ICT Essentials Course - units of study

UNESCO ICT CFT: These units of study are directly aligned to the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (CFT). The units are an amalgam of the very best of the national ICT Essentials courses developed over the last ten years in countries as diverse as Kenya, Rwanda, Philippines, Oman, South Africa, Guyana, Egypt, Tunisia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. This generic version of the ICT Essentials course also includes new materials volunteered recently by the Global Education Coalition (GEC).  This initial offering of 18 units, aligns with educator competencies at the first level of the UNESCO ICT CFT: Knowledge Acquisition. 

Emergency Remote Teaching: Since the 2020 pandemic many teachers are under pressure from their school management and/or the local education authority to start teaching remotely! If your not sure how to teach remotely we would encourage enrolling in this course's Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) learning path or track. The ICT Essentials ERT track will provide newbies with some basic ICT skills, introduce you to some easy to learn digital tools and help you coordinate student activities remotely. Look for the ERT track in the top right hand corner of the screen to see the those units of study ideal to teachers new to ICT in education:


ERT Track on ICT Essentials for Teachers

Unit 02 - ICT to support teaching and learning
Unit 03 - Safe and responsible use of ICT in school
Unit 06 - Using ICT to support assessment
 Unit 07 - Basic ICT skills: Getting to know your digital device
Unit 08 - Basic ICT Skills: Use a word processor for teaching
Unit 09 - Basic ICT skills: Use a presentation package for teaching
Unit 10 - Basic ICT Skills: Use the Internet for teaching
Unit 12 - Basic ICT skills: Use a search engine to identify curriculum resources
Unit 13 - Basic ICT skills: Use e-mail to support teaching
Unit 15 - Basic ICT skills: Use social media to support teaching
Unit 18 - Evaluate digital teaching resources.

Moodle Backup files: The generic ICT Essentials course units are available for upload to any Moodle LMS platform and also as PDF printouts. The course could be used for self-study as well as instructor-facilitated learning. 

Openly licensed: All units have a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence (CC BY-SA). Its open license ensures easy adaptation and mutualisation for new national stakeholders interested in its adoption and/or contextualization of the units.

    Available courses

    01: ICT in education policy awareness



    This unit of study investigates the connection between emerging educational technologies and the priorities of the nation as outlined in education policy, particularly any statements made about this relationship as in ICT in Education policy. Participants are encouraged to reflect on how their current actions align, or do not, with policy directives. The unit is not however country specific and will identify universal principles and potential benefits to teaching, learning, and educational administration that ICT offers and that most countries are pursing. Participant activities will be to identify the existing national policies and identify national priorities in ICT in Education.

    02: ICT for teaching and learning


    How is pedagogy enhanced using ICT? In this unit of study, we introduce ways that ICT can be harnessed immediately to support traditional teaching strategies. It focuses on simple strategies and digital tools to improve the delivery of their classes.


    03: Responsible use of ICT in schools


    This unit investigates what it takes to be a responsible ‘digital citizen’ when working online. What is considered appropriate behaviour when interacting online? This unit investigates ‘netiquette’ as well as ethical issues that need to be followed when engaging with others or using materials found on the Internet. Responsible online actions also help to ensure one’s safety, and those of the students, when engaging with online communities and resources. The unit also recalls the key principles related to education and which also apply to digital and distance learning (respect for the rights of the child, inclusion and gender equality, respect for the environment, etc.).

    04: ICT to support curriculum standards


    What role can ICT play in delivering on the curriculum? ICT now provides the educator with access to the latest version of the official curriculum and related resources such as official assessment strategies, teaching guides and related teaching and learning resources. This unit of study will investigate how to find official resources from national education ministries and how to access quality, free resources to support the curriculum. It will also encourage educators to match resources, software and apps with the requirements of the curriculum. As per unit 1 this is not country specific. It will instead encourage participants to look for how in their context curriculum documents, resources and guides and manuals are bringing developed digitally. An activity will encourage participants to review their local curriculum and syllabi to identify if there is an explicit role for technology. If so what, if not, how might it be written in the future.


    05: Search for Open Educational Resources (OER)


    According to Creative Commons, there are currently 1.6 billion openly licensed resources that can be harnessed for education. But many educators do not know how to locate them. In this unit of study, participants will be shown various search techniques to find, evaluate and adapt Open Educational Resources (OER).


    06: Using ICT to support assessments


    This unit of study introduces educators to ways ICT can support both formative and summative assessment. It ranges from simple technologies to develop marking rubrics to automated technologies that provide high levels of automated marking and grading. It will also introduce setting up e-portfolios and other progressive assessment techniques.


    07: Basic ICT skills: know your device


    This unit investigates different hardware/devices used in education and provides a general how-to guide: PC’s, Laptops, tablets and smartphones. Basic use and maintenance strategies are covered

    08: Basic ICT skills: use your word processor for teaching


    The mighty word processor is introduced in this unit. Besides some basic operating advice the unit also introduces some initial ideas for using the word processor as part of the teaching and learning process.


    09: Basic ICT skills: presentation package for teaching


    Presentation packages have become a favoured teaching and learning tool for educators worldwide because it can attractively combine text and multimedia. This unit provides some basic operating advice on presentation packages and introduces ways to incorporate the software into teaching and learning.


    10: Basic ICT skills: use the internet for teaching


    Today, the Internet is a key source for resources, teaching advice and digital tools. Every teacher needs to feel comfortable accessing and navigating the internet. In this unit, we unpack what it is, how it works and where to go looking for curriculum resources.


    11: Basic ICT skills: Use a search engine


    Finding what you need to find on the vast Internet is an essential skill all teachers must master. In this unit we will provide educators skills to search for and find curriculum resources aligned to their specific curriculum using different search strategies

    12: Basic ICT skills: Use email


    Already an established technology every teacher needs to master the e-mail client. They will sign up for an account, compose messages, add attachments, send, receive, and file/store their online communications. There are also some ideas about using e-mail as a teaching and learning aid.


    13: Basic ICT skills: Use a spreadsheet for marks


    The days of using calculators to determine term marks is now long gone! All educators need to master the spreadsheet in order to capture marks and determine grades. This unit investigates using a simple spreadsheet to work out routine marking and reporting or student progress.


    14: Basic ICT skills: Use social media to communicate


    How might social media be harnessed to support teaching and learning. In this unit we will investigate the different types of social media platforms which lend themselves to education and how to effectively incorporate the use of social media into your classroom.


    15: Basic ICT skills: Online safety


    Educational technology is not without some risk, particularly when students and staff interact online. This unit of study attempts to identify some of the more common risks and provides strategies to avoid becoming a victim of the Internet’s unsavoury elements.


    16: Organise ICT to support learning


    Traditionally schools kept their computers in a laboratory, but recently other configurations have emerged. This unit will investigate what is the best way to organise technology within the school based on the predominate teaching strategy used by educators: labs, classrooms, hubs and even using mobiles in the wider community. This unit will also introduce virtual platforms that can be used as learning environments in addition to schools. Platforms like Google Classroom and Moodle will be explored. Activity will be to set up an instance of a online learning platform.


    17: Use ICT for professional development


    There are numerous opportunities to engage with professional development (PD) opportunities online. Sometimes these PD initiatives on free online courses, sometimes networks of like-minded professionals. This unit investigates how educators can find out what is available and aligned to their needs and interests.


    18: Evaluate digital teaching resources


    What happens when you come across new teaching and learning resources how will you know they are of good quality and fit for purpose? In this unit educators will investigate different evaluation criteria to determine the usefulness of online and digital resources.