A group for all those participating in Race Online 2012, as 'digital champions', mentors, teachers, or just being good friends to others. I thought we could share experiences, tips, resources and successes (together with the odd failure probably).
Help tackle isolation and unemployment - become a Digital Champion
"The largest cross-sector army to have ever been put together" will help reduce loneliness and isolation, aid people into employment and encourage learning as part of the Race Online 2012 campaign to get the whole of the UK using the internet by the end of the Olympic year.
The Open University is supporting Race Online 2012, officially launched at the National Digital Champions Day in London on Wednesday 11 May, and attended by OU Vice-Chancellor Martin Bean, uniting young and old faces with a shared interest - learning and teaching how to get online.
Prime Minister David Cameron spoke via recorded message to the conference's visitors, exhibitors and supporters to say: "Together we can make the UK the first place in the world to have everyone on the web."
Fronting the campaign is UK Digital Champion and OU honorary graduate Martha Lane-Fox (pictured) who told the conference inspiration, skills and price are the main reasons for not jumping online and that, by creating an army of Digital Champions, the barriers could be broken down. "We need to embed digital skills and gain a deeper understanding of technology and a fearlessness of using technology to put the UK in a really robust position... we're creating a new model for social change."
Computer buddy
She championed the offer of computer and internet packages for under £100 for the country's most disadvantaged and said there would be a big push at the end of this year, encouraging people to give the gift of the internet - and the skills to use it - this Christmas.
With 1,100 partners on board the Race Online campaign so far, Nick Hurd MP, Minister for Civil Society, branded it the "largest cross-sector army to have ever been put together".
"There are nine million people in this country who are not using the internet and they're really the people who need to be. We need to help the elderly, some are suffering really quite scary isolation," he added.
TV presenter Gloria Hunniford, who hosted the welcome reception, admitted the iPad had changed her life and praised Chris Sellers, of Sevenoaks Library, for becoming her "computer buddy" and helping to get her online.
Via video link during the reception, Gloria also spoke to a woman aged 102 - and five months! -who'd been learning to use Skype to talk to her children and grandchildren abroad, and her "baby brother" aged 89 in a neighbouring county.
A mother living in Aston, Birmingham, - an area of high unemployment - described a scheme to set her up with a computer and the internet as her hero as she would never have been able to find a job and improve her life without it.
Making connections
And Mavis, a pensioner, became tearful when she told the audience, via video, how getting online had saved her from a life of isolation and loneliness, connecting her to family, friends and nearby neighbours she'd never had conversations with before.
The day included interactive workshops, information stands hosted by some of the camapaign's partners, a game of bingo and guests were treated to a performance by X Factor finalist Stacey Solomon at the end of the day.
The Platform team was out and about at the Digital Champions Day, catching up with people and organisations supporting the campaign - watch the videos...
Platform asked five Digital Champions what their top tips are for getting the nation online...
Nancy Johnson, of Age UK, talks about refurbishing old computers and passing on IT skills...
Platform's student blogger Carrie Walton talks about how she first got online, her plans to become a Digital Champion herself and how valuable the internet is when you're an OU student...
"The largest cross-sector army to have ever been put together" will help reduce loneliness and isolation, aid people into employment and encourage learning as part of the Race Online 2012 campaign to get the whole of the UK using the internet by the end of the Olympic year. The Open University is supporting Race Online 2012, officially launched at the National ...
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OU pledges support to help get millions more online by the Olympics
The Open University has pledged its support to Race Online 2012 – the nationwide challenge to get everyone online by the end of the Olympic year, making the UK the world’s first ‘networked nation’.
With over a fifth of the UK population not using the internet, Race Online 2012 has been initiated to actively engage organisations across the UK and its 30 million daily internet users to pass their skills on to those who are yet to go online.
Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor, said: “We are proud to be supporting this project. Being online is integral to today’s society. Of the 10 million adults across the UK who have never used the internet, almost half are from socially excluded groups.
“The OU’s mission is to open access to education to everyone and our teaching provides students with the IT skills to help them learn effectively using technology and to access the vast resources online, such as educational resources freely available through the OU’s OpenLearn and iTunes U platforms. This makes our partnership with Race Online a great fit.
“We hope to tap into our large student and alumni population to encourage them to share their knowledge and learning with friends, family and neighbours as part of this valuable initiative.”
Race Online 2012 is fronted by the UK's Digital Champion and OU honorary graduate Martha Lane Fox, who today (Wednesday 11 May) launched Race Online’s ‘Digital Champions’ campaign in London. The campaign will formally develop a national network of digital champions to actively inspire, encourage and support the nine million offline adults in the UK to get started with the internet.
