Improving your digital skills
Digital skills play a massive part in our everyday lives, sometimes without you even knowing it! Everything we do now has some basis in digital skills, whether you shop online, pay your bills via online banking, send and receive emails, use smartphones, and even watch TV.
Digital skills are important as they underpin so much of how modern work is conducted. Your work may be performed remotely away from an office or you may have to log on to computers or smartphones to see your rotas, read policies and procedures, send messages to your colleagues and use technology to log in and out of work.
No matter how you use digital technology, Aspiration Training will support you to develop the skills you need.
At the start of your learning journey, every learner is asked to complete an Initial Skills check to see where you are with your digital skills. Your coach will support you through your program to help you develop your confidence through the use of our online systems and by helping you to access other learning materials.
To help you to develop your digital skills we have put together four guides which you can find below, Digital skills for work and life, Computer essentials, Online safety, Career and professional development.
Get in touch with the Curriculum teamIn today’s society we all need good digital skills for us to be successful in both life and work.
There are so many free resources to help you develop your skills and confidence, we have highlighted a few of these below. These will help you with organisation, finance and give you the tools you need to use digital skills in the workplace.
Future Learn: Digital Skills: Digital Skills for Work and Life
Learn how digital is changing our personal and professional lives and develop the skills to thrive in the digital world of work.
The Open University: Succeeding in a digital world
Digital skills: succeeding in a digital world, will develop your confidence and skills for life online, whether study, work or everyday life. It explores a range of digital skills and practices, including digital identity, digital well-being, staying safe and legal, finding and using information and online tools, and dealing with information overload.
Lloyds Bank: Learn for Life
You will have access to over 30 resources to help with digital skills, organisation and finance. Find out about things like how to stay safe online, use office programs, like Microsoft Word, work with digital devices and improve your CV.
FutureLearn: Thriving in the Digital Workplace
Build the skills you need to use digital technology in the workplace, using real life case studies. In this course, you will be able to identify the digital trends in the workplace, explore skills and techniques for developing your career and develop techniques to enhance wellbeing and resilience at work.
Understanding how to use a computer or electronic device in a safe and effective manner will help you get the best out of your learning experience and support you as you develop in your career. Sometimes we forget how to do things or want to increase our understanding of how things work, take a look at some of the free links to resources and course available to help you:
Learn My Way
A collection of resources to help you use the internet including using your computer or device, online basics, office programs, creating spreadsheets, improving your health online, managing your money online and public services online.
Make It Click
Find out about things like sending emails, creating a CV, editing photos, advice for working from home and using excel spreadsheets.
Microsoft: Getting the most out of Microsoft
Learn how to use Microsoft Outlook, an email program used in the workplace and find out how to do things like send an email, book a meeting, manage your calendar and organise a to-do list.
FutureLearn: Digital Skills: Artificial Intelligence
Discover the ability of artificial intelligence to transform your everyday life and reshape the way you work.
Keeping safe online is essential. With so many aspects of our lives now entwined with using technology in a digital world, being able to be digitally resistant is fundamental. In a digital society our personal details are readily accessible. You need to know how to protect your data and keep safe when working or sharing information online.
There are a number of resources available to help you understand what you can do:
The Open University: Introduction to Cyber Security
This free online course, Introduction to cybersecurity: stay safe online, will help you to understand online security and start to protect your digital life, whether at home or work. You will learn how to recognise the threats that could harm you online and the steps you can take to reduce the chances that they will happen to you.
Barclays Life Skills: Staying Safe Online
Find out about how to keep you safe when transacting, purchasing items or handling your money online.
Phishing Awareness Training (Bilingual – English and Welsh)
This training module will help you understand what phishing is and how it works, how you can identify phishing emails, different techniques of phishing and what you can do to protect yourself and your organisation.
Fraud, finance and online crime (Bilingual – English and Welsh)
The aim of this short training session is to explore types of online crime, in particular identity theft and fraud. It also provides strategies for spotting scams and fraudulent behaviour online and ways to protect your information and money.
Digital skills impact on all of our careers. Having a good range of digital skills will help you no matter what career path you have chosen.
Many employers consider the message you send out through your online presence by viewing the social media account you have, such as Linkedin or Facebook before offering you an interview. Be aware of the message you generate about yourself and learn the skills you need to create the impression you want.
We all need good communication skills and digital skills plays a huge part in this. Whether you need to present information to others, plan a project or just to develop your confidence in presenting information about yourself, you can find resources to help you. Below you will find a selection of these.
FutureLearn: Create a Professional Online Presence
Learn about how to present yourself professionally online including using different social media platforms, how online behaviour can impact your professional reputation and safety online.
FutureLearn, Institute of Coding and University of Leeds: Essential Skills for Your Career Development
Discover tools to help you identify the skills you need to plan and achieve your career goals. Learn how to use planning tools, establish career goals, create a professional network, use your transferable skills and navigate job applications and interviews.
Google: Communicate Effectively at Work
Use digital tools to communicate and collaborate with others in the workplace more effectively. Find out how to hold a team meeting, collect feedback, create and share a proposal and present information to an audience.
The Open University: Digital thinking tools for better decision-making
Find out how digital thinking tools, like Google Search, help us solve problems and make decisions. Then apply those tools to practical issues. Learn how to use digital thinking tools, describe how digital tools help us and discuss the future of digital tools and artificial intelligence.
Google: Manage a Project with Digital Tools
Find out how to efficiently manage and organise projects, using digital tools like Google Docs and Google Sheets. Learn how to plan a team project, track its progress and costs and prepare a summary report.
Testimonials
Want to know what it’s like to be apprentice? Hear what some of our apprentices have to say…
“I enjoy working with the children and seeing them develop, which is something you don’t see in the class room.”
During my apprenticeship with Aspiration Training I’ve felt fully supported even at those times where I have doubted myself.
My assessor is the best assessor I could ask for. I can’t imagine doing an apprenticeship with anybody else.
“Throughout my journey with Aspiration Training, I have learned many essential skills that have helped me not just in the workplace, but also out of the workplace.”
