The ultimate guide to boosting your digital skills

Digital skills are, put simply, the ability to use computer technology well. Learning new digital skills should be for everyone, regardless of gender, location, nationality, age, ability, or socio-economic background.

 

The level and type of digital skills a person needs depends on what they want to gain from the digital and online world. For example, some may need the first level of skills required to stay safe online, stay in touch with friends and family, and read about hobbies and interests on specific websites.

 

Meanwhile, others need digital skills for employment. Many jobs that are unrelated to tech now require some degree of digital skills. For example, those working in warehouses and shops may need to keep digital records of stock, while doctors use electronic health record systems and video calling for remote appointments.

 

According to research by WorldSkills UK, 92% of employers say that having a basic level of digital skills is important for employees at their organisation.

 

There are also many specialist careers in digital technology, from computer games developers to cyber intelligence officers. Advanced digital skills include web design, data analysis, and computer programming and coding.

 

Whoever you are, gaining digital skills can be a source of confidence and empowerment. They can make you more independent, help you achieve your goals, and even enhance your wellbeing.

 

As technology evolves, the skills required to stay safe and maximise the benefits of digital tech also evolves. Learning digital skills is therefore an ongoing process.

 

Skip to: Ideas for boosting your digital skills

Skip to: Types of digital skills

Skip to: Resources and courses to boost your digital skills

Skip to: A note about digital services

 

 

Ideas for boosting your digital skills

 

Learning digital skills is a personal journey. In this section, we explore some ways to make it your own and have fun in the process.

 

 

Know your “why”

 

Why should you boost your digital skills? In case you don’t yet know your motivation, let’s briefly reflect on some of the many exciting things digital skills can offer.

 

Many people stay in touch with friends and family online, while others use the internet to plan and organise fun leisure activities. It may be that you wish to make the most of online entertainment, with the rise of digital video and music streaming services. Or perhaps you wish to learn all there is to know about a particular subject of interest – whether that’s fishing, or knitting, or Richard III.

 

Goals will be different for everyone, but having exciting goals in mind can help you kickstart your learning with focus and positivity.

 

 

Incorporate new digital skills into your daily life

 

Rather than learning digital skills theoretically or watching someone else demonstrate them, try taking opportunities to practice.

 

That can mean using digital skills in your daily life, for example replacing phone calls with online video calls with friends and family. This can help you experiment, as well as learn from others.

 

Similarly, it could be good practice to write emails in the place of letters, or to use a digital calendar in place of a physical one.

 

It could also mean having fun in your free time with creative digital tools such as Adobe Illustrator or Premiere Pro, following your curiosity and creative intuition. Or it could mean practicing coding skills by creating a website or mobile app for fun.

 

Whatever digital skills you are learning, try incorporating them into your daily life to help increase your understanding and enjoy your learning.

 

 

Tap into community

 

Connecting with others can help you find enjoyment and support while learning digital skills. That could mean making the most of local learning hubs or talking to colleagues or professional networks for feedback and advice.

 

Perhaps you can find a mentor or group of people who are experts in the skill you’d like to learn, or join an online forum to help you learn that skill. Online content such as blogs, podcasts, and video tutorials can also help you learn from others who have been there before.

 

Don’t be afraid to chat to the people around you about the online world and learning digital skills. While some people are more advanced than others, everyone is constantly learning new things. So, get talking, and you may just gain some unexpected pearls of wisdom along the way.

 

 

Types of digital skills

 

Everyone learns in different ways and with different goals in mind. Therefore, each person will have their own unique approach to boosting their digital skills. In this section, we explore the different types of digital skills to help identify your own personal route to digital mastery.

 

 

Foundational digital skills

 

Foundational digital skills are the first level of skills needed to engage with digital at home and in the workplace. They include:

• Turning on a device
• Interacting with the home screen on a device
• Using the available controls on a device, such as a mouse, keyboard, touchscreen, and trackpad
• Using the different settings on a device to make it easier to use
• Understanding that you can access information and content through the internet
• Connecting a device to a safe and secure Wi-Fi network
• Keeping login information and passwords for a device and online accounts secure
• Finding and opening different applications, programmes, and platforms on a device

To develop your foundational digital skills, read below about resources offered by Good Things Foundation, AbilityNet, and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

 

 

21^st century skills

 

Responding to the many different uses of digital technology in today’s society, the 21^st century skills were identified by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel as the core skills needed to survive and thrive in a complex and connected world. Mostly consisting of “soft” skills, they include the following categories.

 

 

Learning and innovation skills

 

Collaboration skills: The ability to work together with other people to achieve something

Communication skills:  The ability to impart information effectively

Creativity skills:  The ability to use imagination or original ideas to create something

Critical thinking skills:  The ability to objectively analyse and evaluate an issue in order to form a judgement

Problem solving skills:  The ability to find solutions to difficult or complex issues

 

 

Digital literacy skills

 

ICT literacy skills:  The ability to adopt, adapt and use digital devices, applications and services

Information literacy skills:  The ability to identify, assess, organise, utilise, and communicate information in any format

Media literacy skills: The ability to decode media messages; assess the influence of those messages on thoughts, feelings, and behaviours; and create media thoughtfully and conscientiously

 

 

Career and life skills

 

Accountability skills:  The ability to take responsibility for your actions

Adaptability and flexibility skills:  The ability to adjust to new conditions

Initiative and self-direction skills: The ability to use your judgement to make decisions and do things without needing to be told what to do

Leadership skills:  The ability to effectively direct a group of people

Productivity skills: The ability to cause a good result or a large amount of something

Responsibility skills:  The ability to have good judgment and act correctly and make decisions on your own

Social and cross-cultural interaction skills: An awareness of how we communicate with others, and being able to comprehend and engage with people from a variety of cultures

To develop your 21^st century skills, read below about support offered by Glitch, The Open University, and Lloyds Bank Academy.

 

 

Professional and specialist digital skills

 

As many occupations now involve digital technologies, developing professional digital skills are a great way to excel in a range of fields.

 

This might include learning to work effectively with a particular platform, programme, or process used by your organisation or industry, to help make your existing work easier or pursue potential new opportunities. Whatever is the case, you may reflect on your own personal goals and your professional context to identify which digital skills to pursue.

 

Professional digital skills used in a range of industries include:

• Understanding and complying with IT policies
• Using digital communications tools in the workplace
• Using digital collaboration tools to work with colleagues
• Using professional online networks and communities in your work

 

Intermediate digital skills might include:

• Making effective decisions over which digital products and services to use for work
• Mastering a particular digital process or programme as relevant to your role or industry
• Successfully leading teams in processes that involve digital technology
• Effectively supporting others to gain digital skills and confidence at work

 

The digital skills you can specialise in professionally include:

• Cyber security
• Accessibility
• Software development
• Game development
• Web design and development
• Applications development
• Geographical information systems
• Data science
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Network engineering
• Hardware engineering
• Software engineering
• Content management
• IT management
• IT consultancy
• IT sales
• Telecommunications

To develop your professional and specialist digital skills, read below about the help offered by AbilityNet, NCSC, Accenture, the Digital Skills Bootcamp, and opportunities within employment and formal education.

 

 

Resources and courses to boost your digital skills

 

There are lots of ways to improve your digital skills, many of which are completely free. In this section, we explore some of the resources and courses on offer to help you increase your digital confidence and abilities.

 

 

Learn your way with the Good Things Foundation

 

If you learn best face-to-face and in your local community, visiting a local digital inclusion hub could be the best way to boost your digital skills.

 

There are thousands of hubs across the UK, all working as part of Good Things Foundation’s National Digital Inclusion Network. The hubs deliver a range of free services to help with digital access and foundational skills.

 

See the National Digital Inclusion Network map to find a hub near you.

 

In addition, the platform Learn My Way can support you to learn digital skills such as using your device and the internet, staying safe and secure online, managing your health online, and managing your money online.

 

You can use Learn My Way both at local hubs and in other locations with a digital device and internet access.

 

 

Discover accessibility with AbilityNet

 

AbilityNet helps people with disabilities and older people to use digital technology. They give free support both through home visits and over the phone.

 

AbilityNet’s range of free factsheets also explore how digital technologies can help people who have a range of conditions and impairments, as well as how to set up assistive technology. Their resource My Computer My Way advises on how to set up devices to be accessible.

 

Anyone can also learn how to make websites, apps, and other digital services accessible with AbilityNet’s accessibility and inclusive design training and other services.#

 

 

Stay safe online with the NCSC

 

The NCSC is helping to make the UK the safest place to live and work online. This involves protecting the devices we use and the services we access from theft or damage.

 

Their simple information for individuals and families introduces cyber security, how to deal with common cyber problems, protecting your data and devices, and how to report cybercrime. They also give guidance on trending cyber security topics such as the cyber security of AI.

 

To boost your cyber security skills for the workplace, you can also check out their quick start guides and professional training.

 

For those interested in specialising, the NCSC also runs programmes for the certification of degrees in cyber security.

 

 

Practice digital citizenship with Glitch

 

Glitch is building an online world that is safer for all, with a particular focus on ending online abuse of black women and marginalised people.

 

To make our online spaces safer and help those experiencing online abuse, Glitch gives free guidance on how to be an Online Active Bystander.

