Part of The National Archives’ innovative digital capacity building strategy, ‘Plugged In, Powered Up,’ the Novice to Know-How (N2KH) courses aim to provide learners with the skills required to develop and implement digital preservation workflows within their organisation.
The “Novice to Know-How: Digital Preservation Skills for Beginners'' course is aimed at those who are new to the topic. It starts with a broad introduction to digital preservation issues and describes the measures we can take to address these. It then delves into potential workflows in more detail, examining the issues to consider, steps to take, and technological solutions that can be deployed. An emphasis is placed on free, easy-to-use options, and includes a number of tool demos. Course content is provided as a mix of video, text, and quizzes. On average learners take two to three days to complete the learning pathway.
After completing the learning pathway learners will be able to:
1. Explain what digital preservation is
2. Prioritize digital preservation actions at their organization
3. Develop and implement digital preservation workflows
The "Providing Access to Preserved Digital Content" course is included in the main beginner pathway but is also available as a stand-alone for those who completed the learning pathway prior to April 2021, and for those specifically interested in the topic of providing access but do not want to complete the full learning pathway. On average learners take a day to complete the course.
By completing the course learners will gain the skills to allow them to:
1. Implement the beginner’s aspects of the Access Workflow
2. Achieve Level One of the Born-Digital Levels of Access, and understand the steps that will lead to achieving Level Two
3. Achieve a ‘Basic’ maturity level for ‘Discovery and Access’ according to DPC RAM, and understand the steps that will lead to a ‘Managed’ maturity level
From 1st July 2023 a new course is offered: “Novice to Know-How: Email Preservation”, again conceived of and funded by The National Archives (UK) and delivered by the DPC. This course is aimed at learners who already have a solid foundational knowledge of digital preservation (e.g. they have completed the original N2KH learning pathway) and wish to gain practical skills in relation to the preservation of email.
After completing this learning pathway, learners will be able to:
1. Explain what email preservation is and why it is important
2. Plan and implement an email preservation program at their organization
3. Develop and execute email preservation workflows
From 14th May 2024, a new course has been made available: "N2KH: Building a Digital Asset Register", again conceived of and funded by The National Archives (UK) and delivered by the DPC. This short course aims to help learners with planning, building, and maintaining a Digital Asset Register, a key resource for managing the preservation of digital content.
After completing this learning pathway, learners will be able to:
1. Explain what a digital asset register (DAR) is
2. Prepare and plan for building a Digital Asset Register
3. Undertake the basic steps to build, use, and review a DAR
Coming soon, mid April, a new course will be available: "Novice to Know-How: Advocacy", again conceived of and funded by The National Archives (UK) and delivered by the DPC. This course introduces a practical approach to advocating for digital preservation. It explores how to define clear goals, understand your audience, and communicate the value of your work in a way that resonates.
After completing this learning pathway, learners will be able to:
1. Approach advocacy as a series of manageable steps
2. Use simple storytelling techniques to explain the value and impact of your work
3. Engage in advocacy more confidently and sustainably, recognizing limits on time, energy, and capacity
4. Select and apply practical advocacy tools to support your next action
5. Acknowledge and manage the emotional challenges of advocacy, recognizing that these feelings are normal and widely shared
Registration
As of 1st June 2023, all Novice to Know-How courses are moving to a self-registration model, allowing learners more control over when they want to learn. To register, please sign-up on the DPC's learning portal and then register for the course of your choosing. If you have any problems, please contact eleanor.oleary[at]dpconline.org.
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Completed the course and want to access copies of the N2KH content to keep?
Download full text surrogates of the N2KH Learning Pathway Modules and Lists of Additional Resources (6.5MB)
Did you know the N2KH content is available for upload to your organization's own learning management system?
If your organization has it's own learning management system, we can provide you with copies of the N2KH learning content for upload under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence. Organizations have found this useful for internal staff development and to help support teaching of information management Masters courses. Please contact eleanor.oleary[at]dpconline.org if you would like to know more.