New CPD Standards for College Lecturers and Digital Skills Scotland

There are new CPD standards for all those teaching in Scotland's Colleges . The Standards are designed to support and encourage lecturers to develop a clear understanding of their role and how they contribute to wider student outcomes. Underpinning the Standards is the expectation that individual lecturers are expected to commit to and be responsible for their own continuous professional development, ensuring the quality of the student experience. The full standard can be downloaded from the CDN Website. They do cover a lot more than digital skills !

But with a specific focus on digital skills - staff need to :

• Understand how to embed a range of digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. 
• Understand and evaluates critically the use of technologies in optimising students’ ability to learn and their relevance to the world of work.
• Understands how to keep up to date with emerging industry / subject technological advances. 
• Understand how to embed appropriate digital technology. 
• Understand the safe use of technology and the necessity for cyber resilience and security. 
• Understand the nature and agenda for sustainability, and works in partnership to ensure the most effective, efficient and inclusive development and use of learning resources. 
• Adopt creative approaches to the embedding of appropriate digital technologies for effective planning, delivery and assessment of learning. 
• Promote and supports the safe and respectful use of digital technologies and the impact on others. 
• Engage with, and evaluates critically, the use of technologies and their impact on meeting student needs, and supporting learning, teaching and assessment 
• Promote and facilitates wider access to learning and teaching and assessment through the effective application of digital technologies. 
• Facilitate and engages in the use of local and global digital learning communities to enhance opportunities for collaborative practice. 

These competencies sit well alongside Citylearning4.0 and a range of support from Jisc and external agencies too.

From a distance I did try very hard to get some more focus on open learning and the sharing of learning materials using CC and or other relevant open licences. And to pick up too on strands emerging from Europe and USA on digitals skills frameworks for teachers.

As it stands the new standard is not quite aligned to what is happening in School space or what is happening in England. - but it is a good start !

The list above will be useful to anyone developing a digital service or preparing training for an FE audience in Scotland.  A baseline for aspirations to start !

To follow a mapping that ties these in to Jisc Digital Capabilities work , Microsoft Teaching Communities , Google Educator Certfication , Apple Educator Certification -
unless you beat me to it !