Digital Literacy & Computer Readiness

A four-week, lab-first bridge for capable, phone-first applicants who are new to the laptop — so the first technical foundation is never a computer-basics rescue class.

Duration: 4 weeks
Tier: Pre-foundation readiness
Certificate: WIATech Digital Readiness — practical exam, 70%+ to pass

WIATech operates in Sierra Leone, where many capable applicants have the ambition and aptitude to become engineers but limited prior time on a computer. Many are phone-first — fluent with WhatsApp, mobile money, and the mobile web, but new to laptops, real file systems, downloads, and email attachments. DGL 30 is the entry safety net before Tier 1: it teaches a student to operate a computer, manage files, use the internet safely, complete online forms, submit work, and communicate digitally — the practical floor the technical foundations already assume. It is not a programming course and not Computer Systems (FND 30); it is readiness, taught by doing and repeated until it is muscle memory, with the habits that survive power cuts and slow connections built in from week one.

§ What you'll be able to do

Operate a computer confidently — start up, log in, lock, restart, shut down, and adjust basic settings
Manage files and folders safely — create, rename, move, compress, restore, and name consistently
Use a browser and the internet effectively, including on slow or shared connections
Use email — compose, reply, attach, download — and recognise phishing and unsafe links
Complete online forms and upload and download documents correctly
Take screenshots, export PDFs, and build basic documents, spreadsheets, and presentations
Submit work through a portal and ask clear, precise help questions when stuck
Type comfortably enough for coursework — working toward ~20–25 words per minute (tracked, not gated)
Build the habits that survive power cuts and slow connections — save often, keep a backup, confirm every upload

§ What you'll cover

Computer Operation, Typing & File Management

Device confidence, keyboard and touchpad fluency, and a clean local workspace — folders, file names, extensions, downloads, screenshots, and zip files.

Browser, Internet, Email & Online Safety

Using the web safely and completing common online tasks — search judgement, forms, uploads, downloads, email and attachments, passwords, 2FA, and phishing awareness.

Productivity Tools — Documents, Spreadsheets & Presentations

Creating basic structured work — a formatted document exported to PDF, a simple spreadsheet with formulas, and a short clean presentation, all organised for submission.

WIATech Readiness Portfolio & Practical Exam

A realistic, multi-step digital task from written instructions — download, rename, organise, document, export, screenshot, compress, upload, and confirm by email — completed independently.

Capstone

The WIATech Digital Readiness Portfolio & Practical Exam

A timed, end-to-end task that proves readiness: download a file, rename and file it correctly, summarise it in a document, export to PDF, screenshot the folder, compress it, upload it to the portal, and confirm submission by email — completed without anyone else doing it for the student.

§ Tools you'll use

Windows laptop/desktop or a campus computer
Chrome, Edge or Firefox
Gmail / Outlook / WIATech email
Word / Google Docs / LibreOffice
Excel / Google Sheets
WIATech portal or learning platform

§ Where it leads

DGL 30 is diagnostic-routed: every applicant entering a foundation pathway sits a short digital-literacy diagnostic, and those who don't yet clear it take DGL 30 first. It leads into the Tier 1 foundations — not into any single diploma.

Explore the Tier 1 foundations →