Here's a quick introduction to the course — about a minute and a half on what it covers and how it works. It's worth a watch before you begin.
Welcome to Teaching LCA ICT: Introduction and Vocational Specialism. Whether you trained in Business, Tech or English, or arrived here as the LCA Coordinator who inherited the module, this course is built for you. Across five modules you will build a complete, practical plan for delivering LCA ICT over the full two-year cycle, with no assumption of a Computer Science background.
Here is the full arc so you can see where you are headed before you start:
| Module | What you'll explore | What you walk away with |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Orientation | The LCA programme and the ICT pathway (Intro to Specialism, 13 Key Assignments), and the Lead Learner mindset for the LCA classroom | A confidence baseline, a map of the pathway, and your first mindset reflection |
| 2. The LCA Cohort and Something Real Pedagogy | Engaging the LCA cohort, the year-long Something Real project, and creator-skills framing | A plan for engaging the cohort and for launching the year-long project |
| 3. Teaching Intro to ICT | The two mandatory Intro modules and the 5 Intro Key Assignments | Teaching sketches for the two Intro modules and a plan for scaffolding their Key Assignments |
| 4. Teaching the ICT Vocational Specialism | The four Specialism modules, with AI literacy woven through | A teaching plan for each Specialism module and its Key Assignments |
| 5. Key Assignments, Year Plan and Final Reflection | Key Assignment evidence and module credit, sequencing the two-year arc, recruitment and progression | A sample Key Assignment check, your two-year plan, and a final reflection |
Everything you produce, the surveys, reflections, teaching plans and your year plan, builds into your Professional Learning Portfolio. The platform collects each activity response automatically; you will find everything in one place under your portfolio when you finish, ready to export. By the end it becomes your personal evidence base of professional learning and your implementation plan for your own school.
This first lesson establishes your starting confidence and the mindset that makes the rest of the course work.
Watch this presentation for an honest map of who teaches LCA ICT in Ireland, a quick preview of the pathway you will be delivering, and an introduction to the Lead Learner mindset adapted for the LCA classroom.
This mindset is the foundation everything else in the course builds on.
Welcome to LCA ICT and the Lead Learner Mindset
Establish your honest starting point across the five dimensions this course develops; your ratings today are the baseline you will compare against at the end.
As each of the four moves arrives, pause for a second and predict what you would do, then watch the choice the Lead Learner makes, because you will commit to one of these moves in the reflection that follows.
The mindset is easy to nod along to and harder to picture in a real classroom. Watch this presentation for a concrete worked example: a teacher using an AI assistant in front of an LCA class to unblock a stuck Key Assignment, including the moment the assistant gets it wrong and the teacher catches it.
The Lead Learner Mindset in Action: Catching an AI's Mistake
Name in advance the exact moment you are likely to be tempted to perform certainty you don't have, and decide now what you will do instead.
Make the mindset personal. The LCA cohort reads you sharply, so the most useful preparation is to name in advance the exact moment you are likely to be tempted to perform certainty you don't have, and to decide now what you will do instead. This reflection becomes the first entry in your Professional Learning Portfolio.
You've just committed to one move in your reflection. Here each of the four appears as a concrete classroom action, so you have the full set ready when you need it. If you are teaching LCA ICT now, treat these as moves for this week; if you are preparing to deliver it, use the right column as a pre-semester planning checklist and note which move you will build into your first tool-heavy lesson. You do not need to memorise this; it lives in your portfolio for when you are next in front of a class.
| The move | This week, try this |
|---|---|
| Open the tool openly | Pick one lesson where you expect a student to get stuck on a tool. Decide in advance that when it happens you will open the tool where the class can see and say, "I'm not certain either, watch how I find out." |
| Write a clear prompt | When you next use an AI assistant with a class, describe the actual situation, the layout, the file, the exact goal, rather than a vague question, and point out to students why that detail changes the answer. |
| Catch the answer that doesn't fit | Before anyone copies an AI answer, pause and check one part of it against the real data. Name out loud the thing you are checking. |
| Verify out loud (AI as a co-pilot you verify) | Confirm one result independently, by hand or a second method, so students hear you treat the AI's answer as a draft to check, not a fact to copy. |
Note which of the four you will reach for first; it reinforces the commitment you just made.
You have already done the thing most CPD skips: you have named where you are most likely to bluff and decided what you will do instead. Here is what this opening lesson covered.
- The Lead Learner mindset: teaching from presence and process rather than from being the domain expert who knows every answer.
- The LCA ICT pathway: roughly 60 hours of Introduction to ICT and 120 hours of the Vocational Specialism, thirteen Key Assignments in total, with assessment that is modular and continuous rather than a single points-driven terminal written exam.
- Your baseline confidence audit: an honest starting line across the five dimensions this course develops, to compare against a matched survey at the end.
- The four repeatable moves: open the tool openly, write a clear prompt, catch the answer that doesn't fit, and verify out loud (AI as a co-pilot you verify).
- Your first reflection: naming your likely bluff moment and the one move you will use instead.
The next lesson looks at who is actually in your LCA room, which is where the mindset gets its first real test.
That was the first lesson of Teaching LCA ICT: Introduction and Vocational Specialism
Enrol to take the whole course. Your work is saved as you go, and you get a certificate when you finish.
This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2026. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.