This blog provides information about current free CPD opportunities, which include modules on the Enhance Digital Teaching Platform, Future Teacher talks, and information about the UFI VocTech trust.
Using digital technologies within your teaching practice can enhance delivery, assessment, and support. The challenge for many teachers is knowing what is possible and having the time, to develop the skills and confidence to apply these new ideas.
Free CPD Opportunities
Education and Training Foundation
The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) has a free EdTech offer hosted on the Enhance Digital Teaching Platform to support teachers and trainers to use educational technology (EdTech). The training offer is linked to their national EdTech Competency Framework, the Digital Teaching Professional Framework.
Over 100 bite-sized modules cover all aspects of the framework, including accessibility, creating content, digital assessment, emerging technologies, and digital well-being.
Each module consists of an introduction, a short video (with practical ideas), an activity, an opportunity to reflect, and links to further resources.
By registering for an account, you can work towards badges in some of the categories including Accessibility, Dealing with Difference and Diversity, Connected and Effective, and The Digital Teacher. And by taking a badge, you can access the Awarded Practice wall where you can join a community of practice in discussing and sharing their EdTech approaches.
To support teachers with remote delivery, there is a whole series of ETF webinars. The recordings of these webinars are all available to watch and cover a wide range of topics including, Delivering through a virtual classroom, Supporting learners with online writing skills and Meeting the online accessibility needs of all your learners.
Future Teacher Talks UK
Future Teacher Talks are free monthly webinars. They cover various topics, including Working with rich media (images, audio, video) and strategies to support reading and writing. Past recordings are all listed and available to view.
Future Teacher Talks webinars aim to provide a place to explore, share, and discuss effective practice. Free tools and resources connected to each webinar are made available or highlighted.
UfI VocTech Trust
To support its funded VocTech projects, Ufi Voctech Trust created a series of VocTech webinars.
Recordings of these webinars are available to watch and have been delivered by leaders in the specific field.
The webinars cover a range of topics: How to design learning for online delivery, keep learners engaged and progressing in a mixed delivery model, and use games and gamification in digital learning.
Other free training places
Microsoft’s Educator Centre and Google for Education’s Teacher Centre offer a range of free online courses to support their products.
Coursera and Futurelearn both offer free online courses.
YouTube is an excellent source of tutorial support to discover how to use technologies and tools in the classroom. The downside because of the number of videos hosted, finding a good video quickly can be difficult. One tip is to search the YouTube channel of the software developer themselves, most do now provide handy video guides.
Costed CPD offers
Blended Learning Essentials for Vocational Education and Training is a series of three courses available to study online on the FutureLearn platform. The courses: Getting started, Embedding practice and Developing digital skills support teachers and trainers to develop their blended learning skills.
Staff development at an organisational level
JISC – For organisations seeking a whole organisational approach to developing digital skills, JISC’s Building Digital Capability offer with frameworks and training and ETF’s Enhance Digital Teaching Platform Management Dashboard supports organisations using the EdTech modules described above to direct and track staff progress.
Written for HOLEX by Ideas4Learning Limited.