Teaching digital skills for an evolving future

From first clicks to building apps: a digital skills journey

More than two decades ago, I was teaching computer science to pupils from rural areas who had never used a computer before. Many were afraid to use the mouse, so we would practise simple tasks together, like moving the cursor or selecting items. That patience and care laid the foundation for everything that followed.

The contrast with today couldn’t be more striking. Pupils now arrive in my classroom with advanced digital skills and confidence using technology, even capable of independently building applications.

Technology has changed at a rapid pace, and teaching methods have had to follow. Teachers and textbooks no longer have all the answers. Teachers are now mainly moderators and guides who help pupils navigate an ocean of information, selecting what is relevant, assessing its validity and transforming it into real understanding.

The classroom today is increasingly based on what I call a co-authorship model, where pupils and teachers work together with artificial intelligence (AI) tools as active partners in the learning process.

Teaching digital skills means learning every day

Digital skills are among the basic skills that support lifelong learning. Today, over 90% of jobs in Europe require knowledge of digital technologies. We are educating generations who will work in jobs that don’t yet exist, shaped by technology we can’t yet predict. Pupils should be equipped for lifelong learning and able to adapt to new forms of work and careers.

As a computer science teacher, keeping pace with digital technologies is part of the job. I follow developments closely, participate in professional communities, contribute to working groups and design and deliver accredited training for other educators.

One area where I invested significant effort was advocating within the Pedagogical Society of Informatics of Serbia for making computing a compulsory subject in primary schools and introducing programming in all year groups. After several years of involvement, these efforts have paid off. Serbia now has a modern, competency-oriented informatics curriculum that ensures all pupils acquire the basic digital skills needed for life and work today.

Applying digital skills through project-based learning

Project-based learning is most effective when we define clear objectives and develop cross-curricular competencies, such as digital skills, instead of focusing only on subject-specific ones.

My favourite projects are in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), where pupils connect knowledge from multiple subjects and apply their programming skills in meaningful ways. They design solutions to real problems in their school and local community, or to global challenges linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

My pupils, aged 16-18, recently worked on the eTwinning project Ardubots RACE – Robotics Arduino Challenge in Europe together with schools in France and Italy. Their dedication earned National Quality Labels in all three partner countries, as well as the European Quality Label. The project also won the 2024 national eTwinning prize in the secondary school and gymnasium category. Seeing pupils who started with little experience in robotics collaborate internationally and be recognised was rewarding.

AI in the classroom: what teachers can do

AI brings challenges and changes for which many of us are unprepared. Most teachers are still discovering the opportunities AI offers for everyday teaching practice. At the same time, our pupils are often more experienced with AI tools than we are and, in many cases, already overuse or misuse them.

Whether we like it or not, AI is becoming part of our daily reality, and we need to understand it, guide its responsible use and integrate it meaningfully into teaching and learning.

The teacher guides pupils to use AI responsibly, discussing the ethical concerns around bias and privacy.

In my computer science lessons, I address AI both as a subject to understand and as a tool to use responsibly. We explore how it works, its limitations and the ethical questions it raises around bias, privacy and the future of work. Here are my concrete tips for fellow teachers:

1. Start with critical thinking before letting pupils use any AI application and explore together what it gets wrong. Ask the tool trick questions, check its outputs for errors or bias and discuss why. This builds healthy scepticism.
2. Use AI to support your teaching, not replace it. It can help you adapt tasks to different learning levels, generate varied examples or give pupils instant feedback on code and writing. Use the time saved for the human side of teaching: mentoring, discussing and building relationships.
3. Start conversations about AI literacy across the curriculum. AI is not only a topic for computer science lessons. Work with colleagues in history, language, science and arts to explore how AI connects with their subjects. This helps pupils gain a more realistic picture of how these technologies shape society. 

Pupils need digital skills for an evolving future, and we, as teachers, can help them understand that technology is a tool they should be in control of. The best thing we can give our pupils is not mastery of today's tools, but the curiosity, resilience and adaptability to learn whatever tomorrow demands.