Digital Skills Hub
Key Stage 3 Digital Skills Curriculum
The CCEA Digital Skills Framework for Key Stage 3 takes the concepts behind the three broad tiers of digital skills and applies them to the context of a learner within a school setting.
The framework should ensure that learners attending schools in Northern Ireland become:
- Digital Citizens, with the skills that will enable them to take part in digital aspects of society, safely and without hindrance;
- Digital Workers, who are able to apply their digital skills to further their learning or in a work-related setting; and
- Digital Makers, who are starting to build their own technology.
Becoming a Digital Citizen at Key Stage 3
Becoming a Digital Citizen means developing skills that will be useful to a young person if they wish to take part in digital aspects of society, safely and without hindrance.
A young person should have the knowledge and skills to be able to:
- Choose suitable digital technology for home use;
- Safely set up digital technology to be used in the home;
- Communicate using digital technology;
- Engage with digital technology safely and meaningfully, including capturing photographs and videos;
- Avail of digital services and use them safely and in accordance with the law, including: streaming music; streaming videos; shopping online; and banking online; and
- Consider the moral and ethical impact of digital technology on society.
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Becoming a Digital Maker at Key Stage 3
Becoming a Digital Maker means developing skills that will be useful to a young person as they start to build their own digital technology.
A young person should have the knowledge and skills to be able to:
- Design a digital solution for a problem using an appropriate method;
- Build a solution based on their design using appropriate tools and techniques;
- Review or test the solution against their original plan;
- Evaluate their solution;
- Use digital collaboration tools to safely collaborate with others to create and improve their work;
- Where appropriate, take into account the data format, portability and size of their solution; and
- Consider any copyright implications of their solutions;
Becoming a Digital Worker at Key Stage 3
Becoming a Digital Worker means developing skills that will be useful to a young person as they have an increasing need to apply their digital skills in a work-related setting or to further their learning.
A young person should have the knowledge and skills to be able to:
- Use digital technology to enhance their own learning;
- Use applications to create products with thought given to both the audience and the purpose through the use of digital design;
- Use digital collaboration tools to safely collaborate with others to create and improve their work; and
- Troubleshoot basic problems with their digital technology.
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Using ICT at Key Stage 3
The relationship between the Digital Skills Framework for Key Stage 3 and Using ICT
The Digital Skills Framework for Key Stage 3 provides some additional knowledge and understanding that is not explicitly outlined in the Levels of Progression in Using ICT.
The work undertaken in the Becoming a Digital Citizen or Becoming a Digital Worker strands provides essential knowledge and understanding upon which a pupil’s Using ICT skills can be built. However, Using ICT is not just about knowledge and understanding, it is about developing skills in a variety of opportunities.
For this reason, if you wish to develop the skill of Using ICT through the Digital Skills Framework for Key Stage 3, this is best done through the Becoming a Digital Maker strand, where the content can be more explicitly linked to the requirements of Using ICT: Explore, Express, Exchange, Evaluate and Exhibit.