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 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.

Productivity software (office business applications) such as word processing, presentation software and spreadsheets are amongst the most common applications most of us encounter and use on a daily basis. Continual development of functionality has taken them beyond flat text production, number...

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.

This module expands on the guidance given in Recording teaching sessions and Digital tools for personal learning. It looks at three forms of video and video streaming where the combination of presentation, discussion and viewing open up opportunities for personal CPD and in supporting the CPD of...

An e-portfolio allows you to gather together in one place a record of your PLD and evidence of achievement. It can host different forms of evidence such as sound and video files, as well as whole presentations, URL links and other resources. You can see and hear as well as read about what...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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....

Reflecting on, then acting to improve professional effectiveness is part of every teacher’s practice. Technology provides a means to support the management of every aspect of the Professional & Learning Development (CPD) cycle and, in the process, improve the management and...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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.

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.

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...

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...

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...

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.

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.

A recorded teaching session can provide real opportunities for improving your teaching practice, especially if you share it with colleagues in a quality circle or improvement group where you all watch each other's recordings to review and reflect upon them. This module looks at some of...

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...

Planning and developing a sequence of understandable instructions or ordered steps to solve a given problem or perform a specific task is a core skill for education and employment. This module looks at how teachers can support and develop this across a range of subject areas using different...

This module looks at what we mean by content and how teachers can help learners to develop an understanding of the tools and skills they can apply to creating it. It is paired with and followed by the module Independent learners: developing skills for content creation.

Recall doesn't just demonstrate evidence of learning; it is an integral part of the learning process. This module identifies the core elements of recall and revision and looks at the role that technology can play in directing them to improve learning outcomes.

The way students learn and the skills they need to progress are the same used in class, but they offer new challenges to get the best from the options they present. How learners meet those challenges at the start of a programme and what help is provided for improvement requires thought in initial...

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...

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 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.

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...

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.

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.

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 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.

This module looks at the digital components of personal learning environments, the contribution that they make to learning and at ways in which teachers can direct the full span of digital possibility to successful outcomes.

Research shows that reflection and review of learning and the processes by which it is carried out are powerful methods for improving knowledge retention, learner experience and outcomes. This module explores the role of both tools in promoting reflective learning and contributing to improved...

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

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

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...

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...

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 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 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.