Digital Licence+ (DL+) has been taken up by thousands of students across Australia and is already making an incredible impact on strengthening their digital intelligence. What you might not know is that we also offer this program to students in New Zealand and the Philippines.
We recently took a deep dive into some of the incredible outcomes achieved through our partner organisation in the Philippines and we’re incredibly excited to share these. You’ll also find some useful advice on how you can replicate this success in your school, here in Australia.
With the support of the DQ Institute and the Accenture Foundation, we partnered with The Junior Achievement of the Philippines Inc (JA Philippines) to launch Digital Licence+ to increase the digital literacy of high school students in the Philippines.
JA Philippines is a non-profit organisation with the mission to promote and train future young entrepreneurs through active participation in the business mentorship and innovative diverse programs addressing the needs of the current generation.
The DL+ modules suitably align with the Filipino curriculum, particularly in the high-school age group where a majority of students who participated came from. Students related strongly to the situational presentation of questions and enjoyed the colourful graphics and presentation of the product too.
Teachers who were involved in the implementation of DL+ noted that their increased understanding of digital literacy had also highlighted the need for online safety education to be further incorporated into the Filipino curriculum to address growing issues in the areas of social media, the internet and technology in general.
Outcomes and Achievements:
To date, 12,898 young people from across the Philippines have completed at least one module of DL+ and 1,231 students have achieved their DL+ certificate by successfully completing 4 DL+ modules (on 4 distinct topic areas) within 12 months.
Throughout the implementation process, JA Philippines noted that teachers played a key role in the success of the program and were crucial in encouraging and guiding students to complete modules. To support this success, teachers were provided all the support they needed through the process, throughout both training and implementation.
JA Philippines initially ran a successful pilot program with a small cohort to ensure any potential issues were mitigated before inviting regions to participate in the program rollout. This improved accessibility of the program by addressing connectivity and modality barriers and providing multiple means of program completion, and upskilling teachers who implemented the program.
What can Australian schools learn from the Philippines?
As the key implementation partner, JA Philippines was able to learn from schools and regions with the best practice for engagement, and then support other schools in the region. In Australia, we have built a strong support network around schools implementing DL+, including our help desk service, online support sessions, a handy teachers guide, school networking opportunities and growing support from community stakeholders.
Competitions and incentivisation was put into place for schools and teachers via competitions and giveaways which encouraged teachers to meet key date markers and further increased the overall reach of DL+. There were also academic incentives at a student level for those that completed the program. Another way to bring this enthusiasm to life in your classroom is to celebrate and share the pledges your students receive at the completion of a module, or by printing and proudly displaying their Digital Licence+ certificates when they are achieved.
DL+ is available to access free for all Australian government schools, to find out how to can get started with DL+ at your school visit https://digitallicenceplus.org/
