Digital Champions

For people working to support those who have limited ICT skills..(and these are increasingly important with much of goverenment employment and benefits going online.. and with the forthcoing roll out of Universal credit)  there is some useful information and ideas below.. Acutally it's in the form of a report briefing from a recent event in Bolton. .. Hope it's helpful.

 

 

Would you like to make a difference; to work with colleagues or people in the community where you work or live, who are not online?

Would you like to become a digital champion?

Then ............read all about it!

 

Digital Champions Event at Bolton, 9^th July, 2014

 

The event was organised by Tinder Foundation (formerly GO-ON UK in conjunction with eon energy UK.  Eon energy are involved because they understand that 1/5^th of their customers have no skills in completing digital transactions and increasingly their services are going online.  Tinder Foundation is a charity which started in the NE in October 2013.  It is government funded and the aim is to increase the number of people who can communicate, email, use search engines, complete application forms online and keep safe online. 

Currently in the North West 763,000 people have never used a computer.  In the Greater Manchester area 263,000 have never been online.  This is against a background of research that says if an individual is online they can make £560 savings each year, 3.1 million people over the age of 65 years go more than one week without seeing friends, family or neighbours, 90% of jobs will be advertised only online by 2015 and increasingly for most jobs, applications have to be made online.  The aim is to reduce the number of people who do not  have access online by 25% by July 2015.

The Tinder Foundation offer resources, communications, support and provide campaigning and marketing tools, train digital champions and share in the celebration of successes.

A digital champion is there to inspire and help individuals to use computers and the internet.  They need basic computer skills, as well as being patient, a good listener and be enthusiastic about the internet and essentially they need to enjoy helping people and spending time in other peoples company.

Some of the challenges that people face with using computers and solutions:

v    accessibility – if they have a disability

o       dragon speech can be provided and funding accessed

o       abilitynet provides guides and advice on technologies available

v    accessibility – no hardware to learn how to use computers or access the internet

o       computers available in a number of community locations including libraries and learning centres

v    difficulty with language and literacy

o       google translate can be used

o       do-it.org – volunteer organisation for local commities

v    no support or training opportunities

o       local providers and councils are offering free training

 

 www.ukonlinecentres.com/centresearch has a list of local centres where individuals can volunteer to support learners or where learners can go to get online.

www.digitalskills.com provides free resources for training

www.learnmyway.com provides a free resource for training

 

The 13-19^th October is get online week.  It is a week when we can encourage people to go online.  The basic skills that individuals need to get started are:

v    Using a mouse

v    Understanding and using the keyboard, including shortcuts

v    Searching skills

v    Emailing

v    Internet safety

v    Using smart phones and tablets

 

To create a Learning Plan for an individual:

1.     Find out what they already know

2.     What do they want to know or be able to do?

3.     Plan how they are going to get there – are there resources that are needed, training courses, additional support, set a timescale and detailed action list

4.     Review how they are getting on

5.     Celebrate achievements – the smallest things can be the biggest achievement

It should take approximately 10 weeks to become a competent IT user.

Tips for supporting learners:

v    Keep language simple and explanations short

v    Demonstrate as well as instruct

v    Never take over from the learner, always let them do it

v    Make any training relevant – if they want to shop, show them how to access shopping sites, if they want to research or book holidays, show them holiday sites, if they are interested in college courses, research their area for local colleges and then access college sites, etc.