Course content

It's thought that one in five adults lack the basic digital skills they need for everyday life and work. To fill this gap our functional digital skills for work and life course will help you to gain further digital skills and knowledge. These could be needed for work, study, or to do daily digital tasks. These tasks could include uploading documents to a website, booking an appointment, or tickets.

The level 1 course is aimed at adults who lack secure digital skills. It is also suitable for those who have used some digital services or the internet before. It will:

• Enable you to start to use digital and online services safely in the workplace and in other real-life contexts.
• Help you to increase confidence and fluency in the use of digital language.
• Develop a positive attitude towards engaging in the digital world. 
• Increase your knowledge and skills. It'll help you apply these to real life situations, some of which may be new or unfamiliar.
• Support tasks that you may encounter in future.

During the course there will be plenty of hands-on real time and mock tasks. These will help you with online transactions and build your confidence as you develop your digital skills.

Level 1 also includes an optional module on cyber security. This will will raise your awareness to current scams and how you can help protect yourself. It'll also help you understand what others are doing to protect you too.

This course will help you to:

• Develop essential digital skills necessary for work, life, and further study.
  • know how to manage your online data – digital footprint
• Develop transacting skills necessary for work and life.
  • interact with online services and manage account settings.
  • compare online buying options for an item/service and find the best option.
• Create, edit, and process numerical data
  • know and understand layout conventions and styles for different document purposes
  • be familiar with a range of formatting and layout features for different types of data. This includes text, tables, images, and charts. Sorting data, use simple filters, complete sums.
  • know and understand terms and concepts relating to image editing, entering and editing data in a worksheet, formatting, cell borders and data types
  • know how to create and format charts from data, including bar/column charts, pie charts and line graphs. How to add suitable titles, axis labels, data labels and legends.
• Share content and talk to others using digital devices.
  • Know how to check for operating system (OS) and software updates. Choose how and when an OS or app is updated.
  • know and understand folder structures and file details. This includes metadata and tagging, and accessing data across devices. Understand file size limits when using some services
  • understand how to solve commonly encountered technical issues
  • know and understand how to use help services, online forums, and tutorials.
• Be safe, confident, and responsible online
  • understand how to protect and control the use of personal data
  • know how to protect devices and data from online risks and threats.
  • configure and use multi-step account login to access and use online services
  • understand how to backup data locally and using a cloud provider
  • use correct language and behaviour online.
  • apply simple methods to avoid physical and mental health risks while using devices.

You'll also develop the following skills for work:

• Work as part of a team, sharing ideas and helping peers to complete a task
• Have a positive attitude to plan your own work and complete it within a timeframe
• Be a good listener and be able to follow instructions
• Be able to adapt the way you work when things change. Be able to switch to a different task quickly
• Be resilient, even if things don’t go to plan, and learn from setbacks
• Reading, writing and number skills will be supported throughout the course