ECDL ICT in Education Overview Frank Mockler ECDL Foundation

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Aims of ECDL Foundation

• Promote digital skills as the key enabler of effective use of ICT

• Advocate the continuous development of digital skills through the use of structured training and certification programmes

• Develop accessible, relevant, high-quality digital skills certification programmes

Background to ICT in Education

• Requirement identified by national partners, policy priorities, and our own understanding of ECDL in the education sector

• Syllabus defined and informed by a range of activities and stakeholders: – Working with UNESCO in Libya

– Expert input from the European Schoolnet network

What it is – and what it isn’t…

• In scope: – Benefits of using ICT in teaching, learning and assessment – Planning an ICT-enhanced lesson – Selecting and evaluating ICT tools and resources – Using ICT tools and resources in the classroom

• Out of scope: – Teaching, learning and assessment theories – National and organisational ICT policies in education – ICT as a taught subject – Knowledge and skills covered in other ECDL / ICDL modules

Candidate Profiles

Teachers, trainee

teachers, who

• Have pedagogical knowledge and skills

• Are digitally literate • Are just starting to use ICT in the

classroom • Want to apply their pedagogical

knowledge and skills to the use of ICT to improve student learning outcomes

Module Goals CATEGORY SKILL SET

Key Concepts • Benefits

• Pedagogy and ICT

Planning • Lesson Planning Considerations

• Safety, Security, and Well-Being

Selecting ICT Resources

• ICT Resources for Teaching and Learning

• ICT Resources for Assessment

• Sourcing, Evaluating ICT Resources

Managing the Learning Environment

• Classroom Technologies

• Learning Platforms

Developing skills and knowledge…

Provide knowledge, practical skills and a toolkit of tools

and resources

Provide an example of the effective use of ICT through

the delivery model

Tailored to support the teacher and their teaching context e.g. • Existing competences • Subject taught • Student profile • Teaching strategy • Specific tool requirements etc.

Contextualised through • Examples of good practice,

templates, resources, tools etc. • Activities, Demonstrations, Hands-

on practice • Exercises

… and certifying them

36 questions in 45 minutes

29 conceptual multiple answer

questions

2 scenario based multiple choice

questions - selecting resources

for a lesson

3 practical questions - updating content in a learning platform

2 scenario based open answer questions -

evaluating teaching resources

Content can be modified to suit the training programme

content

Validating the Module

In practice, how relevant was our solution in terms of: • Syllabus coverage – breadth and depth

• Target audience – usefulness for “beginners”?

• Learning content – what content is appropriate?

• Certification – how important is certification?

Piloting

• Pilot partner – Department of Computer Science at TCD

• Development and deployment of learning content via Moodle

• Identification of pilot participants – 25 currently practicing teachers

• F2F kick-off in November 2015, approximately 15 – 20 hours of self-paced learning and online activities; F2F wrap-up and certification test in December 2015.

• Test was a formally invigilated exam.

What we found…

• Syllabus coverage – breadth and depth was appropriate for the stated target audience

• Target audience – focus on “beginners” was correct, although the participants were actually more advanced than we would have wished

• Learning content –Most participants completed the learning in less than 15 hours. • Certification – High interest and participation in certification test. Some suggestions

for improvement in test base taken on board.

• Best result – confidence in mastery of all knowledge and skills areas covered by the syllabus improved significantly!

Want to know more?

• Visit the Programmes Section of www.ecdl.org

• Talk with our colleagues in ICS Skills if you think you might be interested in this module.