Digital Inclusion at SCNNS
Building Your
Confidence Online
In an ever changing world and a constantly evolving city, Age Concern Birmingham have bridged the digital divide through bespoke training sessions.
In the last year, the organisation has equipped over 60 West Midland’s residents of various ages and backgrounds with digital skills to improve their quality of life, independence and job prospects.
As an organisation primarily known for our work with older people, we have held digital drop-ins at our Café, group sessions at retirement homes and offered one-on-one provision for people in their homes. This flexible and diverse offering has meant there is immense choice for older people in the region, and ensures that beneficiaries feel comfortable and a strong rapport is built.
With the lasting effects of COVID-19, and a social climate where so much entertainment, communication and everyday activities take place online, we have found that older people felt disproportionately excluded.
Popular topics amongst our older beneficiaries have been mobile banking, video calls and other messaging services to connect with loved ones and booking medical appointments and ordering prescriptions online. Many participants have also been able to follow their hobbies, with the possibilities almost endless, by becoming more au fait with technological devices and the internet.
Internet safety is another topic that has been covered extensively in our various sessions, and for good reason too. Keeping devices safe, avoiding scams and making payments securely online are amongst the most frequent concerns reported to us by local residents on joining our digital inclusion project. In a recent round of impact surveys, all 17 beneficiaries who responded reported that they felt ‘more confident online’, ‘more able to stay safe online’ and that there ‘digital skills were better’ as a result of receiving training sessions with Age Concern Birmingham.
Rose, a local resident of Sutton Coldfield, says of the impact of the sessions “my confidence has improved greatly. I no longer feel left behind and can perform useful tasks with confidence, like booking museum tickets.”
This is a view echoed by Irene, who also lives locally. She told us that not only has she been able to learn “to do things I wanted to,” but a world of possibilities has been opened up and she has also found out how to “do things I had no knowledge of before.”
Recently, in partnership with Good Things Foundation, we have offered sessions to younger adults. The focus for under 65 year olds was largely on developing the skills and credentials that employer’s value highly. From creating documents, to using email efficiently and even simply finding safe and reliable information online, many people’s job prospects have improved through our digital training.
One such beneficiary, a 51 year old who had felt “left behind” by the world of online job hunting, told us “with your help I learned to edit and upload my CV, and use video calls. I was delighted when I got a job interview, which I attended via Zoom and got the job! This course was a huge reason for that.”
To find out more information about our Digital Inclusion project and how you could get involved then contact Age Concern Birmingham on 0121 362 3650.
