Update your Skills - Enrich your Life

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to not be able to use a computer?

Imagine applying for a job and not being able to get through the door because you don’t have the skills necessary to write and send an email.

For those of us who are office-based, arriving at work and switching on your computer is in the same realm of normality as brushing your teeth, morning and night.
What about those of us who have never had access to a computer, let alone thought about learning to use one?

Figures show that around 14,000,000 people in the UK do not access the internet on a regular basis so are unaware of the convenience and flexibility at which they can gather information or complete simple tasks.
Whether it be online shopping, internet banking, contacting your local MP, or finding the closest doctors surgery, the speed at which we acquire information across the net cannot be rivaled by any other source.

Helen Milner, Managing Director of UK Online Centres suggests that social inclusion will create digital inclusion; their plan has been to work within the community and break down the barriers between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots.’ By sharing knowledge throughout the community, all citizens can become digitally aware and digitally competent, which opens doors to new opportunities and creates a sense of ownership for their own learning.

UK Online’s motto is “Transforming technology – empowering people,” and along with The Lighthouse Project, they have created a place where community members can come to meet others in their area, get guidance and advice, and take essential computer courses. They provide an unassuming environment where people of any age can learn at their own pace, to develop basic skills or even work their way up to a qualification.

It’s seems to be an underlying theme is that if you motivate and inspire one aspect of your life, this will help build the confidence you will need to take positive steps in other parts of your life.

This crosses over into the workplace as well. Providing any form of further education will invigorate staff and make them feel like a valued member of staff, or in other words, an esteemed member of their ‘office’ community.

What do you do to motivate your employees or enrich your community?

MindLeadersUK Resource Centre and Toolbox

One of the ways we like to work on and improve our services is by talking to trainers about their common problems with the program. One of the common issues is getting ‘buy-in’ from the managers and executives. Alongside this is the fact that they want to make e-learning part of the normal corporate culture, but aren’t sure how to go about it. They have suggested that having more information and tools to hand could be helpful. This would help them do more with their training programs in less time.

We have just released a couple of products to help with this called, ‘The Training and Development Toolbox’ and ‘Resource Centre. Some of the things the ‘Toolbox’ does is address areas such as building and marketing, learning programs, calculating ROI, selling managers on employee development and fixing a struggling learning program. This is done through a set of eighteen video segments and each of these features a treasury of downloadable tools. These include checklists, Powerpoint, presentations and quick reference sheets.

The Resource Center is the home for the Toolbox and even more resources for maximizing your training program - over 130 items total, including product walkthroughs, technical support FAQs, information to give to students, and promotional tools.

We hope that you are happy with the improvements to this service and encourage you to contact us with any suggestions.

Forget Baking, Grandma's Online!

The latest Comminucations Market Report from Ofcom has raised some interesting questions in my mind, in regards to how many people of the “Older Generation” use the internet.

I had never thought previously that some of our highest internet users in the UK could be “Silver Surfers.” The Ofcom report states that 16% of over 65’s use the web and spend 42 hours, on average, online. This is more than any other age group.

Clive Shepherd’s blog also suggests that the internet usage levels for children and young women (25-34), along with the over 65’s, are the highest users in the UK.
From an e-Learning point of view, this raises the question of whether there are enough learning resources out there to cater to these specific groups. I have thought about this and have realised that a lot of the over 65’s could be using the internet for shopping (as I am quite sure the young women are) but it is more likely to be for communication purposes. With the ability to use the likes of Email, MSN, and Skype, families can keep in contact from anywhere in the world. What amazes me is how did they learn how to use these applications in the first place?

The “Older Generation” are more resourceful than we think, and with courses such as ECDL and Effective Business Communication available, they have taken learning into their own hands (albeit some advice from their computer savvy children) and have embraced it.

The Digital Divide: 'Adults' vs 'Everyone Else'

It is becoming the norm to hear a pre-teen son explaining to his middle-aged father how to organise his photo albums on their personal computer or how to draft an email for a relatives’ birthday.

The way in which the youth of today has embraced the internet age is astonishing – it used to be that the only way to find information for homework projects was in Encyclopaedias, now there are so many online resources that can take the place of one hard copy book. The impact of this is that all the information needed is found in one place, at the touch of a button. Long gone are the days of traipsing off to the library to join the line with your multitudes of photocopying costing you 10p a sheet, or the overdue book fines that are inevitable when you have a big project due, this is all replaced by a tidy folder conveniently located on your desktop.

A recurring opinion of the ‘older’ generation is that nothing produced will ever beat the book and how can all of the information found be classed as credible research material? Along with any other resource used, as long as it is cited correctly, online articles are just as legitimate as any bibliography. Try telling this to your same shirt wearing, grey haired English professor! Could it be that maybe he is just a little bit scared of change?

I do have to feel for those teachers who are yet to embrace the internet age, it must be really unnerving when, walking through the corridors, they hear conversation regarding anti-exam groups or I-hate-homework sites. Could it be that kids now have a place to voice their opinions where there is no Big Brother eye looking over them?

The idea that Teachers are the enemy is nothing new; students are always trying to get one past them. The Technology section of the Guardian Online posted an article called, “The kids are alright online,” where, once again, the kid’s have found another way to get at their teachers.
"The latest thing in Surrey right now is downloading high-pitched tones that only children can hear [the 17kHz "Mosquito"] on to their mobiles, Bluetoothing them around, and then starting up a cacophony in lessons - they can hear it and double up in agony, but their teacher can't."

For any teacher or parent who wants to be able to understand the goings-on of their students/children, the answer seems simple to me, learn for yourself! It is never too late to take on a new project – get one over on them and let them marvel at your computer skills for a change!