Digital Skills at HMP Low Newton

Recently, in the digital skills class at HMP Low Newton, learners have been exploring internet safety, how to be responsible online and how the power of social media can cause a viral spread of misinformation. 

During the discussions, it was apparent that all learners believed that social media had a crucial part to play in the spread of misinformation and were concerned with how quickly posts can go viral. The tutor and learners further discussed how to report fake news and negative posts to website owners, and how every internet user is responsible for using the internet sensibly and maintaining a positive digital footprint. 

The class also explored how a negative digital footprint can influence employment opportunities, which reinforced the importance of being responsible online and updating privacy settings on devices and social media accounts. 

Educating learners on internet safety and responsibility

The tutor used Open Borders to gather a number of news articles for learners to review and discuss as a group, about how to distinguish between fake news and unreliable information from factual and reliable sources. This included checking the publish date, whether the same information can be corroborated across other websites/sources and checking the quality of images and information used within the article. 

Learners pointed out that spelling and grammatical errors are often a key sign of fake news. One learner shared that she had a recent phone call with her children and was able to teach them about these methods to identify fake news on social media, from the knowledge she had gained in her digital skills classes. 

Using digital resources to enhance education delivery

The class mentor in the digital skills class develops a quarterly newsletter, implementing her graphic design skills using the Affinity software package. The newsletter is available within classrooms, the library, and wings to support reading opportunities across the establishment. 

For next quarter's newsletter, the digital skills tutor has been working collaboratively with the class mentor, to include tips on how to improve a digital footprint to increase learner's employability profile and employment opportunities. The tips include acting responsibly online, what is LinkedIn and how the platform can help you build your professional reputation, digital badges (City & Guilds) - what are they and how can you use them.

Educating learners on internet safety, spotting fake news, and how a negative digital footprint can affect employment opportunities is extremely important. Not only do learners need to know how to use technology, but they also need to know how to use it responsibly and how to report negative stuff they see online. 

Equipping learners with this crucial knowledge will help them navigate the digital world in a safe manner upon release, and also help them to utilise technology to find employment opportunities.

To read more about how we support learners in digital, read our 2024/25 digital strategy.