Digital Excellence in ICT

Two years ago, TLC Private School switched its focus in IT teaching and learning from purely ICT to be able to add Computer Science (Digital Excellence) and the ECDL award. This redirects students’ learning towards higher level skills and built upon a course which taught young people how to use IT. 

Whilst the focus is now more on computer programming, there is still a place in education for rewarding the ability to use IT to perform everyday tasks and more. 

Rather than risk diluting the Computer Science courses, students are encouraged to participate in the Digital Excellence and ECDL Awards. These awards are becoming more widely recognised across the world and reward students who acquire strong skills in aspects of using IT. 

In the two years that the school has offered the programmes as an enrichment activity and as part of the curriculum, students have earned badges for tasks such as being able to type to a certain standard and edit a document in MS Word, design a basic website, create and question a database as well as use image enhancement software to manipulate images. 

Students of all ages are encouraged to participate and the school has already found that skills are developing much earlier in a student’s school career that when the course started. This is very encouraging given the benefit that IT skills can bring to learning. 

The scheme contains a mix of online and offline activities examined by the teacher but moderated by Digital Excellence. The activities and assessments in the programme are exciting and challenge the knowledge and skills of the students. 

We look forward to another year of seeing ‘digital excellence’ in our students and the awarding of many more badges. 

Digital Excellence is another tool that TLC Private School provides its students with to ensure they experience a broad and balance curriculum allowing them to gain important life skills to enable them to succeed both in education and in the world after school.