Our Apprentice Has The Right iDEA

After Stockport recently announced that they had launched the Silver iDEA award, The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award, I was all ears. As a Digital Marketing Apprentice, I am eager to learn new digital skills whenever I can, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to brush up even more knowledge.

But, what is it?

Or should I say, what’s the iDEA behind it, get it?…

The Duke of York iDEA is a programme that helps anybody develop their digital, enterprise and employability skills for free. It’s pretty much the digital version of the Duke of Edinburgh award. Anybody can take part by just signing up with an email, simple!

For me, I wanted to sign up to enhance the skills I have already learnt as an apprentice and develop brand new ones too. I knew it would benefit me massively in both my every day work, and during my training at The Juice Academy.

How does it work?

There are 3 levels of award to achieve; bronze, silver and gold. For each, you work your way through online badges which carry points. These points add up and once you receive a certain amount, you achieve the award. Badges are categorised into Citizen, Worker, Maker, Entrepreneur and Gamer, all of which cover a range of topics from coding to social media ethics to e-commerce.

Despite only needing 40 points in each of the categories to pass the bronze award, I actually ended up achieving nearly 90 in the Citizen category, as I enjoyed it so much. It focused on aspects like social media set up, GDPR, a deeper look into how the internet works and also safeguarding of websites. The badges have really aided my learning as an apprentice, and also boosted my confidence, as it means I have a much better understanding of the industry.

I managed to complete my bronze award in a matter of days as it was so easily accessible. I could complete quick badges in between other tasks at work, and I could even access it from my phone at home. The badges are made to be fun and flexible too, so it really isn’t a tedious task. I’ve now begun the silver award, which looks into the same topics with more depth and then, once it has been launched in 2019, I’ll move onto the gold award.

It might not quite fit in my juicy gossip category, but iDEA is certainly up there with one of the best things I’ve done this past month. I’ve been able to learn and enhance my skills, all whilst finding it fun and interesting. It’s definitely got this Digital Marketing Apprentice’s approval.