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Blended Learning Essentials: Developing Digital Skills

Support your learners to develop digital skills for the workplace through the use of blended learning.

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17,390 enrolled on this course

Blended Learning Essentials Digital Skills course 3 image
  • Duration

    2 weeks
  • Weekly study

    4 hours
  • Included in an ExpertTrack

    Course 3 of 3
  • Get full ExpertTrack access

    $39/monthFind out more
  • Accreditation

    AvailableMore info

Why join the course?

Almost every job now involves a range of digital skills, yet employers report a shortage in skilled new starters. This course will enable you, as a teacher or trainer, to develop your learners’ digital skills for successful employment and progress in the modern workplace.

Through real-life case studies, resources and practical support, you’ll be able to help your learners manage their online identity and digital information required for their work. You’ll be shown how to assist learners to create digital content and provide you with tools for communicating effectively and working collaboratively.

Build different approaches for teaching digital skills

Explore the different ways of teaching digital skills and find out how you can apply them to your own subject and teaching approach. This will allow you to prepare learners to meet the demand for digital skills in the workplace. You will test out a number of different exercises and platforms to develop their understanding further.

Teach your learners to create and publish digital content

Creating digital content is a common task across a variety of positions and industries. Teach your learners how to create basic and advanced content, and review the tools available for both the training and the task. You’ll even learn how to help them work collaboratively online, adding another set of useful skills to their repertoire.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 10 seconds We’re in the digital age now and so are your learners and trainees. Almost every job now involves using a range of digital skills, whatever the sector. And yet, the government and employers report that young people are coming into the world of work without the skills they need for citizenship, for the economy, and for their own employability. Every time young people go online, they leave a trail of information and data about themselves, especially on social media. Do they want potential future employers to see the identities they create? We’ll help you to give them control over their digital identity. Your learners know how to search for and select information online.

Skip to 0 minutes and 54 seconds Many jobs involve working with digital data, how can you help your learners manage digital information? Employers now expect young people to have experience of creating digital content. This course will give you examples of tools and apps that can help you and your learners to develop digital creation skills. And a lot of jobs now require employees to create digital content collaboratively. This may involve working online with lots of people in different locations and even different time zones. You’ll have the opportunity to see many of the new tools and apps for communicating and collaborating online. The course will give you the knowledge and confidence to help your learners develop these skills.

Skip to 1 minute and 40 seconds We’ll give you resources, practical support, and teaching ideas on how to develop these four digital areas. The course covers a wide range of vocational education settings and all kinds of learners, with a variety of expectations and needs. And being online, it’s very flexible. You’ll be working at your own pace through videos, demonstrating good practise, guided practical activities, and discussion with other participants. And you will be trying out these ideas in your own learning context. We’ve made sure the course is based on the real experience of how digital skills are actually being used by young people at work. We’re asking employers to tell us what they need from your learners. Studying on the course is easy.

Skip to 2 minutes and 26 seconds You can do it in around four hours a week using your computer or mobile device. And what’s more, once you sign up for the course, you can use the resources in your own local professional development, as well as for supporting your learners. So please join us. You’ll discover all kinds of useful ideas about how to prepare your learners to be the most effective in the modern digital workplace.

Syllabus

  • Week 1

    The skills for managing online identity and digital information

    • Welcome

      Before you get started take some time to meet the educators who will support you through the course. There's also an opportunity to meet your fellow learners, identify your learning goals and plan your learning journey.

    • Raising awareness of digital skills being used in the workplace

      This first activity explores the broad issue of digital skills, and how they apply to the contemporary workplace.

    • Ways of teaching digital skills

      This second activity explores ways of teaching digital skills, and how these might be applied to your own subject/training areas.

    • Managing a digital identity

      This activity moves onto the 1st type of digital skill: managing a digital identity.

    • Managing digital information

      This activity engages you with the 2nd type of digital skill: managing digital information.

    • Summary

      This reinforces what has been learnt so far, and orients you in the next week of the course.

  • Week 2

    The skills for digital content creation and collaboration

    • Welcome to week 2

      This second week will focus on the third and fourth digital skills from the framework: Digital content creation and Digital collaboration.

    • Creating basic digital content

      In this activity you learn some of the ways in which young people are required to create digital content in the workplace, and you are introduced to tools that can be used to achieve this.

    • Creating advanced digital content

      In this activity we introduce content which shows how young people are required to be able to create digital content in the workplace, and introduce tools that can be used to achieve this.

    • Publishing digital content

      In this activity we discuss copyright and the factors that need to be considered when publishing digital content. We will also explore the different licences that are available.

    • Collaborative digital content creation

      In this activity we will explore the fourth and final skill from the digital skills framework, how digital content can be created collaboratively and how to work collaboratively online.

    • Summary

      We end with a summary of what you've learned on the course.

Prove you're job ready

Highlight the new, job-relevant skills you’ve gained and supplement existing qualifications with a hard-earned, industry-specific digital certificate – plus one for every course within your ExpertTrack.

  • Learn the latest in your chosen industry or subject.
  • Complete each course and pass assessments.
  • Receive certificates validated by the educating organisation.
  • Impress employers with learning outcomes you can add to your CV.
  • Make your career dreams a reality.

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Who is this accredited by?

The CPD Certification Service (corporate member)
The CPD Certification Service (corporate member):

This course is seeking accreditation from the CPD Certification Service, which will mean it can be used to provide evidence of your continuing professional development.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Enable teachers and trainers to develop their learners to acquire the digital skills needed in the workplace - to manage personal online identity
  • Enable teachers and trainers to develop their learners to acquire the digital skills needed in the workplace - to manage digital information
  • Enable teachers and trainers to develop their learners to acquire the digital skills needed in the workplace - to create digital content
  • Enable teachers and trainers to develop their learners to acquire the digital skills needed in the workplace - to use tools and techniques for working collaboratively
  • Collaborate on models for teaching of digital skills in practice
  • Support teachers and trainers in the VET sector in developing their digital skills

Who is the course for?

This course is open to everyone but particularly aimed at those working in the vocational education and training sector, including: further education, skills training, vocational education, workplace learning and lifelong learning or adult education.

Who will you learn with?

Chair of Learning with Digital Technology, Knowledge Lab, UCL IOE.
Developing a global community of teachers around the Learning Designer

Twitter: @thinksitthrough
https://twitter.com/thinksitthrough

Dean of Digital Education and Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Leeds. For more information see: https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/education/staff/156/professor-neil-morris

Promoted by

Association for Learning Technology

Who developed the course?

University of Leeds

As one of the UK’s largest research-based universities, the University of Leeds is a member of the prestigious Russell Group and a centre of excellence for teaching.

UCL Institute of Education

Founded in 1902, as a teacher training college in London, the IOE is now a world-class research and teaching institution.

Endorsers and supporters

funded by

Ufi logo

About this ExpertTrack

Prepare your learners to succeed in the workplace by fostering digital skills through blended learning.

Start learning today - free 7-day trial

After your free trial you can:

  • Pay $39 per month to keep learning online
  • Have complete control over your subscription; you can cancel any time
  • Work at your own pace and set your own deadlines at every stage
  • Only pay while you’re learning; the subscription will cancel automatically when you finish
  • Complete online assessments to test your knowledge and prove your skills
  • Earn digital course certificates and a final award that you can share online, with potential employers, and your professional network
  • Keep access to the content of courses you complete even after your subscription ends

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

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