Stretching the efforts and reach made by learners is how teachers can express their desire for high expectations of learners and to make the most of their time in learning. Digital learning provides a platform, format or place to support these challenges. It offers new ways of providing a step up...

An e-portfolio is an online repository, belonging to and managed by the owner. It's a personal technology rather than shared, like a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It contains artefacts added by the owner that are curated, arranged and presented, either in their own right or as...

The scale of smartphone ownership coupled with the transformative nature of smartphone technology and the apps and tools that it supports give it great potential as a learning technology and platform. This module explores some of the opportunities and possibilities for adopting smartphones into...

Digital note-taking tools exist to cover all of the situations when what you need is a platform for informal rough working: planning, preparing and structuring a task; making sketches and diagrams. They are the digital equivalents of the back of an envelope or a blank sheet of paper, but they...

This module looks at the potential and role of mobile technology for learning, how best to make use of the affordances of mobile devices and how to ensure that appropriate support and guidance is in place for learners to succeed. It pairs with the module Using smartphones for learning.

An increasingly important definition views learning as a change in long-term memory. Theories of effective teaching and learning focus on enabling the progressive acquisition of knowledge by learners. This module looks at Barak Rosenshine’s widely used Principles of Instruction. They...

This module looks at improving learner engagement by rethinking the use of technologies within the classroom. It examines the possibilities for involving learners actively in sessions, embedded in a carefully structured approach to teaching face-to-face through technology.

This module explores the notion of face-to-face learning in a physical space such as a classroom and the place of technology in emerging pedagogy. It describes a framework for considering the activities and intended outcomes of face-to-face interaction.

A portfolio is the best method for storing and organising anything and everything needed to demonstrate and narrate a tutor's Professional Learning and Development (PLD). The personal nature of an e-portfolio ensures privacy and brings with it the benefit of it being online and shareable...

Most professionals now use online media to find training resources to resolve Personal Learning and Development (PLD) needs. This could be keeping up to date with the latest development in your subject, or to further your teaching skills development. Professional and social media can be...

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.

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.

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...

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

Hashtags have become one of the most useful ways of finding and contributing to communities of practice. This module looks at what they are, how to use them and some sector groups clustered around particular hashtags.

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.

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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.

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

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.