ECDL ICT in Education

Overview
Frank Mockler
ECDL Foundation
 ECDL Foundation
14+ Million people worldwide have chosen ECDL / ICDL

...in 41 languages, across 150 countries, through a

network of over 24,000 test centres
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

• Have pedagogical knowledge and

skills
Teachers, • Are digitally literate
trainee • Are just starting to use ICT in the
teachers, classroom
who • Want to apply their pedagogical
knowledge and skills to the use of ICT
to improve student learning outcomes
Module Goals
CATEGORY SKILL SET

• Benefits
Key Concepts
• Pedagogy and ICT

• Lesson Planning Considerations

Planning
• Safety, Security, and Well-Being

• ICT Resources for Teaching and Learning

Selecting ICT Resources • ICT Resources for Assessment
• Sourcing, Evaluating ICT Resources

Managing the Learning • Classroom Technologies

Environment • Learning Platforms
Developing skills and knowledge…

Provide knowledge, practical Provide an example of the

skills and a toolkit of tools effective use of ICT through
and resources the delivery model

Tailored to support the Contextualised through

teacher and their teaching • Examples of good practice,
context e.g. templates, resources, tools etc.
• Activities, Demonstrations, Hands-
• Existing competences
on practice
• Subject taught
• Exercises
• Student profile
• Teaching strategy
• Specific tool requirements etc.
… and certifying them

2 scenario based
29 conceptual multiple choice
36 questions in 45
multiple answer questions -
minutes
questions selecting resources
for a lesson

2 scenario based
Content can be
3 practical questions open answer
modified to suit the
- updating content in questions -
training programme
a learning platform evaluating teaching
content
resources
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.