She said: “Today is a massive step forward in our ambition to create a truly remarkable digital UK where the internet is a tool that everybody can use for their benefit. Race Online 2012 always intended to solve the critical social and economic issues that arise when people are left behind as technology advances. By bringing together an extraordinary mix of cross-sector partners we aim to eliminate the three major barriers that we know prevent people from getting online – access, motivation and skills.”
With a student and alumni community numbering almost two million nationwide, The Open University has started its search for ‘digital champions’ who will share their knowledge and skills to encourage others to get online. The University is also donating a store of IT equipment to Age UK to help bridge the digital divide between the UK’s on and offliners.
Over 1,000 organisations have pledged support to Race Online 2012, including Microsoft, BBC, BT, Department for Work and Pensions, and UnionLearn.
Prime Minister David Cameron is supporting the campaign. He said: "Today there are nine million adults in the UK who have never used the internet - and nearly half of them are among our most disadvantaged people. That’s why the work Martha Lane Fox is doing as the UK’s Digital Champion is so important.And it’s also why I’m so keen for everyone to get behind Race Online 2012 and its ambition to get as many people online as possible by the time of the London Olympics.
“By supporting this vital campaign we really can become the first nation in the world to get everyone online and ensure that something the vast majority of us take for granted can be enjoyed by all of us.”
What you can do to become a Digital Champion...
- To find out more about how to be a digital champion, including how to join the champion network, inspire people to start using the internet and how to signpost to great starter packages please go to www.helppassiton.co.uk
- Join Platform's RaceOnline group
The Open University has pledged its support to Race Online 2012 – the nationwide challenge to get everyone online by the end of the Olympic year, making the UK the world’s first ‘networked nation’. With over a fifth of the UK population not using the internet, Race Online 2012 has been initiated to actively engage organisations across the UK and its ...
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What do people get out of playing games? Help PhD student with her research
Over the last few years, video games have become increasingly popular with a variety of audiences. We still have first-person shooters and adventure games for our PCs and the latest games consoles. But there is more than that. Plenty of families can now be found in their living rooms, waggling their Wiimotes as they play together. Add that to Farmville on Facebook and Angry Birds on our mobile phones and it seems that games have exploded into the mainstream.
There has been a lot of interest in academia about how we can harness this popularity for educational purposes, but my particular interest concerns the games we play during our leisure time. More specifically, I want to further our understanding of how and what we learn from our involvement with games and to consider exactly what it is we seem get out of our game-playing experiences.
If you’d like to help me out with my study, please click here to fill in my questionnaire. It’s about different kinds of game-play experiences – so whether you only play something like Angry Birds on your phone every now and again, or you regularly pull all-nighters playing Call of Duty, do please fill it in.
I’m interested in getting as wide a range of responses as possible, so feel free to pass this on to anyone you know, over the age of 18 and in the UK, who might play games. It should take about 20 minutes to complete. Your participation would be much appreciated.
Jo Iacovides
PhD student
Institute of Educational Technology
The Open University
Over the last few years, video games have become increasingly popular with a variety of audiences. We still have first-person shooters and adventure games for our PCs and the latest games consoles. But there is more than that. Plenty of families can now be found in their living rooms, waggling their Wiimotes as they play together. Add that to Farmville on Facebook and ...
Free tickets to Digital Champions celebration featuring X Factor finalist
If you want to wave the flag for the internet generation and support others in jumping online, perhaps you'd like to attend the Digital Champions Day featuring a performance by X Factor finalist Rebecca Ferguson?
Anyone who supports family, friends, colleagues, customers to enjoy all the benefits that the internet can bring, is invited to a Digital Champion celebration on Wednesday 11 May 2011 at Old Billingsgate, London, to support the Race Online 2012 campaign. The Open University is a partner with Race Online 2012 – the nationwide challenge which aims to get everyone online by the end of the Olympic year.
As well as a star performance from X Factor's Rebecca, there’ll be a variety of workshops on ways to help people online and the latest low-price hardware and connection deals, as well as a visit by senior government ministers. You can see a full programme of events here.
Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis and to register click here entering ou-dc-nd11 as the password. You’ll need an email address to receive a ticket.
If you want to wave the flag for the internet generation and support others in jumping online, perhaps you'd like to attend the Digital Champions Day featuring a performance by X Factor finalist Rebecca Ferguson? Anyone who supports family, friends, colleagues, customers to enjoy all the benefits that the internet can bring, is invited to a Digital Champion celebration on ...
Lifelong lifeline - will you miss out if you're not online?
"Once you stop learning you stop being listened to - and you deserve not to be heard." In such uncompromising terms one of the baby boomers' most enterpreneurial spokespeople laid down the gauntlet for her generation to get online and get relevant.
Julia Middleton, who set up the Common Purpose ('the street-smart MBA') programme in the cause of informed leadership was among a distinguished panel tasked with getting to grips with new technology and lifelong learning in an ageing society at this year's 2011 Naomi Sargant Memorial Debate: with the pension age rising, economic pressures growing, but 6.4 million UK citizens who've never tried the internet, what can we do to expand access to the online tools, learning and socialising that so many of us take for granted?
