Teacher CPD · Secondary Schools

Teaching the Junior Cycle Digital Media Literacy Short Course

This CPD equips teachers to deliver the Junior Cycle Digital Media Literacy Short Course with confidence. It examines the four integrated strands, the single Student Project CBA, and effective approaches to critical evaluation of sources, misinformation, disinformation, algorithmic bias and AI-generated content. Participants develop practical production pedagogy, explore digital identity, rights and wellbeing, learn to coach and assess cross-strand projects, and design meaningful cross-curricular links with subjects such as English, SPHE and Art. The course culminates in a personalised year plan and reflection on the Lead Learner mindset.
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Enrol now — course content opens on 1 Jul 2026. We'll email you that morning with access details.
€39
Enrolment per teacher
What's included
  • Self paced
  • Online course
  • Step-by-step lessons
  • Certificate from Coding Ireland

Explore the Course

Two lessons that establish an honest map of where you are starting from (the confidence audit), a working understanding of what the JC DML Short Course requires of students, and a productive mindset for delivering an unusually wide subject without pretending to be an expert across all of it.

Welcome, Confidence Audit and the Lead Learner Mindset
The JC DML Short Course: Four Strands, One CBA, 100 Hours

Frameworks and worked examples for teaching real critical evaluation: source evaluation, the spec-explicit misinformation/disinformation distinction, algorithmic curation and bias, and the new layer of generative AI content. The spine of the subject (Strand 2 with overlaps into Strand 3).

Source Evaluation, Misinformation Vs Disinformation, and Algorithmic Curation
Ai-generated Content, a New Critical Literacy

Two lessons covering the practical and the personal sides of DML: practical creation including the spec's digital montage activity (LO 3.8), and the rights, responsibilities and wellbeing thread across Strands 1 and 4, including the class-charter activity (LO 1.7) and the role of Coimisiún na Meán (LO 4.3).

Production Pedagogy and the Digital Montage
Identity, Rights, the Charter, and Digital Wellbeing

The longest module, because the Student Project is where good teaching most directly affects student outcomes. Three lessons: reading the NCCA Features of Quality fluently, coaching cross-strand topic choice and scoping, and supervising, judging and participating in the SLAR meeting.

The Student Project and the Features of Quality
Coaching the Student Project: Cross-strand Topic Choice and Scoping
Supervising, Judging, and the SLAR Meeting

Closes the course by treating DML's overlaps with English, SPHE, Art and Religious Education as opportunities, using shared Statements of Learning and Key Skills as the bridge, and synthesising everything into the participant's year plan and final reflection.

Cross-curricular Integration and Whole-school Digital Citizenship
Your Year Plan and Final Reflection

Two lessons that establish an honest map of where you are starting from (the confidence audit), a working understanding of what the JC DML Short Course requires of students, and a productive mindset for delivering an unusually wide subject without pretending to be an expert across all of it.

Welcome, Confidence Audit and the Lead Learner Mindset
The JC DML Short Course: Four Strands, One CBA, 100 Hours

Frameworks and worked examples for teaching real critical evaluation: source evaluation, the spec-explicit misinformation/disinformation distinction, algorithmic curation and bias, and the new layer of generative AI content. The spine of the subject (Strand 2 with overlaps into Strand 3).

Source Evaluation, Misinformation Vs Disinformation, and Algorithmic Curation
Ai-generated Content, a New Critical Literacy

Two lessons covering the practical and the personal sides of DML: practical creation including the spec's digital montage activity (LO 3.8), and the rights, responsibilities and wellbeing thread across Strands 1 and 4, including the class-charter activity (LO 1.7) and the role of Coimisiún na Meán (LO 4.3).

Production Pedagogy and the Digital Montage
Identity, Rights, the Charter, and Digital Wellbeing

The longest module, because the Student Project is where good teaching most directly affects student outcomes. Three lessons: reading the NCCA Features of Quality fluently, coaching cross-strand topic choice and scoping, and supervising, judging and participating in the SLAR meeting.

The Student Project and the Features of Quality
Coaching the Student Project: Cross-strand Topic Choice and Scoping
Supervising, Judging, and the SLAR Meeting

Closes the course by treating DML's overlaps with English, SPHE, Art and Religious Education as opportunities, using shared Statements of Learning and Key Skills as the bridge, and synthesising everything into the participant's year plan and final reflection.

Cross-curricular Integration and Whole-school Digital Citizenship
Your Year Plan and Final Reflection

What You'll Learn

Learning Goals

  1. Adopt the Lead Learner mindset and model critical digital media literacy alongside students
  2. Design and deliver the Junior Cycle Digital Media Literacy Short Course using its four integrated strands, single CBA and flexible 100-hour framework
  3. Teach source evaluation, misinformation, disinformation, algorithmic bias and AI-generated content as reusable critical literacy practices
  4. Coach students through the full Student Project process from topic scoping to final submission, applying Features of Quality and best-fit judgement in SLAR meetings
  5. Integrate Digital Media Literacy across the curriculum and create a coherent year plan that supports whole-school digital citizenship

Learning Outcomes

  1. Establish a personal confidence baseline in digital media literacy and adopt the Lead Learner mindset to model critical thinking and open learning with students.
  2. Design teaching sequences that integrate the four strands of the JC DML Short Course with the single Student Project across 100 flexible hours.
  3. Deliver reusable classroom routines for source evaluation, distinguishing misinformation from disinformation, and analysing algorithmic curation and AI-generated content.
  4. Coach students through choosing, scoping, supervising and assessing a cross-strand Student Project using the official Features of Quality and best-fit judgement in SLAR meetings.
  5. Create a year-long scheme of work that embeds cross-curricular links with English, SPHE, Art and Religious Education while incorporating a class charter for digital identity, rights and wellbeing.

Ready to start this course?

Enrol today and learn at your own pace.

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