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.

Knowing how to choose the right tool or app for a task is a key skill for life and work. It requires more than understanding the broad purpose and technical capabilities of tools and packages. It calls on a learner’s ability to analyse a problem, plan an activity, monitor progress and...

Confidence in your digital practice comes from success: success in improving your teaching and learning rather than being good with gadgets. This requires the capacity for personal critical reflection and a means to share what you did with colleagues, at your workplace and in wider...

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...

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 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.

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.

The best basis for improving practice is evidence from research. This often just confirms our own experience. This module looks at metacognitive strategies and considers how technology might support their introduction into learning.

We all have a preferred set of tools, apps and software that we use for teaching and learning. Making sure you know how to use this to the best of its ability is the first step to effective teaching and learning with technology. Then, it’s time to extend your range. There are countless...

This module looks at ways to deal with technical problems that emerge while teaching. Technical problems can happen at awkward moments in a session. There are some quick and simple ways to try to resolve them, but if these don’t work then teachers can turn the situation into pedagogical...

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

Taking photos, making videos and creating sound recordings is easy work for anyone with access to a smartphone or tablet. Once captured, image, video and audio files can be easily uploaded and stored online, edited, mixed with other evidence, shared for assessment and annotated for feedback....

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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,...

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.

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.

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 knowledge and skills you need in order to teach Using online services data at Entry level and Level 1.

This module looks at the knowledge and skills you need in order to teach Buying online at Level 1.

This module looks at the knowledge and skills you need in order to teach Buying online at Entry level.

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...

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...

This module looks at the types of digital activities that leave a 'digital footprint' and understand the personal implications for the user in having those footprints. It includes considering how to make the most of leaving information in web sites that help form relationships and speed...

This module is progression from Communicating and sharing 2 that focuses on Entry Level issues in relation to setting up accounts, sharing, and collaboration.

This module looks at how learners can create, edit and access contacts in preparation for sending and receiving online communications using four different methods. It also explores communicating text and including other digital content to individual and multiple recipients, and how to initiate...

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.

This module looks at how identify situations where personal information may be stored securely on personal devices as well as online. It includes how to manage the movement of persona data in a secure way and the use of simple methods to protect personal information and privacy.

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

This module looks at the known risks of prolonged physical inactivity in using technology and the possible psychological risks that can also occur in some forms of interaction. It also looks at how these can be mitigated or removed.

This module looks at the knowledge and skills you need in order to teach Being responsible online. The first chapter deals with behaviour that is socially inappropriate and how to protect yourself from it. The second chapter focuses on behaviours that are illegal and how to stay within the law.

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 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...

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 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.

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...

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.

Well-designed mobile learning activities can deliver a range of benefits to learners. This module will look at two scenarios that describe the advantage of good design and the issues that can constrain it.

This module will look at what is meant by mobile learning. It will illustrate some of the teaching and learning opportunities that mobile phones, tablets, and small laptops can bring. Ownership of smart devices amongst the under-50s in the UK is nearing 100%, with increasing use for a widening...

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

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

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.

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 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.

The module Developing digital problem-solving skills looked at the way one teacher develops each learner’s independent problem-solving skills through a simulation of practical difficulties arising with the digital technologies they are using. This module extends that exercise to...

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...

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...

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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...

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...