New IT courses to give thousands of adults the skills and confidence they need to go online will be piloted from today, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson announced at the Learning and Technology World Forum.
The development of Online basics by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, UK online centres and Becta forms part of the Government’s response to Baroness Estelle Morris’s Review of ICT User Skills (PDF), published in June 2009. The report recommended support for the 11.6m adults in England of all ages and all levels of education who do not have basic IT skills to help them get to grips with technology. This complements the Government’s national roll-out of Home Access for children in years three to nine (aged around seven to thirteen) also announced today by the Department of Children, Schools and Families.
Online basics will give beginners the skills needed to get going online. People can do the short, free courses at their own pace, either at home if they have a computer and the internet or at a local UK online centre by logging on to www.onlinebasics.co.uk.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said:
“Everyone should be a confident user of the internet if they are to participate fully in today’s digital society. Being online brings a range of personal benefits, including financial savings, educational attainment, improved salary prospects and independent living for older people.
“Online basics will mean more people accessing vital IT skills, enhancing their working lives and making digital literacy as important a skill as basic literacy and numeracy. We’re also investing £30m extra in UK online centres to support digital participation, with the aim of getting more than one million people online in the next three years.”
Online basics include five key modules covering the basics – using a mouse and keyboard, looking at the internet and keeping safe online. There is also guidance for people supporting those using the course: from tutors in learning centres to family members helping someone at home. Over the next three months, Online basics will be piloted in UK online centres in Barnsley, Oldham, Gloucester, Devon and London. Becta will evaluate the courses, expected to be rolled out across England in September 2010.
Today, supported by Government, thousands of people will go online for the very first time. Today is ‘Get Online Day’ the third national event organised by UK Online. Last year’s number of 12,000 participants is expected to be beaten due to over 750 Get Online Day events taking place between the 19th and 31st of October. If you wish to volunteer or help someone get online, you can find your nearest event or your nearest UK online centre by visiting www.ukonlinecentres.com, or calling 0800 77 1234.
Stephen Timms, Minister for Digital Britain, opened the event by giving a video address in which he expressed not only the departmental commitment to issues surrounding digital inclusion but also his personal commitment to this area of work. Helen Milner, Managing Director for UK Online centres, said “Digital inclusion has come a long way in a very short space of time. Two years ago it wasn’t on the political radar. Last June, the publication of the Digital Britain report recognised it as a key factor in achieving social equality and economic success.”
The report said that people need to have the capabilities and skills to flourish in the digital economy and to fully participate in today’s digital society – and from this participation flows personal benefits such as: social mobility, financial savings, educational attainment, improved salary prospects, and democratic engagement.
The launch event is being held in Barnsley. Its Local Authority is promoting its Totally Online Barnsley campaign that aims to have the whole of Barnsley online by 2012. On Tuesday, Martha Lane Fox, the Government’s Champion for Digital Inclusion, also launched her Race Online 2012 campaign. Martha wants as many of England’s 4 million most disadvantaged people online by 2012.
We, with DCSF, are a core funder of UK Online and provide funds of up to £10m per year. These funds help provide the necessary training and support to get the 2 million people a year who enter a UK Online centre get online. The majority of the 2 million people are the most disadvantaged in society: at least 74% are affected by one indicator of social exclusion; over 50% receive state benefit and 74% are not in paid employment. However, the training and support provided by UK Online centres means that 64% of people progress to further education, volunteering, or employment.
The Get Online Day is part of a week of announcements and events made by members of the Consortium for the promotion of Digital Participation as part its launch week – not the snappiest title I know. The Consortium was launched by Stephen Timms as part of the Digital Britain programme last Thursday 15th October – the membership ranges from broadcasters to telecoms companies, to small grassroots organisations. The Consortium will ensure that the activity by Government, Industry and third sector organisations to get people online is coordinated so that we can collaborate, create and maximise inclusion opportunities. It will deliver a National Plan for Digital Participation in the first quarter of 2010 that will focus on engaging the 15 million unconnected UK citizens, a social marketing programme to promote the benefits of being online, and an outreach programme that targets the hard to reach to help them get online.
Other Government’s departments are also supporting the digital inclusion agenda. One upcoming Government programme is the launch of the national roll out of the Home Access programme, led by DCSF and BECTA, in December. The programme – backed by a £300m investment fund – will ensure that all young people between 7 – and 19-years-old whose families are socially and digitally excluded (around 700, 000) are able to have access to free broadband and a free computer at home, through a voucher scheme.
