The Digital Competency Framework

WHAT IS THE DIGITAL COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK (DCF)?

In September 2016, the digital competence framework (DCF) was published as part of Graham Donaldson's Successful Futures report. The DCF is a key part of how we, as teachers, deliver the curriculum to you and how we aim to develop your digital competency in order to prepare you for life after school.

WHAT DIGITAL SKILLS WILL YOU BE DEVELOPING?

Throughout your time at Caldicot School, we aim to help you to develop new skills and provide you with as many opportunities as possible to develop new digital skills, in particular. It is important to understand that developing your digital skills will not be confined to IT lessons exclusively, but in all of your subjects and areas of learning.

There are four strands of the DCF which are as follows:

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP

It is important to understand your place in the digital world and that the virtual world of the World Wide Web is just an extension of our physical world. We need to understand how to use the web effectively, how it can be used both positively and negatively, and what affect our online behaviour can have on the real world.

2. INTERACTING AND COLLABORATING

It is also important to develop your understanding of using a range of online communication tools to collaborate and complete project work with your peers and teachers. You will learn how to use online collaboration tools that allow you to work on the same document simultaneously from different computers or locations.

3. PRODUCING

You will be refining your skills for a range of software used to digital and printed content such as DTP (desktop publishing), presentations, websites, video, audio and animation. You will learn how to use online search tools such as Google Search more effectively and efficiently to allow you to access and locate accurate information quickly. Finally, you be able to understand the evaluating and improvement process that is used by industries all of the world, to ensure that what you have created is the best that it can be.

4. Data and Computational Thinking

You will develop your computational thinking skills, which will give you techniques that will allow you to solve problems in a step-by-step process, just like a computer does. You will learn how to break down a big problem into smaller problems and solve them bit-by-bit. You will also learn how to use spreadsheet tools to analyse data quickly and accurately, in addition to understanding how to collect electronic data and apply those spreadsheet skills to analysing your own data.

hoW WILL YOU APPLY THE DIGITAL SKILLS YOU HAVE LEARNED?

The digital skills that you will develop in school will be useful both now and in the future, regardless of your education or career path.

IN SCHOOL

You will be able to transfer the skills that you have developed across all subject areas in school. For example, if you create a video in English, then you can create a video for any purpose, no matter what the subject. Once you have acquired the skill, you can then apply it to many other things. If you use computational thinking skills to break down a recipe in food technology, you have the skills to break down any other problem made up of many parts, in any other subject.

FURTHER EDUCATION

Whether you choose to go to university or go on to an apprenticeship scheme, the digital skills that you have developed will be vital to you. You may need to use your research skills to find accurate information as efficiently as possible, or use your communication and collaboration skills to work on a group project. Having a wide range of digital skills will allow you to work effectively on your own or as part of a team.

WORK AND CAREERS

Almost all jobs now make use of some form of ICT. When applying for jobs and going to interviews, a strong digital skills set will be a very appealing prospect to an employer. New members of a team, that can already use computers effectively, will be able to settle in quickly and get on with the job. Additionally, they may also be able to bring new ideas, using ICT and digital technologies, that will benefit a company greatly.

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