General information

 

Name of the good practice	Curriculum for teaching basic digital skills to adults
Name of the organisation or institution in charge of the project	Frederick University
Address, City	Nicosia
Country	Cyprus
1st project year	2015
Is the project ongoing? (time alive)	It is not a project. It is an Open Educational Resource freely available to be downloaded
The good practice is to be found at web.address	https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/node/137570
Website of the organisations	http://www.frederick.ac.cy/
E-mail	No information

 

Short description of the project, of the method

The Curriculum was developed to cultivate basic digital skills in adults. Specifically, it aims to develop the needed knowledge and skills to adults on how to use technology in order to achieve personal, educational and professional development.

Also, it aims to facilitate and improve the quality of life of adult learners. It also aims to provide them with the necessary tools to participate actively and effectively in the Information and Communications Society.

The modules of the Curriculum are:

• Module 1 – Basic digital skills
• Module 2 – Windows
• Module 3 – Microsoft Word
• Module 4 – Internet/Networks
• Module 5 – Microsoft Power Point
• Module 6 – Microsoft Outlook
• Module 7 – Using smart apps in everyday life
• Module 8 – Microsoft Excel
• Module 9 – Microsoft Access
• Module 10 – Introduction to IT Implementation in the Learning Process
• Module 11 – Communication Channels and Social Media and their importance

The Curriculum has been designed to be used by adult educators who teach basic digital skills to adults with (a) no digital skills, (b) medium level of digital skills, and (c) upper level of basic skills. The Curriculum can be described as flexible and easily customizable, with a clear structure. It is structured at three levels (basic, medium and very good) to match and meet the requirements of the three levels of adult digital skills mentioned above.

Each level is divided into 24 meetings (90-minute lessons). In total, students at each level must attend to courses of 36 teaching hours.

Each module includes the following elements: level, module title, course title, topics covered in the lesson, learning objectives, tools / software to be used, learners’ prerequisite knowledge, and instructional activity. It also gives 5 sample lessons from different modules and levels. Moreover, it gives to IT teachers, specific methods, techniques and exercises which they can use in each module and in each lesson.

 

General objective

This Curriculum is expected to help educators teach digital skills to adults to enrich their knowledge and learn specific methods and techniques which they can use according to the topic they are teaching.

 

Target groups – participants

This Curriculum refers to adult trainers, who are teaching IT to adults with high digital skills, but also to adults low digital skills, such as elders.

It is also targeted at various adult population groups such as the general adult population, elders, population living in the countryside, unemployed people, inactive and immigrants.

 

Which resources were necessary for the project?

As it is a Curriculum for adult teachers who teach IT to adults (like a curriculum), the resources needed for each module are being described in details to each module description.

 

Why it has been selected as good practice

This Curriculum for teaching basic digital skills to adults is a very useful tool for teachers who are teaching or want to teach IT to adults with los digital skills. Even if it is not focusing only to elders, it is a useful guide for IT teachers who wants to teach computers and new technology to seniors, as it gives guidelines about the modules which must be teached and the methods which teachers can use according to the topic of each module.

 

Final comment

A key component of enhancing adult digital skills is the systematic training of adult educators. Adult educators need a wide range of training opportunities that will help them to enhance their skills and abilities so that they can respond to their complex role and at the same time promote their professional development. This Curriculum is moving in this direction, which is expected to help educators teach digital skills to adults to enrich their knowledge. It is a useful tool in their daily teaching practice, thus enhancing the digital skills of Cypriot adults participating in relevant programs.