Learners should understand how digital technology can be used to create and edit media, such as photos, videos and audio. They know how to create media and are able t edit, including cropping, trimming, filtering and prompting.
BBC L.A.B. is a collection of simple films about how to make digital content.
How to Take Brilliant Photos on Your Phone
Learn My Way is a free online digital skills learning platform.
This section contains some recommended project-based learning resources and activities that teachers might use with learners who are secure in their digital competencies from the previous page.
Digital literacy moves beyond the technical competencies in the Learner Digital Skills Toolkit and develops into critical and social skills that are relevant and representative of the realities that people live (Marín & Castañeda). In short, digital literacy should enable people to fulfil the four capacities and participate fully in society.
These resources are designed to cover a combination of the three digital literacy Experiences and Outcomes.
Learners should understand the risks of being online and the cyber security steps they should take to reduce these risks. They should know how to set up accounts and devices securely and how to report and recover from any risks they encounter.
This learning covers Experience and Outcome x-03a.
BBC Bitesize has useful information on how computers and the internet work.
Visit the Barclays Digital Wings site to view tutorials and learning resources for fundamental digital skills. This requires a login with email, name and password – teachers should check their data protection policy before registering learners.
Learn My Way is a website of free online learning for beginners, helping you develop digital skills to make the most of the online world. Some aspects of this page may require a login – teachers should check their data protection policy before registering learners.
CyberFirst is the national cyber security education programme from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Their CyberSprinters game and teaching resources is an easy place to get started with cyber.
Go to CyberSprinters
Our Cyber Toolkit provides more practical advice on teaching learners about staying safe and secure when online.
Every secondary school has copies of Your Money Matters textbooks and resources:
Go to Your Money Matters Scotland
This page outlines the digital literacy skills and knowledge that learners should have to participate fully in the modern world. This ranges from awareness of digital devices, platforms and services and how they affect our lives to being able to troubleshoot common issues with technology.
The Digital Literacy Planning Support documents are examples of how educators might plan learner digital literacy learning. The documents identify the Technologies Experience and Outcome, a theme to apply this, suggestions of the skills and knowledge that that might be delivered, and links to some resources that might be relevant.
“Scotland’s future will be forged in a digital world. It’s a world in which data and digital technologies are transforming every element of our nation and our lives – people, place, economy and government.”
(Scottish Government, 2021)
It might be worth exploring some of the features of this policy with learners and considering the impact of an evermore digital world.
Without going too far into Computing Science (a specific Technologies organiser within CfE) it is important to understand the basics of how computers and other digital devices work.
These BBC Bitesize pages are a great place to start:
What is a computer system? – BBC Bitesize (first level)
What is the internet? – BBC Bitesize (first level)
Input and output – BBC Teach (second level)
Computer networks – BBC Teach (second level)
After learning about what computers and digital technology is, and how they work, learners could investigate how technology is used in a range of industries. These resources from Tech She Can are free to use and easily adapted to suit different ages and stages:
All of the devices and technology we use has two obvious environmental impacts – the raw materials to make (which then need recycled again) and the energy to power them. There are lots of activities and lesson ideas on this page about Sustainability that could be linked into learning about device manufacture, energy consumption and eventual disposal.
Could your learners reimagine or improve this cycle?
2nd level Learning for Sustainability – BBC Bitesize
This page on the BBC Future site has some fascinating reading with lots of information and statistics for teachers. Do you know the CO2 emissions of sending emails and direct messages or watching a video on YouTube? There’s facts and figures that could be used to create challenges for learners to consider and solve:
Why your internet habits are not as clean as you think – BBC Future
Learners’ own digital literacy skills and knowledge
Troubleshooting: diagnosing and solving technical problems with devices and platforms
Usability features: using devices, platforms and services’ features to make them easier to use (accessibility)
This page outlines some of the key digital literacy skills and knowledge that learners could make effective use of in the classroom. This ranges from being able to upload, share and collaborate on platforms like Teams and Classroom to using platforms like SeeSaw and Showbie to journal and share their learning.
Developing Your Learners’ Digital ‘Pencil Case’ is the corresponding professional learnign to support teachers plan, teach and assess this set of digital literacy skills and knowledge.
