Digital skills are essential in today’s workplace: there are few jobs that don’t require them, yet employers report a skills shortage. It is therefore vital for teachers to expand the digital skills of their learners.
‘Developing Digital Skills’ is the third course in the highly successful Blended Learning Essentials (BLE) series of MOOCs, and runs again on the FutureLearn platform from 16 April. Join for free at https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/blended-learning-digital-skills
Commissioned and funded by the Ufi Charitable Trust, the BLE courses are designed specifically for the Vocational Education and Training sector.
Professor Diana Laurillard, one of the lead educators behind Blended Learning Essentials, says: ‘We’re hearing every day about the need for digital skills in all kinds of jobs in the modern workplace. The idea of this course is to help the FE and Skills sector with gearing up to supply the graduates industry so desperately needs.’
Ufi Chief Executive, Rebecca Garrod-Waters, says, ‘Our BLE programme is a great example of how Ufi is working to develop products where we see a market need; supporting the increased use of VocTech for teaching and learning. We are very pleased to be funding “Developing Digital Skills”. User feedback shows how valuable BLE is in giving teachers and trainers the skills and confidence to make more use of digital technology and improve outcomes for vocational learners.’
The course seeks to address the digital skills gap by giving teachers and trainers the knowledge and the confidence to teach the necessary skills to their learners, thus enabling the students to bring much-needed digital skills to the workplace. It also enables teachers to train their learners to manage their digital footprint.
The course includes examples of tools and apps that can help teachers to develop digital creation skills in their learners.
The course covers a wide range of vocational education settings and all kinds of learners, with a variety of expectations and needs. It is based on the needs of employers and on the real experience of how digital skills are being used at work.
The course is entirely online and can be completed at the participant’s own pace. It will be delivered on Futurelearn, the UK’s leading platform for delivering open courses. The course starts on 16 April and is free of charge.
Find out more and join the course: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/blended-learning-digital-skills.
Blended Learning Essentials is a free online course developed by the University of Leeds and UCL Institute of Education, supported by the Association for Learning Technology and funded by the Ufi Trust.
You can contact Blended Learning Essentials by emailing ble@alt.ac.uk, or on social media @BLECourseand #FLble3