Reminding the audience that LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have been, by turns, laughed and sneered at, Julia referred to the recent example of the 'Arab spring'. "We need to be very careful for from these tools are coming forces that are changing the world.
"We talk about education as if it can only be something someone is doing for you. The cultural change we need is to be asking what shall I do? Young people acquire their skills by playing but we don't play enough. As baby boomers we have to reinvent the world around us."
Sharing the platform Age UK Director Michelle Mitchell was concerned about those who lack the confidence or the resources to do it for themselves. She said Age UK's online training programmes had had 'wonderful results' in tackling isolation but that with an increasing number of people in their 50s walking through the charity's doors, increasing our ability us to work and live independently for longer.
"We have been working with a whole range of employers who are valuing and promoting older workers, including some of the big corporations such as Sainsbury's who are finding these employees are staying for ten or more years - considerably longer than most of their younger workers."
For some members of the panel and audience, persuading people not currently online of its potential is about discovering the content and tools that reflect their interests and needs. Observed panellist Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission: "We can get too fixated by the technology. The place to start is with what it is that people want. The content and what they need to do."
Former Home Secretary (and now visiting Professor of Politics at UEA) Charles Clarke suggested that stronger cross-generational relationships may be part of the answer to what it is people want. "Family is very important in all this. The extent to which there is currently an older-younger person dialogue is very limited. One of the potentials here is for an explosion in relationships."
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"Once you stop learning you stop being listened to - and you deserve not to be heard." In such uncompromising terms one of the baby boomers' most enterpreneurial spokespeople laid down the gauntlet for her generation to get online and get relevant. Julia Middleton, who set up the Common Purpose ('the street-smart MBA') programme in the cause of informed leadership was among a ...
Three thousand miles away, OU fixes it for 10-year-old John
A 10-year-old boy's dream of becoming a police officer in Ghana is about to come a step closer - with the gift of a laptop, refurbished by the OU's IT team.
John Eshun's (pictured foreground) plight was brought to the University's notice by one of his schoolteachers whose own work has been helped by the OU's TESSA - teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa - scheme.
She told us how John is trying to study to improve his family's prospects while living in a single room with three brothers and sisters, his parents and grandmother.
Apart from the distractions of his surroundings there is no electricity at night, so John studies with a lantern. By day, his family struggle to afford enough food so are unable to afford the exercise books and writing materials he needs in the classroom, or to fund the fieldtrips his classmates enjoy.
The laptop will make a huge difference to John's ability to study for the police service career he's aiming for, both at school and in the evenings. For many years the University's IT team have cleaned and refurbished redundant OU equipment to donate to good causes elsewhere. In the last week they have also signed up to support RaceOnline 2012 and will soon be donating a store of equipment to AgeUK, as part of the campaign to bridge the digital divide separating the UK's on and off-liners.
Supporting schools in Africa
It will hand delivered during a visit by the head of the OU's Africa Office, Danny Nti, and Edith Prak, Director of Development, to meet TESSA partners and beneficiaries, including John's teacher Millicent Acquah.
As one of the poorest regions in the world, Sub-Saharan Africa's schools and teachers are under-equipped and often under-trained. That, of course, impacts hugely on future generations, with youngsters forced to drop out of school and then lacking the education to achieve a better life.
Since TESSA was launched the OU has worked with more than 100 African academics to create a huge bank of training units for teachers like Millicent, and resources they can use in the classroom with students like John to teach core areas such as literacy, numeracy and science.
Explained Jackie Nunn of the OU's Development Office: "As a result of TESSA. John's teacher has seen John's potential and her training has given her the tools to ignite his enthusiasm and encourage his passion for maths and science."
Paul Soady, IT Asset Manager, said: "The OU IT Desktop Support team have always believed in the OU’s philosophy that everyone has a right to education , and we've been supporting charities locally, nationally and internationally now for 12 years with IT donations. We were only too happy to help John."
The work goes on
With the potential to reach half a million teachers in the nine African countries it's operating in, TESSA's success has only been made possible by the help of donations from both charitable trusts and individual members of the OU community.
"Our vision is to make this programme available in many more countries so that we can help give hundreds of thousands of children like John the chance of a better education and more positive future," Jackie added.
You can make a donation with a click of a button by visiting the OU's fundraising website.
A 10-year-old boy's dream of becoming a police officer in Ghana is about to come a step closer - with the gift of a laptop, refurbished by the OU's IT team. John Eshun's (pictured foreground) plight was brought to the University's notice by one of his schoolteachers whose own work has been helped by the OU's TESSA - teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa - ...
