Digital Learning, ICT and Computing

Introduction:

Over the last 10 years our daily lives have been transformed by the growth of digital media. Many Transformation Fund projects reflected this change by making good use of the learning potential of the digital world. Other projects reached out to offer basic ICT skills to people who had not previously had access to computers or the Internet.

Key Projects:

Digital learning activities fell into three broad themes:

learning about technology, offering teaching in basic ICT skills to older people or excluded groups - CHANT, Go-Woman Project, Screenreader.net
learning with technology, through online courses, or mobile devices - Online to Scilly - Cornwall Adult Education Service, Nature at Sundown, Devon,
using technology to find out about learning, through websites, blogs and online social networking - New College Swindon ( M435), Explore Media, City of York ( M120)

A number of projects worked with digital technology with a media focus. Details of these projects can be found on the page dealing with media.

Lessons Learned:

Although these three distinct themes could be identified within the digital learning projects, the most successful projects embedded digital skills training as a seamless part of a wider learning activity.

Providing information about learning opportunities added value to existing websites with communities of users.
A mix of digital and face-to-face interaction helped to develop an appetite for progression to further learning.
The use of multimedia, social networking and collaborative online applications for student discussion promoted more collaborative learning and supported independent learning.
Many projects used the products of learning - the websites, images, animations or podcasts - as tools to promote learning and celebrate success.

Projects were required to share resources they produced with others. The programme has raised awareness of the value of sharing such material through systems such as Creative Commons Licensing. Material has also been publicly posted on sites such as School of Everything | Resources for Everything.

Making it work:

Complex technology projects take time to set up and the best results in the Transformation Fund projects came from using tried and tested technologies applied in imaginative ways by inspirational teachers and other enablers of learning. To maximise the benefits of learning with digital technology you need to:

ensure that teachers and others involved in supporting learning are confident with using the technologies involved;
develop "blended learning" approaches which integrate digital tools with other approaches, to maximise the benefit for learners with different learning preferences;
make sure sufficient technical support is available for the technology to work smoothly; and
use websites and other resources created by teachers and learners to publicise learning opportunities and celebrate the learning that has taken place.

Help for teachers is available from:

Learning with Technology Project: Homepage | Supporting Informal Adult Learning

Background:

For many people today technology is just part of everyday life. It's estimated that 40 million people in the UK now use the Internet, with around 30 million of us using it every day. However there is still a "digital divide" within the UK. A third of the UK population is still not online, and 10 million adults have never used the Internet. 4 million of these are among the most disadvantaged; 39% are over 65, 38% are unemployed and 19% in families with children. 48% of disabled people are digitally excluded, as are many people in the lowest income households.

More and more daily transactions are carried out online, and much public information is now made available through websites. Those people who are unable to access the internet, or do not have the skills to use digital technology, are already at a major disadvantage and their situation will worsen in the future. Basic ICT skills are now recognised as an important Skill for Life alongside literacy, numeracy and language skills.

Digital learning in all its forms can open up exciting new opportunities to individuals and reconnect people in communities.