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Digital skills: succeeding in a digital world
Digital skills: succeeding in a digital world

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3 Digital skills for everyday life

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Figure 1 Social media keyboard

The fundamental skills for everyday life include:

  • Finding, managing and storing digital information and content.

    • For example, using a search engine to find information and bookmarking useful websites and services.

  • Communicating, interacting, collaborating, sharing and connecting with others.

    • For example, using email, instant messaging or social media.

  • Buying and selling goods and services, organising your finances and using digital government services.

    • For example, ordering shopping online, managing a bank account or booking travel.

  • Solving problems and finding solutions using digital tools.

    • For example, teaching yourself simple tasks using tutorials, or using feedback from other internet users to solve common problems.

  • Creating basic digital content in order to engage with digital communities and organisations.

    • For example, creating a social media post, creating a text document such as a CV, creating and sharing a photo album or creating and sharing feedback about products and services.

(Go ON UK, 2015)

Safety is a really important aspect of life online. It can involve managing your digital identity, assessing the accuracy of sources of information, regularly updating anti-virus software on your computer, using the right security settings, avoiding scams and hoaxes, protecting your privacy, and respecting the privacy of others. You will have the opportunity to focus on safety in more detail in Week 4 of this course.

Skills in finding, evaluating and managing information, communicating and collaborating with others, and managing your digital identity will be covered in Weeks 3, 5 and 6 of the course.

The quiz you took earlier may have got you thinking about how familiar you are with everyday digital skills and how often you use them.

For the rest of Week 1, you will have the opportunity to practise your skills in searching the internet, using social media and solving an everyday problem using online information.

If you have questions about how to get online in the first place, set up an email account, pay for things online or fill in online forms, visit BBC WebWise Digital skills [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .