Our Childnet Digital Leaders Programme harnesses the power of digital to empower young people to champion positive use of technology in their school.
Delivered through a gamified online learning community, young Digital Leaders across the UK complete training, collaborate and gain knowledge and skills to help them make a positive difference in their community.
The programme launched in September 2015, and this year over a thousand young people have started their training as Digital Leaders, with over 600 already completing their training to qualify as Digital Leaders.
The training includes modules on the positive use of technology, online risks, my digital self, responding to concerns and how to run an education session. To make it fun and engaging there are videos and interactive features like quizzes. These online modules are accompanied by offline tasks that give the young people an opportunity to learn skills such as campaigning, researching and creating education resources.
Using a digital platform to deliver the training has allowed us to build in evaluation and user feedback at every step of the way, so young people going through the programme in turn shape its future development.
So far, 83% said they found the training helpful, with three-quarters saying they gained confidence as a result.
By using a digital platform, the small team at Childnet can reach thousands of young people across the UK each year in an engaging, youth-led way.
As one young Digital Leader, a 17-year-old boy from London, said, “This is the most fun I’ve had throughout my entire time in education”.
Further feedback on the training has been positive:
“This type of training is good as it is creative and makes us think” – 15-year-old boy, Durham
“I feel that this was a perfect way to train because it was very interactive” – 13-year-old girl, London
“I feel really inspired now and want to do something myself in my community!” – 16-year-old girl, Lincolnshire
In two previous blogs from Woodford County High School you can read what the young people have been up to and the impact the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme has had on the school.
Vote for Digital Leaders!
100 organisations have been shortlisted across 10 categories. A public vote is now open to put the 100 names into a final order and these votes are combined with the views of an eminent judge’s panel of 10 leading digital experts from our community. To vote for the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme as Charity Digital Leader of the Year visit:
