Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
We are proud to introduce our brand new Essential Digital Skills Courses for Entry Level and Level 1 qualifications, designed for adult learners. Released in July 2022, these courses have already been accessed by thousands of learners across the country to improve their digital literacy. The need for digital skills education was made clear when the Lloyds Bank UK Consumer Digital Index survey in 2018 found:
- 11.3 million people (21%) lack full basic digital skills
- 4.3 million (8%) have no basic digital skills at all
- 5.4 million working adults (10%) are without basic digital skills
- People with a registered disability are 4 times as likely to be offline
- 28% of those aged 60+ are offline
Basic digital skills include things many people take for granted, such as using a search engine to find a website, shopping online or completing online application forms. There are millions of people in the UK who are being left behind because they cannot carry out basic day to day tasks such as sending emails or paying utility bills online. These people are also being disadvantaged in the workplace, with technology and basic digital literacy skills now a necessity for most jobs in one form or another.
In 2019, the government published the Essential Digital Skills Framework (EDSF). CENTURY courses follow the five strands of the EDSF and are suitable for learners who are preparing for a formal examination with one of the awarding bodies, or those who simply want to improve their digital literacy.
Here at CENTURY we want to support these learners whatever their aims. We have released two courses that aim to help people improve their basic skills for life and work. Each course consists of a combination of short diagnostic tests and bite-sized pieces of learning called nuggets. Diagnostics find the gaps in a learner’s knowledge and CENTURY’s AI will pinpoint the correct nugget to assign to fill the gap. Each diagnostic corresponds to one of the EDSF’s five National Standards.
- Digital Skills Entry 3 course: 5 diagnostics, 35 nuggets
- Digital Skills Level 1 course: 5 diagnostics, 44 nuggets
Our content has been designed by a team of former teachers with experience of teaching at level 1 or below, and will accommodate learners who might have a low level of literacy or have English as an additional language. There is less text than in our English and maths nuggets and we have used a variety of methods to support understanding. We teach each concept in small steps right from the beginning, and don’t assume any prior knowledge. Every nugget has a slideshow and a video, with real-life examples from home and work and example assessment questions with model answers. Questions have been designed to test understanding and the application of knowledge in other contexts. Our courses teach digital skills for all devices, including computers, laptops, smartphones and tablets, using the most popular operating systems.
In addition to learning the basics about hardware and software, learners can find practical advice on issues such as how to troubleshoot when a device isn’t working, as well as protecting your data and staying safe online. Our videos provide step-by-step guides to writing and editing in word processing applications, alongside more advanced tutorials such as our bonus spreadsheets course, where topics include using formulae and creating charts that will help learners put their skills into practice in the workplace.
Tutors using our comprehensive digital skills courses are only one click away from high quality learning material covering all of the National Standards that they can incorporate into their lessons. The slideshows and animated videos can be used to help bring the concepts to life while teaching, and the self-marking questions can be used for consolidation and formative assessment to quickly identify any gaps.
Book a demo to find out more about the courses, or speak to your Account Manager if you are an existing customer for more information.
