Computer Skills

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This module introduces foundational digital skills through practical application. Students select a meaningful real-world project, establish a digital portfolio in cloud storage, and draft a project brief outlining its purpose and audience. Subsequent lessons focus on discerning reliable sources, verifying information, and safely incorporating AI tools to gather and document five key facts, fostering critical research habits for project development.

Files, Folders & Your Digital Portfolio
Kickoff — Pick Something Real and Set up Your Digital Portfolio	Quiz
Research, Safety & AI Literacy
Research Without Getting Tricked — Sources, Scams & AI in 2026	Quiz

This module teaches students to craft professional documents, beginning with writing persuasive one-page proposals using heading styles, formatting, and spell-check. It progresses to layout and design techniques, incorporating headers, images, tables, and lists to enhance visual appeal and credibility. Through guided examples, independent practice, and peer review, learners develop documents suitable for real-world applications.

Word Processing Fundamentals
Write It Down — Documents That Get You Taken Seriously	Quiz
Document Design
Make It Look Like You Meant It — Layout & Design	Quiz

This module equips learners with practical spreadsheet skills to transform project data into actionable insights. Participants build budgets, inventories, and summaries using formulas like SUM and AVERAGE, then apply sorting, filtering, charts, and conditional formatting with IF statements to reveal patterns and inform decisions.

Spreadsheets & Formulas
The Numbers — Spreadsheets for Real Decisions	Quiz
Charts & Data-driven Decisions
Seeing the Story — Charts, Filters & IF	Quiz

This module explores effective collaboration with AI assistants, treating them as drafters, critics, and explainers for personal projects. Participants learn key prompting techniques—specificity, role assignment, examples, and iteration—to achieve reliable outcomes. Through guided practice on real work, including common pitfalls and verification strategies, learners build practical skills for authentic AI integration.

Your AI Copilot — Prompting AI to Do Better Work

Quiz

This module equips learners with essential skills for effective presentation and pitching. Participants construct concise five-slide pitch decks, incorporating hooks, rationales, data, and calls to action, while integrating portfolio content and refining delivery through speaker notes. Collaborative feedback via peer reviews and professional emails is practised, culminating in live two-minute pitches and portfolio walkthroughs to consolidate ten weeks of digital proficiency.

Pitch Decks
Pitch Deck — Slides That Don't Put People to Sleep	Quiz
Collaboration & Communication
Working with Others — Collaboration, Feedback & Email	Quiz
Pitch Day
Pitch Day & Portfolio Walkthrough	Quiz

This module introduces foundational digital skills through practical application. Students select a meaningful real-world project, establish a digital portfolio in cloud storage, and draft a project brief outlining its purpose and audience. Subsequent lessons focus on discerning reliable sources, verifying information, and safely incorporating AI tools to gather and document five key facts, fostering critical research habits for project development.

Files, Folders & Your Digital Portfolio
Kickoff — Pick Something Real and Set up Your Digital Portfolio	Quiz
Research, Safety & AI Literacy
Research Without Getting Tricked — Sources, Scams & AI in 2026	Quiz

This module teaches students to craft professional documents, beginning with writing persuasive one-page proposals using heading styles, formatting, and spell-check. It progresses to layout and design techniques, incorporating headers, images, tables, and lists to enhance visual appeal and credibility. Through guided examples, independent practice, and peer review, learners develop documents suitable for real-world applications.

Word Processing Fundamentals
Write It Down — Documents That Get You Taken Seriously	Quiz
Document Design
Make It Look Like You Meant It — Layout & Design	Quiz

This module equips learners with practical spreadsheet skills to transform project data into actionable insights. Participants build budgets, inventories, and summaries using formulas like SUM and AVERAGE, then apply sorting, filtering, charts, and conditional formatting with IF statements to reveal patterns and inform decisions.

Spreadsheets & Formulas
The Numbers — Spreadsheets for Real Decisions	Quiz
Charts & Data-driven Decisions
Seeing the Story — Charts, Filters & IF	Quiz

This module explores effective collaboration with AI assistants, treating them as drafters, critics, and explainers for personal projects. Participants learn key prompting techniques—specificity, role assignment, examples, and iteration—to achieve reliable outcomes. Through guided practice on real work, including common pitfalls and verification strategies, learners build practical skills for authentic AI integration.