The Digital Literacy Planning Support documents are examples of how educators might plan learner digital literacy learning. The documents identify the Technologies Experience and Outcome, a theme to apply this, suggestions of the skills and knowledge that that might be delivered, and links to some resources that might be relevant.
The first aspect to consider is how learners can use Glow and other online platforms to connect, contact and communicate with each other. Are they using email, direct messaging or video calls? How are these skills useful in learning, life and work?
Using cloud drives, such as OneDrive (Microsoft) and Drive (Google), learners can create and share content with peers, teachers and even learners in other schools or countries. Not only can they be shared, they can be co-created and edited at the same time on multiple computers at once! How is this useful for life, learning and work?
Collaborating using IT – BBC Bitesize
Tech She Can has a short video explaining how cloud computing works for younger learners:
When planning learning around the functional tools in Glow, it is worth considering their purpose and application. Text-based documents, such as Word, Docs, PowerPoint and Slides might lend themselves to Literacy & English Es and Os:
Typing is a useful, but not essential, skill in modern digital literacy. Teachers might plan some typing practice as part of this functional suite of learning in order to enable learners to use them more effectively:
When planning learning around the functional tools in Glow, it is worth considering their purpose and application. Text-based documents, such as Excel and Sheets might lend themselves to numeracy & Mathematics:
These two collections of tutorials may support teachers develop skills with the Microsoft and Google suites of apps:
Free Microsoft Office Tutorials at GCFGlobal
Free Google Tutorials at GCFGlobal
Learners should understand how to find information online and the need to access reliable sources. They should know how to use a search engine, where to access reliable information and how to read online information.
The guidance on this page was developed by CILIPS (Scotland’s library and information professionals).
This guidance supports teachers to guide school students with finding, assessing and using information both online and physically.
This is sometimes described as information literacy, media literacy or digital literacy. Ultimately, it is about embedding critical thinking skills at all ages, when sources of information vary significantly; the potential harms of mis- and dis-information and inaccurate conspiracy theories are significant.
CILIP define it as: ‘Information literacy is the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to develop informed views and to engage fully with society’.
Read a fuller definition with this button
The rest of this guide will help with trusted sources, spotting mis- and dis-information, and how to assess your own practice.
Learners should understand that apps allow computers and digital technology to perform specific functions. They should be able to use apps that are appropriate to their context, whether at home or in school. These might be apps on the device or on the web.
BBC Bitesize has useful information on how technology can be used to create media and how the computer stores this, making it easy to edit and share.
This section focuses on the basic knowledge and skills required to use the most common office productivity and collaboration software.
Learn My Way is a free online digital skills learning platform.
This page outlines some of the key digital literacy skills and knowledge that learners could make effective use of in the classroom. This ranges from being able to upload, share and collaborate on platforms like Teams and Classroom to using platforms like SeeSaw and Showbie to journal and share their learning.
The first aspect to consider is how learners can use Glow and other online platforms to connect, contact and communicate with each other. Are they using email, direct messaging or video calls? How are these skills useful in learning, life and work?
What are digital communication systems? – BBC Bitesize
go to Cyber Toolkit for advice and guidance on communication
Using cloud drives, such as OneDrive (Microsoft) and Drive (Google), learners can create and share content with peers, teachers and even learners in other schools or countries. Not only can they be shared, they can be co-created and edited at the same time on multiple computers at once! How is this useful for life, learning and work?
Collaborating using IT – BBC Bitesize
Tech She Can has a short video explaining how cloud computing works for younger learners:
When planning learning around the functional tools in Glow, it is worth considering their purpose and application. Text-based documents, such as Word, Docs, PowerPoint and Slides might lend themselves to Literacy & English Es and Os:
Typing is a useful, but not essential, skill in modern digital literacy. Teachers might plan some typing practice as part of this functional suite of learning in order to enable learners to use them more effectively:
Dance Mat Typing for 7 – 11 year olds – BBC Bitesize
go to the Literacy Trust website for more examples and information
When planning learning around the functional tools in Glow, it is worth considering their purpose and application. Text-based documents, such as Excel and Sheets might lend themselves to numeracy & Mathematics:
Creating and understanding charts and graphs – BBC Bitesize
go to the Joint Mathematical Council report on digital tools for maths
These two collections of tutorials may support teachers develop skills with the Microsoft and Google suites of apps:
go to the free Microsoft Office Tutorials at GCFGlobal
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