Community partners - Age UK

Business & Computing

15 August 2022

Community Partners Spotlight – Age UK

Essential Digital Skills

Our service provides learning and training opportunities for borough residents to help them achieve nationally recognised qualifications, support their progression into employment and develop their Health & Well-being.

Part of that process involves us collaborating with local partners and this year we have been working with Age UK. We had a chat with members of the team at Age UK Hammersmith and Fulham and this is what they had to say about the journey so far.

As part of a Digital Inclusion Project, our in-house IT Training service focuses on delivering basic digital training for learners aged 50+.

However, we wanted to cater to the digital needs of our clients and their varying skill levels. It was identified that a structured training path was needed, as some of our learners had obtained foundational digital skills but we did not have the required resources to deliver additional advanced training provisions.

As the government introduced the Essential Digital Skills framework, it seemed like the perfect solution to a progressive learning path, whilst ensuring that learners obtained a standard level of digital skill.

"ALSS were very accommodating, and it has contributed to the buzz about all things digital! The computer room is being used more frequently, as learners are gaining confidence in their digital skill."

Elleni Messele - Digital Inclusion Project Administrator

We reached out to ALSS to discuss what options were available for our learners. As many of our clients visit the Age UK H&F Centre, they felt more comfortable receiving their training there, rather than visiting the Macbeth Centre. So ALSS kindly supported us in delivering the session at the Centre in Greyhound Road.

We requested that the course duration was extended so that smaller sessions were delivered. ALSS were very accommodating, and it has contributed to the buzz about all things digital! The computer room is being used more frequently, as learners are gaining confidence in their digital skill. They are requesting sessions with a volunteer digital champion to practice and complete their homework during the week.

I have overheard learners speaking about how much they have benefited from the training. The positive attendance rate has shown that they are really enjoying the course. As our IT training room only has 8 desktop PC’s, there is already a waiting list due to the positive feedback.

We have had excellent collaboration with ALSS, they saw the need that we had and stepped in to generously provide the support that was needed. Knowing about their service has been invaluable as it helped us to refer clients who have not had an opportunity to learn literacy and numeracy skills.

We want to thank you ALSS for being accommodating to our requests to teach in our premises and within the computer room.

Essential digital skills learner