Associate Lecturer Dr Katharine Jewitt joins Digital Schools Company

Dr Katharine Jewitt, Associate Lecturer, joins Digital Schools to guide and implement its ongoing strategy to promote digital skills at nursery, primary, special education and secondary level.

Digital Schools Awards was established in 2016 in partnership with Education Scotland, HP, Microsoft and Intel, to bring together government bodies and businesses to support the teaching of digital skills in schools. The Digital Schools Programme has expanded to include a stand-alone Digital Wellbeing Award which aims to give young people the “knowledge and confidence they need to navigate the digital world” and a Digital Community Learning and Development Award. Katharine will bring extensive knowledge and wisdom to Digital Schools Awards, while also supporting the rollout of the European Digital Schools Award programme at a European level supported by Erasmus.

In her new role as Digital Schools’ Validator, Katharine’s focus will be on maximising the opportunities offered by digital technology in education. She will support the implementation of Scotland’s national Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy and she is currently developing the SELFIE award to rollout across England, next term.

She will also work with educational leaders and practitioners to build their confidence and assist them to embed digital skills in their everyday learning, while guiding them through the programme and advising on areas where progress can be made.

In addition, Katharine will support the development and implementation of the Digital Schools Awards vision and strategy, helping to shape the programme in line with the inevitable evolutions in digital technology.

Katharine said: “Around 4000 schools are participating in the programme recognising their commitment to digital excellence. Throughout my career, I have seen at first-hand how the advancements in technology have impacted in education and how digital learning is ever-evolving. My PhD research was a key investigation of the learning of life transition skills by young people, using highly innovative three-dimensional online tools and environments showing how technology positively changed the way in which young people learn. I have always been passionate about promoting and supporting schools, and extending learning to enable a range of stakeholders to connect and collaborate to improve digital education. My role with Digital Schools gives me a platform to facilitate excellent practices in digital learning in schools.”