formats and media, annotating, overwriting, converting speech to text,...

Technology-based assessment has become increasingly sophisticated in the design of tests. This is through automating the collection, and the immediacy of the presentation, of the results.

This module looks at how you can lead the collaborative creation of complex content covering a number of subject areas and involving several colleagues. It follows on from two preceding modules: - Creating content: adapting and editing. - Creating content: combining and mixing.

Teaching and learning quality policies often refer to the importance of high-quality resources and content. But what does that mean and who should judge it? This module looks at the issues involved in making these decisions.

This module shows you how to design learning resources from the outset to enable quick, easy and effective updating when the future brings significant change. It follows on from the paired module Future Proofing content - what does it mean.

This module looks at how to deliver the best outcomes from systematic and professional searches for suitable resources. This will include balancing the challenges of credibility, reliability, usability and suitability when assessing the worth of found resources and taking into account what...

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...

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.

Many public and private sector organisations' websites contain dedicated educational content around their particular area of interest, industry or product range. This module looks at the opportunities and benefits of using them in learning.

This module looks at how to overcome or find ways around some of the technical compatibility issues you can encounter when searching for resources on the web to use with learners.

This module looks at what is meant by future-proofing content, why it is necessary and why it is increasingly important. The principles and practice of future-proofing content together with some simple techniques are examined in the paired module Principles and practice of future proofing...

The web is awash with sources of information and resources to support teaching and learning. This module looks at ways to organise your search practice.

This module looks at adapting and editing existing learning materials, your own or resources you found online, for a different learning purpose. Creating new resources from old can extend the life of learning materials and is a time-efficient approach to meeting the needs of different learners.

A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) attempts to replicate in an online space everything learners might want to do and what a tutor might want to share as part of a programme of study. Learners are 'enrolled' to the course area. It contains a library, assignment and announcements areas....

Making the most of new forms and formats of technology happens when teachers and learners let curiosity lead them in experimenting to find better depth, reach, efficiency and fun in learning.

A quality learning experience can be found in learners recognising learning that exceeds their expectations in terms of how they worked and what they learned. It leads to a desire to repeat or learn more. Digital technology used well contributes to this in both the administration and enterprise...

Technology can help find learning advantage through group working. Groups are formed around identifiable common goals or interests, in the belief that working together is more productive or satisfying than working alone and simulates real working environments.

A strength of learning in a classroom has been the immediacy of interaction between learners and teacher. Teachers are looking for a balance between having a culture of collective and common effort and personalised methods of achieving it. How might teachers guide, and interact with learners in...

Digitising content has kept the language of files and folders associated with paper storage, but replaced its office-based storage into condensed, highly portable, indexed stores, that can be carried in the pocket or accessed from an online store.

Rather than faithfully represent an online version of a standard course, Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) enable you to add extra features and offer learners: - flexibility in engaging with learning material, - an opportunity to repeat a learning activity for reinforcement, and - a...

How communities of learning can be formed and become effective through technology. Successful groups are characterised as being able to have a greater output than the sum of its parts. This principle applies to learning, which is why group learning is so common.

Running wholly online programmes has its own challenges for learners and teachers. Online learning offers flexibility in when to engage with it, and attendance in a timetabled class is not a requirement for successful completion. But for some this can be a challenging because it asks learners to...

Peer learning is learning with and from each other. Its meaning is more tightly defined as it being mutual learning between classmates of equal knowledge.

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.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a wholly manufactured experience. Learners can use mobile devices, often worn (so as to respond to head movements), to see and interact with a visual depiction of a place, person or object. The location of the learner is not material to the experience because it is...

Augmented Reality (AR) superimposes either graphics, visual presentations or text as an overlay on a given view, looked at through a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet. Location is important for AR and where the device being used and what it is pointing at because AR is rooted in the...

Video is a powerful tool for teaching, learning and assessment. High quality recording capability built into mobile devices make it easy to create, edit and apply video to everyday practice. The resulting footage can be uploaded, shared and accessed on a number of sites and platforms.

