Digital Essentials

This course is to help you learn and develop your ICT skills from the beginning. You may already have some knowledge, but may not be confident in using these skills, unsure what buttons and icons to use etc. You may want to develop their home life, skills for work or job seeking skills. You should be able to follow a simple set of instructions and be able to write in sentences using capital letters, full stops and question marks and spell common words correctly, read and write, correct spellings and use a dictionary where appropriate.

You will complete an initial assessment to find out what you already know and what is the right level for you. Your teacher will then support you to set your individual learning targets so that you can reach your learning goals. You will be given a Topic and Assessment plan which will outline your course content and any key assessment dates. Some examples of topics are listed below:
• To develop essential digital skills necessary for work, life and further study
• To interact with digital devices and handle information appropriately
• To create, edit and store digital content
• To share content and communicate effectively using digital devices
• To develop transacting skills necessary for work and life
• To be safe, confident and responsible online

Each session will focus on specific topics and consist of mainly practical work on a computer or laptop following a demonstration of the topic by the teacher through videos on Moodle - which will help you to develop your digital skills. The course may also involve discussions via email, web chat and individual tasks.
There will be handouts and activities for participants to complete with teacher guidance and feedback. You will access our Virtual Learning Environment – Moodle to complete all aspects of the course, developing skills, other services and be aware of future courses/next steps.

The course is free. Pens and paper would be recommended for the purpose of note taking although handouts and online activities will be made available, nd a file would be helpful for your work.

An Initial Assessment activity at the start of the course will enable your teacher to assess your starting point. In every session we acknowledge and accommodate for different levels of skill and experience, so students will be encouraged to identify and work on own areas for improvement. You will complete an Online Individual Learning Plan where you will set personal learning goals and targets which will be reviewed by both you and the teacher throughout the course.
During the course you will have the opportunity to discuss your progress with the teacher and you will receive feedback on a one to one basis on how well you are doing. Your progress will be checked using a variety of techniques including email question and answer, completed quizzes and online tutorials.