Your AI Copilot — Prompting AI to Do Better Work

Quiz

This module equips learners with essential skills for effective presentation and pitching. Participants construct concise five-slide pitch decks, incorporating hooks, rationales, data, and calls to action, while integrating portfolio content and refining delivery through speaker notes. Collaborative feedback via peer reviews and professional emails is practised, culminating in live two-minute pitches and portfolio walkthroughs to consolidate ten weeks of digital proficiency.

Pitch Decks
Pitch Deck — Slides That Don't Put People to Sleep	Quiz
Collaboration & Communication
Working with Others — Collaboration, Feedback & Email	Quiz
Pitch Day
Pitch Day & Portfolio Walkthrough	Quiz

Curriculum Mapping

See exactly how this course maps to official curriculum specifications

NCCA Transition Year Programme Statement (2025)

Curriculum Area

Outcomes

Personal Growth

P.1 P.2 P.3 P.4 P.5 P.6 P.7 P.8 P.9 P.10 P.11

Being a Learner

B.1 B.2 B.3 B.4 B.5 B.6 B.7 B.8 B.9 B.10 B.11 B.12

Civic and Community Engagement

C.1 C.2 C.3 C.4 C.5 C.6 C.7 C.8 C.9 C.10 C.11

Career Exploration

C.1 C.2 C.3 C.4 C.5 C.6 C.7 C.8

Components

C.1 C.2 C.3 C.4 C.5

The curriculum does not include official reference codes for individual learning outcomes, so we have assigned a code scheme to make it easier to identify and track coverage.

What Students Will Learn

Learning Goals

Develop proficiency in core digital tools for creating, organising, and managing project-related files and documents.
Acquire skills to evaluate information sources critically, verify facts, and use AI responsibly in research and content creation.
Master techniques for producing professional documents, spreadsheets, and presentations that communicate ideas effectively.
Build collaborative abilities through feedback exchange, version control, and professional communication in digital environments.
Apply computer skills to plan, execute, and pitch real-world projects, reflecting on personal growth in digital literacy.

Learning Outcomes

Select a meaningful real-world project and establish a structured digital portfolio in cloud storage, including a detailed one-page project brief outlining objectives, significance, and target audience.
Conduct reliable online research by identifying trustworthy sources, verifying facts through cross-referencing, and safely incorporating AI outputs, compiling at least five validated facts into a portfolio research page.
Produce professional documents and spreadsheets for project proposals, applying formatting techniques, formulas (e.g., SUM, AVERAGE, IF), and data visualisation tools to create budgets, charts, and decision-support analyses that update dynamically.
Employ AI assistants effectively as drafters, critics, and explainers by crafting specific, iterative prompts with roles and examples, then integrating and refining outputs to enhance personal project work.
Develop and deliver a concise two-minute pitch deck with speaker notes, collaborate via shared feedback on slides, and present a comprehensive digital portfolio walkthrough demonstrating ten weeks of integrated computer skills application.

What You'll Need

Student Devices

Students will need one of these devices. Students can share in groups of 2-3 if necessary.

Chromebook/Laptop/PC

iPad/Tablet

Build a full TY year around Computer Skills

This module is one of 7 Transition Year modules you can combine into a complete Year-Long TY Digital Skills Programme, shaped around your timetable and the students in front of you.

Run the same pathway for every student, or set different pathways for different groups. Students also get access to the modules they're not doing in class, which is ideal for the keen ones who finish early or want to explore further on their own time.

Prefer a deeper tech focus? Swap in Advanced Coding or Robotics and Automation. Each module is 10 lessons of 40-60 minutes, leaving room for school events, mid-terms and everything else TY throws at you.

Why TY coordinators choose it

One decision, a year's content

No more stitching resources together every term.

Flexible per class, per student

Run different pathways side by side.

Certificates after each module

Great for TY portfolios, open days and reports home.

Sets students up for Senior Cycle

Broad exposure so they choose subjects with confidence.

Sample Year Plan

ICT + Coding focus

Computer Skills
Gets everyone on a level footing
Introduction to Coding
Real, working projects from week one
Exploring Digital Media
Video, design and storytelling
Exploring Artificial Intelligence
The topic your students keep asking about
Enterprise and Business Basics
A pitch-and-launch project to close out the year

Explore the Course

1 Digital Foundations 2 lessons

2 Creating Documents 2 lessons

3 Working with Spreadsheets 2 lessons

4 Working with AI 1 lesson

5 Presenting & Pitching 3 lessons