Animated images can provide a way into a complex idea, enliven content, engage attention, consolidate, reinforce and make learning memorable. It can reveal the impossible and invisible – the structure of an atom or how a virus attacks the body.

Remote working from home takes place beyond the reach of the reassuring formal structures and patterns of teaching and learning and the professional and social interaction with colleagues and learners that goes with it.

Wellbeing refers to our sense of self and our ability to live our lives as closely as possible to the way we want to. Digital wellbeing describes the contribution of technology to wellbeing and includes home working and remote learning, but there are potential risks to wellbeing in using technology.

This module is related to the Effective teaching and learning online module because supporting learning is a feature of effective TLA. With online learning, similar to learners in traditional content, support is needed to ensure learners can be successful.

It is difficult for teachers to maintain effective oversight of learning activity during remote online working. Records of learner logins can’t show if a learner was engaged in learning and making progress, or even physically present at a device.

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...

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...

The introduction of digital communities of practice has maintained the dynamic of teachers working together and supporting each other but has added to and revolutionised the ability of teachers to continue to support and influence each other not restricted by time or distance, nor the format and...

Adopting digital technologies to collaborate and share practice beyond your own institution will enable you to: - find out what colleagues in other organisation's in the sector are doing in their teaching. - share, adapt and adopt good practice and learning objects and resources more...

An online repository is a collection of content, resources and links to useful directories and content. By pooling and sharing, those with access can reduce the time spent in searching for peer reviewed content elsewhere for lesson generation. They promote a more collegiate approach to teaching...

Producing effective online learning activities takes time, effort and creativity. This module looks at the process of creating learning resources with the intention that they are shareable resources; making them available to others, driving the concept of collaborative creation in your own...

This module looks at the practical issues of how to build synchronous online learning into a balanced programme of online and face-to-face learning. It examines the challenges of real-time online activity (technical, social and personal) and things you can do to ensure that learner experience...

Using links and attachments is a means of connecting two separate parts to a communication. The first part is the primary narrative. It is an explanation, introduction or scenario setting narrative in a text, message, mail or web-page. The second part is further content that provides evidence, by...

Digital technologies have a particular value in their ability to be shared over distance and then viewed and worked on at different times. This allows content and resources to be adapted, improved, questioned, have examples added, have gaps and other incompletions filled, and so on, completed...

Digital technologies don't always work as they should - one of the few areas in the controlled environment of education institutions where something failing to do what you expect can be quite normal. Learners need to move from relying on teachers and technical support staff for solutions...

Synchronised working uses technology to deliver learning normally done in a classroom or workshop, without having to be physically present in the room. Learners can observe and take notes, but also engage with the teacher and fellow students. All the benefits of working together,...

Tailoring content and delivery to meet an individual learner's needs rather than taking everyone through the same programme at the same pace is an accepted goal of education, promoted by government policy and examined at inspection. Technology has allowed education to push back the...

The module looks at the use of technology to tailor content to meet the needs of a range of sensory, linguistic and cultural barriers. This can lead to better learner retention and outcomes and greatly improved learner engagement and experience.

Technology makes meaningful personalisation a practical reality. Assistive technology, with materials and resources designed for accessibility and inclusion provides the essential foundations to support learners with a disability or learning disadvantage. This module looks at the ways in...

Intermittent and disrupted attendance of learners is an early warning sign of potential drop out or underachievement. This module looks at the ways technology can help us to intervene early with effective solutions.

This module looks at why it's worth creating and delivering personalised learning pathways and how to make them work in practice. It follows on from the Personalised learning pathways module.

A fundamental requirement for effective learning is to understand and be understood. Inadequate language skills are a barrier at each stage of the learning journey. This module looks at the ways technology can transform the learning experience and outcomes for ESOL learners and those who...

The culture that we grow up and live in can influence the way we prefer to communicate. This module looks at how we can draw on this rich diversity to improve the learning experience for all.

This module looks at the issue of reflecting and representing diversity through the lens of the Equality Act 2010's nine protected characteristics.

Digital technology enables us to create personalised pathways that provide a unique route to learning for all learners, particularly individuals who are less likely to benefit from mainstream options. This module looks at the characteristics and features of personalised learning and the...

