Programme of activities
The DigiSmart programme has been specifically designed to boost children’s ICT and literacy skills over a one year period, as well as building their self-esteem and confidence.
The use of technology excites the children and we take advantage of this to encourage the development of both traditional and new digital literacy skills.
There are 10 sessions in DigiSmart CORE plus an additional 8 MORE sessions. The full 18 week programme runs across 2 terms.
The key components are fun, motivation and plenty of challenge. Sessions are designed to be pacy, offer high levels of engagement and build momentum.
Through the use of explicit learning targets for each weekly session, children are encouraged to recognise their achievements and reflect on how they can improve.
Children are taught navigational and searching skills, how to organise and present their work and to evaluate digital content. Internet safety modules are also incorporated into the programme.
The majority of the DigiSmart activities and tasks focus on:
- key reading strategies designed to help children find information on web pages
- structured recording techniques which develop their research, reporting and analytical skills
- design skills to help them create high quality digital texts by formatting their research in powerful, effective and clear ways
- presentation skills to enable children confidently to present their findings to others
- sharing and debating opinions, encouraging children to express their thoughts both verbally and in writing
- reviewing and evaluating information and also their own learning gains
The DigiSmart activities are password protected and accessed via the Internet, supported by printed Workbooks for each child.
The project provides opportunities for peer mentoring in the third term, with the DigiSmart children taking on the role of consultants or buddies, helping classmates or younger children, and sometimes their parents too. We also work with schools to support special DigiSmart graduation events which take place towards the end of the year.
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