Here are the digital skills students must know to climb the future career ladder

Know the digital skills to prepare for a future job. It is important that students these days stay updated digitally to secure a job for the future. Read more about the skills below…

We live in a digital world where students are preparing for future jobs that do not exist yet. With the increased use of technological devices in all spheres of life, information and communication technology (ICT) has become entwined with every aspect of our world. Thus, it is important that they learn and acquire certain skills for a secure job later on.

Companies visiting campuses for placement complain that fresh graduates are not job-ready. They lack certain digital and other skills and are made to undergo on-job-training to acquire them.

Learning these digital skills as students is much easy and fun and makes the execution of complicated actions simple with less time and effort.

Moreover, the trend of personalised learning and education for multiple intelligences has made it imperative to employ technology customized for each learner. Therefore, students are expected to be skilled in using digital tools and methods for more effective learning.

Given below are the digital skills every student must learn-

1. Terminology related to digital tools and platforms

Staying updated with the technical language used for various digital tools and platforms makes it easy in the understanding of technology that can help learners use apps, information tools and websites with ease.

2. Understanding of hardware

People these days are increasingly dependent on smart devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones and AI-powered speakers. This makes it imperative to learn the basics of the hardware. They must also know the basic troubleshooting processes which include knowledge of networks, processors etc.

3. Efficient use of internet

With the internet bringing the entire world on the fingertips of a learner, the vastness of information can also confuse one if he/she does not know how to do precise research. It can also distract and hinder academic exploration.

Therefore, students should learn to judiciously use the wide array of resources that the Internet provides to find the appropriate learning material.

4. Coding skills

Coding brings in and develop creativity, problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills, apart from improving other abilities such as understanding structures, sequential planning and for clearing concepts in maths, science, etc.

5. Effective communication and collaborative skills

Good communication skills and team spirit gives rise to efficient collaborative skills. This builds trust among peers and increases effective peer learning due to the variety of skills, passions, and knowledge possessed by different people in a group. These will also help students in the future workplaces where project management requires the evolution of these skills.

6. Social media skills

The evolution of Social media has brought in tools for a wide range of communication and interaction among peers. It helps students share their ideas and creations with millions of experts who are capable of giving effective feedback, thus enhancing learning. Knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) also helps them increase the visibility of their posts/blogs, which results in increased engagement with peers.

7. Content creation and presentation

Content can be created and presented using different tools. Students can create documents, spreadsheets, PPTs, infographics, audios, and videos as per requirement. Therefore, it is important that students collect pertinent data and be fluent with the content creating platforms to present the information in the desired way

8. Data analytics

Learning data analytics helps understand the problems in a given domain by themselves. It also helps learners gain an all-round view of the problem at hand for better strategising.

9. Understanding copyright and plagiarism

It is important that students familiarize themselves with the concepts of copyright and plagiarism. Learners access a wide variety of online content where they can borrow ideas from. It is important that they learn to give credit to them via citations.