*now closed* Win exclusive tickets! Tell us how you're encouraging others online - and bag a place at celebrity event
Fancy winning your own golden tickets to enjoy a performance from X-factor singer Rebecca Ferguson, hear from Prime Minister David Cameron, and meet other well-known faces at the Digital Champions Celebration in London on 11 May?
As official partners of RaceOnline 2012 - the campaign to get the entire UK adult population online - we've got 15 pairs of tickets to this exciting event to give away to the OU's own digital champions.
Your tickets will get you access to a full three hours of inspiration from some famous faces, entertainment, fun and learning in four zoned interactive areas, an hour-long performance from singer Rebecca Ferguson, plus a goody bag of gifts from the OU.
The event takes place at Old Billingsate Market in Covent Garden and tickets are strictly limited and only available through Race Online 2012 partners such as the OU. A number of names are still be announced but you can keep an eye on what's happening here.
Win your tickets to this exclusive event - how to enter
For your chance to win one of 15 pairs of tickets to the Digital Champions Celebration, plus two OU goody bags, all you have to do is decide precisely what you will do to support Race Online 2012. Then share your pledge with us in the Platform comment box below.
The campaign's aim is to enlist champions to support the six million UK people who are currently excluded in getting online. So, you could:
- sign up to become a digital champion on the RaceOnline 2012 site (and don't forget to tell us when you do)
- show a relative, friend or colleague how to get online
- or show them why they might want to...how about sharing with them some old favourites on YouTube, or how to see what their friends are up to on Facebook?
- donate an old computer to AgeUK where it will be recycled
- persuade your employer, or other colleagues to get involved, as we've done at the OU
- you could even make and share your own tips or 'howto' article or video and share it on Platform, YouTube, Facebook or other online platform to inspire others to get involved.
Those are just a few suggestions to get you started. All you need to do to enter is share with us a few details about the action you intend to take: what, when, where and who. And don't be put off by feeling you have to change the world. We're looking for small, practical actions that will make a difference in one person's life.
Our 15 winners will be drawn at random from all of you who enter the competition by making your pledge below.
Terms and conditions
This competition opens on 14/03/11 and closes on 14/04/2011. Prizes must be taken as offered and are not transferable or exchangeable for a cash equivalent. You may enter as many times as you wish but each person may only win once. This competition is open to all except employees of The Open University. Entries must be received by 14 April 2011. The promoter accepts no responsibility for any entries that are incomplete, illegible, corrupted or fail to reach the promoter by the relevant closing date for any reason.
The 15 winners will be selected and notified within three days by email to arrange entry to the event. Please note, for security reasons we will need to pass on your name and the name of the guest accompanying you to the event organisers. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer any assistance with the costs of travel or accommodation.
The name and home town of the winner will be published on Platform. The editor’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Fancy winning your own golden tickets to enjoy a performance from X-factor singer Rebecca Ferguson, hear from Prime Minister David Cameron, and meet other well-known faces at the Digital Champions Celebration in London on 11 May? As official partners of RaceOnline 2012 - the campaign to get the entire UK adult population online - we've got 15 pairs of ...
Call to adopt a care home
Any care home workers out there who think they might like to get involved?
Or teachers who might want to get their schools involved?
The Adopt a Care Home idea is a part of Race Onlilne 2012, in which the OU is a partner - a campaign to extend access to the online world to the six million in the UK who don't yet have it.
While we're all busily using Facebook to update friends and family on what's happening in our lives, or posting pictures on Flickr to share around, there are millions of people missing out. Imagine the satisfaction of being able to show them how to view the latest family snaps or videos online, revisit favourite haunts via Google Earth, or send and receive messages from friends in far places.
And DO remember to 1. update us on what you're doing by joining in with this group, and 2. enter our Race Online 2012 competition - coming very shortly.
Any care home workers out there who think they might like to get involved? Or teachers who might want to get their schools involved? The Adopt a Care Home idea is a part of Race Onlilne 2012, in which the OU is a partner - a campaign to extend access to the online world to the six million in the UK who don't yet have it. While we're all busily using Facebook to update friends and family on ...
A new home for your old kit?
Race Online 2012 has announced that the charity Age UK is offering a good home to unwanted computers and laptops.
With an estimated 30 million computers gathering dust in the corners of our homes and offices, Age UK have pledged to wipe your data from any kit you donate, before loading new software - helping give access to the online world to the six million older people who have never owned a computer.
For full details visit the Race Online 2012 blog, which includes a list of Age UK branches, plus contact details for businesses with more than 15 computers to pass on.
Note that Age UK are not taking screens or monitors.
Race Online 2012 has announced that the charity Age UK is offering a good home to unwanted computers and laptops. With an estimated 30 million computers gathering dust in the corners of our homes and offices, Age UK have pledged to wipe your data from any kit you donate, before loading new software - helping give access to the online world to the six million older people who have never ...
