Making Learning Relevant
Working with digital media presents education with diverse ways in which children and young people can elarn and think creatively. The wide range of tools on offer can be utilised to develop, express and communicate ideas in new and exciting ways. Making digital stories and short films, creating animations, composing and writing lyrics with music and visuals - all these activities are now made possible in the classroom through digital media.

These creative ways of working do present many new challenges. Digital technologies may indeed be more widely available in homes and schools but the technologies alone cannot provide young people with new learning experiences. They must first be actively embraced by teachers as an integral part of the classroom environment and as a tool which can further enable pupils to engage in learning by helping them to:

• research and interrogate their subject content
• be selective and make choices about the information they are working with
• be inventive in how they interpret and present what they have learnt.

In these ways, digital technologies can now be placed at the heart of the new Northern Ireland curriculum, representing a creative means by which to facilitate the varied and challenging learning experiences, pathways and approaches that this new curriculum now requires.

Meeting the needs of the Northern Ireland Curriculum
It is evident that the key principles of the Northern Ireland Curriculum are at the heart of digital learning work and that all areas of the Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities Framework can be readily met with digital technologies. Any activity which involves using digital technologies. Any activity which involves using digital technology to communicate a story, for example, will actively involve pupils in:

Managing Information... using their own ideas and those of others

Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making... examining options and weighing up pros and cons

Being Creative... experimenting with different ideas and information

Working with Others... respecting the views and opinions of others and reaching agreements using negotiation

Self Management... focusing, sustaining attention and persisting with the task

Working on learning tasks using digital technologies can also contribute to the acquisition, development and assessment of the cross-curricular skill - Using ICT. This directly addresses the statutory requirement in ICT to: Explore, Express, Exchange, Evaluate, and Exhibit.

Professional Development Opportunities
It is important that the opportunities to explore digital media in creative ways are not seen as isolated events in the lives of primary pupils, but rather that they arise from a series of planned and progressive activities in a range of subject areas which can then be integrated across the curriculum.

It is inevitable that an investment of time and expertise is required to support and mentor teachers as they embark on developing their own expertise in using digital media confidently and effectively in the classroom. Whilst the course descriptions in this publication identify specific digital skills which teachers will be introduced to on each course, all of the professional development opportunities outlined here and which will therefore be addressed in all of the courses listed. These include:

• the specific language and critical skills which are required to talk about and analyse the different digital and media forms encountered
• the learning intentions relevant to various curriculum contexts
• the potential connections which can be made across the curriculum

Education has a responsibility to prepare young people for the world they live in. The digital media that has become part of our daily lives presents a new and exciting methodology through which young people can now learn. Additionally, it provides young people with an extensive set of skills which are now as relevant to their potential future employment as they are to their social and leisure experiences.

The Creative Learning Centres continue to work to support teachers and young people in developing these skills and this section outlines some of the learning opportunites that can be made available to support progress in this area.