Computer Skills
Beginner
60 mins
Teacher/Student led
Learning Goals
Learning Outcomes
+90 XP
What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC or iPad/Tablet

Kickoff — Pick Something Real and Set up Your Digital Portfolio

Choose a real project you care about, set up a Digital_Portfolio folder in your school cloud storage, and write a one-page brief that explains what you're planning, why it matters, and who it's for.

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    1 - Introduction

    Illustration for Introduction

    Welcome to your 10 weeks

    For the next 10 lessons you'll do one thing: take a real project you actually care about and carry it all the way from idea to live 2-minute pitch. Not a made-up exercise, not a generic tutorial project, something you genuinely want to plan, propose, or pitch. Today you pick it, set up the folder that will hold every artifact you build, and write the one-page brief that anchors the rest of the course.

    By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

    • Choose a real project (solo or paired) that you'll carry across all 10 lessons
    • Explain what cloud storage is and why a multi-week project needs it
    • Create a {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} folder in OneDrive or Google Drive using the navigate-first pattern
    • Write a one-page Project Brief for your chosen project
    • Set three personal learning goals for the module

    Warm-up

    Think for 30 seconds. If a teacher said "I'll give you 10 weeks of class time to design and pitch ONE thing you actually want to see happen, a TY trip, a lunchtime club, a fundraiser, a creative project, a proposal to your parents for something you want", what's the first idea that pops into your head? Hold onto it. You're picking your Something Real in a few minutes.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +5 XP

    2 - Your 10-week Journey

    Over the next 10 weeks, you'll carry one real project from idea to live pitch. Here's what each week adds to your Digital Portfolio.

    WeekWhat you'll doWhat lands in your portfolio
    1, todayPick your Something Real and set up your Digital Portfolio folder{{code:01_project_brief}}
    2Research your project and verify a claim an AI told you{{code:02_research_page}}
    3Write a one-page proposal for your project in a word processor{{code:03_proposal_draft}}
    4Redesign the proposal with headers, images, tables, and lists{{code:04_polished_proposal}}
    5Build a budget, timeline, survey, or inventory sheet with formulas{{code:05_numbers_sheet}}
    6Turn the numbers into a chart that changes a decision{{code:06_decision_chart}}
    7Use an AI assistant as Drafter, Critic, and Explainer on your own work{{code:07_ai_workbench}}
    8Assemble a 5-slide pitch deck from what's already in your portfolio{{code:08_pitch_deck}}
    9Swap decks with a peer, give and act on feedback, email the teacher{{code:09_feedback_round}}
    10Deliver a live 2-minute pitch and walk through your finished portfolio{{code:10_final_reflection}}

    By Lesson 10, your portfolio is your pitch, you won't build anything new, you'll present what you already made.

    Keep this table in mind later today, you'll come back to it when you set your three learning goals in the Portfolio Build.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +10 XP

    3 - Key Concepts

    ConceptWhy it mattersExample
    Something Real, one project you actually want to plan, propose, or pitch, which you carry across all 10 lessonsYou'll do similar work 10 weeks in a row; picking something you care about is the difference between useful and tediousA TY student pitches a class trip to the Cliffs of Moher; a music student pitches a lunchtime gig in the school hall
    Cloud storage, a folder that lives on the internet (not one specific computer), reachable from any device you sign in onYou'll work on this over 10 weeks on different machines, and you cannot afford to lose everything to one broken laptopOneDrive (Microsoft 365) and Google Drive (Google Workspace), your school standardises on one of them
    Digital Portfolio, one folder in your cloud storage that holds every artifact you produce across the courseBy Lesson 10 it is your pitch, brief, research, proposal, budget, chart, deck, feedback, all in one place a teacher can open—
    Project Brief, a short one-page document answering what you're planning, why it matters, who it's for, and your three learning goalsIt's the anchor every later lesson comes back to; if the brief is vague, every later artifact is vague tooSee the worked example below

    The one pattern to remember today: navigate-first

    Open your destination folder first, then create the new file from inside it. Online apps (Word Online, Google Docs) auto-save the second you start typing, so there is no "Save As, pick a folder" step later. The folder has to exist and be open before you click New.

    Do this: Open {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} → click New → Word document. Not this: "New document somewhere, then try to find and move it later." You'll use this pattern in every single lesson, so learning it now pays off nine more times.

    What a Project Brief looks like, worked example

    Here's a completed brief for a student pitching a lunchtime film club to their year head. Yours should be similar in shape, but with your own project.

    What I'm planning: A lunchtime film club for TY, Fifth, and Sixth Year, running every second Wednesday in the media room. Each session shows a short film (30–40 min) and runs a 10-minute discussion.

    Why it matters to me: I watch a lot of film and there's nothing at school for anyone who wants to talk about what they've seen. Lunch is wasted scrolling, this would actually be good craic.

    Who it's for: TY, Fifth, and Sixth Year students. The first request is to the year head and the librarian who controls the media room booking.

    My 3 goals for the next 10 weeks:

    1. Learn enough spreadsheets to build a real budget for the year's film licences.
    2. Build a pitch deck good enough that the year head actually agrees.
    3. Get comfortable using AI to improve my writing rather than replace it.

    Notice the three goals name specific skills, "build a budget", "build a pitch deck", "use AI to improve writing", not vague things like "get better at computers". Each one maps to a row in the 10-week table above, so you know exactly which lesson will teach it.

    +10 XP

    4 - Step-by-step Task: Set up Your Digital Portfolio Folder

    You're going to create the {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} folder in your school cloud storage, then create a new document called {{code:01_project_brief}} inside it. Follow the tab that matches your school account (Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace).

    Not sure which platform your school uses? Check any of these quick tells:

    • Your school email address: if you sign in to Outlook or Teams, you're on Microsoft 365. If you sign in to Gmail or Google Classroom, you're on Google Workspace.
    • The apps your teachers use: Outlook / Teams / OneDrive points to Microsoft 365; Gmail / Classroom / Drive points to Google Workspace.
    • If both seem possible, ask your teacher, most schools pick one and stick with it. Whichever your class uses today is the one you'll use for all 10 weeks.
    +15 XP

    5 - Common Issues

    Common Issues

    If something looks different or doesn't work the way it should, check this table first before asking for help.

    IssueSolution
    I created the document but can't find it in {{code:Digital_Portfolio}}, it's in the root of OneDrive or My Drive insteadYou created it before opening the folder. Go back to your cloud storage home and find the stray document. In OneDrive: right-click the file, choose {{menu:Right-click -> Move to}}, and pick {{code:Digital_Portfolio}}. In Google Drive: right-click the file, choose {{menu:Right-click -> Organize -> Move}}, and pick {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} (Google Drive reorganised its right-click menu in 2024, so "Move" now sits under "Organize"). For next time, always double-click into the folder first, that's the navigate-first pattern.
    When I signed in, I landed on a personal account (personal @outlook.com or @gmail.com), not my school accountClick your profile picture in the top-right, sign out, and sign in again using your school email address (typically ending in your school's domain). If both accounts are signed in, make sure you've switched to the school one before creating the folder, the portfolio must live on the school account so it's still there next week.
    The "+ New" or "+ Add new" button looks different from the descriptionOneDrive and Google Drive update their buttons occasionally. Look for any button with a plus symbol or the word "New" near the top-left of the page, that's the one. The dropdown underneath always contains "Folder" and a document option.
    +10 XP

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