The diversity of learners extends to differences in their levels of digital skills, experience and confidence. This module looks at ways to ensure that our teaching does not disadvantage those with existing low levels of digital skills.

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...

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.

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.

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)...

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...

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.

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.

Playful learning refers to the use of games, toys and other elements of play to support learning. It can be found in all sectors of education and has been with us ever since we moved away from Victorian methods of keeping quiet and copying from the chalkboard. This module looks at ways we...

Active learning can deliver significant benefits in terms of improved learning outcomes and learner experience. This module looks at the coordination of skills, resources, planning and organisation that is required to design successful active learning and empower teachers to deliver it.

Partnerships that bring teachers and learners together to develop digital skills can deliver real benefits to both groups. This module looks at the practicalities of developing and sustaining such partnership. It pairs with and follows on from the module, Learner-led activity.

Active learning can make a measurable improvement to learning outcomes. It’s been shown to be more effective for all learners including SEND learners. This module looks at the elements of successful active learning and the role that digital technology can play.

Digital technology and games has created the world’s largest leisure industry. This module explores how they apply to the delivery of learning activities. We look at their use to motivate and engage learners and identify areas where they might be particularly useful. This pairs with the...

Using technology to enable and support learner-led activity is a good way to develop these skills in an engaging way. Allowing learners to direct some of their own learning can drive significant improvement in outcomes and engagement. This module pairs with and precedes the module Staff and...

This module looks the characteristics of traditional and active learning spaces, both as concepts and as practical pedagogy. It looks at ways to deliver active learning within more restricted and lesser resourced contexts. The module pairs with the Active learning: experience and outcomes...

Pace refers to the rate at which a learner proceeds through a learning event, whether it be synchronous learning in a classroom or online, or making their own way through an asynchronous learning event. Pace is fundamental to progress and performance, but there is no single pace that suits all...

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...

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.

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 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.

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.

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...

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.

This module looks at how to improve the elements of an organisation's digital technology strategy that relate to accessibility and its significance for bringing about change in teaching and learning practice.

Legislation for accessibility changed in a very positive way with The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations (2018). This module looks at how to stay on the right side of these regulations.

This module considers how issues of equitable access to digital technologies can have an impact on the quality of learning and how this may be redressed.

This module follows on from the module Creating inclusive content: Principles. It shows how the principles from Creating inclusive content: Principles can be applied to create resources that are good for all users.

This module looks at an individual's digital context based on personal access to the appropriate technology, their awareness of it, and the digital skills to make use of them.

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.

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 looks at using technology to support the learning activities of SLDD learners who are working towards living independently.

This module explores the use of spoken text through devices such as e-readers and eBooks to overcome barriers to learning for a range of learners, not only those with a sight impairment.

This module shows some principles of good practice for creating content that meets the needs of learners with a disability or learning disadvantage.

Copyright and other intellectual property rights set up legal restrictions on the conditions of use of publications, images, designs and any other works created by an identifiable author. This module looks at the implications of copyright for teaching and learning. It forms a pair with the module...

This module looks at the knowledge and skills you need in order to teach Working with digital media at Level 1.

This module looks at the knowledge and skills you need in order to teach Creating and editing digital media at Entry Level.

This module looks at the knowledge and skills you need in order to teach Processing numerical data at Level 1.

This module looks at the knowledge and skills you need in order to teach Creating and editing documents at Entry Level and Level 1.

This module looks at the basic components of personal computing through the use of the various devices, the systems that run on them, setting them up as preferred and keeping them in good order.

This module looks at the means of managing content that has been created and collected by users. It is important to keep content in secure storage and to be able to retrieve it easily by searching.

This module looks at navigating online content to search for and find useful content. It looks at using searches, hyperlinks, menus and other navigation elements to locate required information. This will include how to retain and save useful links to content for future use or for reference. Users...

To develop your understanding, skills and confidence to teach competencies in Dealing with technical problems from the Using devices and handling information skills area of the National Standards for Essential Digital Skills (2019).

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.