 

Glitch has also produced a guide on what to do if you are experiencing online abuse.

 

For women working in public life – from activists and campaigners to elected officials – Glitch’s toolkit “Dealing with digital threats to democracy” can equip you with the skills and knowledge to be safer online.

 

Glitch also provides workplace training workshops to help employees practice digital citizenship and digital self-care.

 

 

Attend the Open University

 

The Open University’s free course, ‘Succeeding in a digital world’ can help you develop digital skills for everyday life, study, and work.

 

It is a “Level 1: Introductory” course designed to help you understand and be confident in your online identity, choose and use appropriate tools, and use technology confidently and critically to achieve your goals.

 

Over eight weeks, the course invites you to learn about a range of concepts, from “Making your mark online” to “Being digital: making it work for you”. Upon completion of the course, you can receive a free statement of participation and Open University digital badge.

 

 

Study at the Lloyds Bank Academy

 

The Lloyds Bank Academy provides a free opportunity to improve your digital capability and confidence. Their online learning hub for individuals covers the topics of “Online essentials”, “Working life”, and “Money management”. These include a range of lessons, including “finding information online”, “improving your CV”, and “saving money on services and utilities”.

 

The academy also provides professional digital skills support for those working in businesses and charities.

 

 

Grow your professional digital skills with Accenture

 

Accenture’s free digital skills courses can help you develop your digital skills to thrive in your working life. The courses include artificial intelligence, web analytics, digital marketing, digital skills for life and work, mobile, social media, user experience, and reimagining your career.

 

Learnings can be applied across various industries, and you can receive a Continuing Professional Development certificate on completion of each course module to demonstrate your new digital skills.

 

 

Train with the Digital Skills Bootcamp

 

If you are looking to kickstart a digital career, training on a Digital Skills Bootcamp could be for you.  These are free courses that last up to 16 weeks and cover the areas of software development, data and analytics, cyber security, cloud computing, and web development.

 

Training providers of these range of courses are funded by the UK Department of Education. The bootcamps are intended to offer opportunities to train in a new industry or help you progress in your current career.

 

 

Learn from your colleagues

 

Many employers offer formal training to help keep employees up to speed with the digital skills required for their roles. It can be a good idea to ask for training if you feel it would be helpful for you to succeed in your role.

 

It can also be beneficial to pursue informal learning with your colleagues. This could be the best option if you aim to learn skills related to your current role or industry.

 

Skills can be taught and learned regardless of seniority, as can be seen by the use of reverse mentoring. That’s when an employee mentors someone more senior to them in the organisation on a topic of expertise.

 

Informal digital skills learning can also take place through the “Lunch and learn” format. This is a voluntary meeting where employees take it in turns to deliver a short tutorial on a digital skill or process.

 

 

Check out tech providers’ guidance

 

If you have a thirst for knowledge on a particular piece of tech, try turning to its creators. Many tech companies provide information and guidance on how to use their products, and some even host forums where users can provide guidance to each other.

 

Some examples include Google Applied Digital Skills, Microsoft Academy and Digital Skills Hub, Adobe Resource Centre, and Amazon Web Services Academy.  

 

 

Pursue formal digital education

 

It is possible to specialise in IT without a university degree, but pursuing formal education is one route to becoming a digital specialist. That can include IT apprenticeships, IT undergraduate degrees, and IT postgraduate degrees. Entry criteria and cost of courses vary.

 

There are also technology graduate schemes, which can help you gain digital skills experience in an employment context after completing an undergraduate or postgraduate degree.

 

 

A note about digital services

 

There is pressure for many people to develop skills to keep up with digitisation of key services such as healthcare, universal credit, and banking. Although having digital skills can be beneficial in many ways, they should not be mandatory for accessing such services.

 

As Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, states, “[older people] shouldn’t be forced into a digital world just because it cuts costs for business or the government – we should be using digital tech to expand choice for people, not restrict it.”

 

Digital exclusion can impact people from all backgrounds and age groups. In 2023, 2.4 million people were unable to complete a single digital task to get online, according to the UK Communications and Digital Committee.

 

 

Find out more

 

Our 2024 Digital Inclusion Summit revealed how charities can help can make the digital world a safer, happier, more inclusive place, from improving access to digital devices to demystifying cyber security. Click here to watch the session recordings for free.

 

Our report, ‘Digital inclusion in the UK charity sector’, uncovers charity practitioners’ attitudes towards digital inclusion, including the challenges charities face in reaching out to service users and how they are making the most of the digital technology they use. Click the link in the orange box below to download the report.

 

Our Digital Inclusion Hub features regular articles, podcasts, and webinars to help charities reach across the digital divide. Click here to learn more.