Digital Skills Specialists Edinburgh Award

The Digital Skills Specialists Edinburgh Award is a series of events and activities designed to strengthen your digital skills and help you stand out to employers. The award is open to all students and it runs between October and March.

The Award provides evidence of your ongoing commitment to developing digital skills and using these to achieve a positive impact. The Award encourages you to view your skills development as a three-step process:

1. Identify the digital skills you want to develop
2. Develop the skills through self-directed learning and workshops
3. Put your new digital skills to practical use through a project activity

Working towards the Award will help you:

• Increase your awareness of your strengths
• Make the most of your strengths, identify areas for development, and work on your individual action plan to develop these skills
• Confidently demonstrate what you have to offer to others
• Achieve an impact in your areas of focus

Activities required to complete the Award:

1. Select the skills you want to work on (October)

   • Choose three digital competencies based on the Digital Skills Framework that you’d like to focus on. You are asked to evaluate your digital capabilities at three points during the Award.

2. Participate in three mandatory group sessions (October, January and March)

   • The group sessions offer an opportunity to create an action plan for your development, reflect on your progress, and celebrate your progress with others.
   • You must attend and participate in all three group sessions to be eligible for this Edinburgh Award.

3. Complete 16 hours of self-directed learning

   • Make use of LinkedIn Learning and other learning resources to develop your chosen digital skills.

4. Attend three Digital Skills workshops (October – March)

   • The online and on-campus workshops provide a further opportunity for you to develop your chosen skills in a structured environment.

5. Undertake a Digital Skills Project (February – March)

   • Commit to a project related to your chosen digital skills (estimated time around 24 hours across the Award period). Examples of projects include:

     1. Developing digital skills development resources and giving presentations as part of the Digital Skills Programme.
     2. Working within your School to create digital skills learning resources specific to your subject of study.
     3. Creating digital skills promotional materials targeted to a particular audience.    

6. Reflect on your progress (March)

   • Reflection is a key element of the Award, and you are asked to write a short piece after each group session to explore your progress.

7. Articulate your journey (March)

   • In the final mandatory group session, you are asked to share what you have learned throughout your Award journey, and how you would sell your experience to future employers.

Timeline for the 2024/25 Digital Skills Specialists Edinburgh Award (TBC)

How to sign up

To apply for a place on the 2024/25 cohort, you will need to complete the Registration of Interest Form by 5pm on Monday 7th October 2024.

For further information or details about the award, please contact Jonathan Mori - jmori@ed.ac.uk - We look forward to hearing from you!