13 March 2019
The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA) aims to equip people with digital and enterprise skills. It consists of a series of fun and beneficial challenges through which you can pick up tips and techniques on topics such as web design, animation, business and much more. Each time you master a new learning experience, you'll be awarded a digital badge worth a certain number of points and if you earn enough points, you'll be awarded the Bronze, Silver or Gold Award. These can count towards the “Skills” section of The Duke of Edinburgh Award, and for each award you receive a certificate posted from Buckingham Palace!
Both the Bronze Award (250 points) and Silver Award (400 points) took a few months' work to achieve. Most of the digital badges at Bronze level are only worth around 8-10 points and at Silver level the tasks can be quite long and require you to do some research. However, the time spent on the challenges is totally worth it because you'll be amazed at how much you've learned.
Not all the topics are on my particular interests, but completing them has helped me develop perseverance. On the positive side, some tasks are quite tricky and I love a challenge! For example, I had to write code using JavaScript, which I'd never previously used, so I had to figure it out by myself. In some tasks for the ‘Enterprise’ badges, I had to understand and use business terminology which was quite a challenge for me as it is not something I was familiar with.
Through iDEA, my problem-solving skills have certainly improved a lot and I've learned a wide variety of things, from how to start my own website to how the brain works psychologically and how to be an entrepreneur.
For me, doing the iDEA Award is like playing online games and I really enjoy it. I gives me a real feeling of accomplishment and I would definitely recommend everyone to give it a try.
Anthea, Year 10