Digital Skills Training for Educators

Google for Education

Teach from Anywhere is a website originally set up during lockdown (2020) to help give teachers and families the tools and tips they need to help keep students learning. However there are lots of resources on how to use Google Suite (e.g. Google Classroom, Slides etc). You can see them here.

If Google Classroom is what you want to know more about, then this Google Slide has links to all sorts of on demand video tutorials and the Classroom Help Centre also has numerous guides to navigate the features.

Further training resources can be found on their ‘For Educators‘ page – there is basic training right up to being able to qualify as a Google Certified Educator Level 1 or Level 2.

Google’s Applied Digital Skills resource contains 250+ hours of content for teachers to use with students to teach digital skills or can be used by teachers to upskill themselves. Designed for all levels of ability to use.

Finally another teaching resource designed by Google which can also be used by teachers to explore computer science – Code with Google.

Microsoft’s Education Centre

This resource allows you to learn how to use Microsoft Technology in your classroom in effective and engaging ways. You can explore ideas, resources and lesson plans. You can track your own learner journey through badges and points; you can also share your training transcript with others.

Find out more here.

Office 365 – Whether you want to learn the basics of office apps such as Excel or Word or work smarter, after learning new tips and tricks, the Office 365 Training Center offers a range of training for you to access for free.

Microsoft Teams – Video training on how to use Microsoft Teams can be accessed here.

The iDEA Award

Not just for young people, the iDEA Award is available for adults of all abilities to complete. The Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA) is described as an international programme that helps you develop digital, enterprise and employability skills for free. You complete a series of online challenges and collect badges when successful. Each badge has points and 250 points gets you your Bronze Award, an industry-recognised award. Read more about it here.

BT Skills for Tomorrow

A free online resource to learn digital skills for daily life, for work life, for business. Click here to find out more.

Zoom

Zoom have multiple resources to support development of skills in using their tool. Find out more here. Or there are multiple great tutorials on YouTube such as this one for absolute beginners:

Sync Education

A series of webinars on using different apps in the classroom (both a physical or a virtual one). Predominantly iPad based and suitable for primary and secondary settings.

For get the celebrities using Twitter, teachers are way cooler to follow! Twitter can be a fabulous CPD tool – check out this guide for teachers. There are some fabulous teachers on social media who regularly post the amazing things they are using in the classroom. From apps to online tools on iPads, laptops or Chrome Books. All worth checking out. Starting with Mark Anderson (AKA @ICTEvangelist) who produces these great Periodic Tables for apps and on this occasion the UK Primary Educators to follow on Twitter, or the #FE Educators on Twitter to follow.  @Alicekeeler is also great person to follow if you use Google for Education products.

Also one of the best, if not the best, events to attend if you are interested in using technology in the classroom is the BETT Show (huge event with all the latest ideas and EdTech) held in January each year in London and JISC Digifest – usually held in March time.

National Centre for Computing Education

Has an extensive range of free online and face-to-face training courses that are still running and can support you to develop your subject knowledge in computing at all key stages. They also count towards our Primary Computing and GCSE Computer Science certificates.

The EXA Foundation

The EXA Foundation have a range of resources designed to support development of skills around GCSE Computer Science but can be of value to a range of subjects and settings. They also run a range of local Raspberry Jam events and teach meet style training which have now moved online. Training resources include:

Getting Started with Raspberry Pi – With a Raspberry Pi you can build robots, learn to code, and create all kinds of weird and wonderful projects. Creating projects with a Raspberry Pi is fun once you’ve mastered the basics. The guides below help you start from newbie zero to Raspberry Pi hero.

Essential Scratch –  Scratch is a free graphical programming language developed by MIT included with Raspbian on the Raspberry Pi. Designed to be fun, educational, and easy to learn, Scratch has the tools for creating interactive stories, games, art, simulations, and more, using block-based programming.