Digital Mentors in Action
As a result of funding from a number of different sources, COSMIC have been able to do what they do best – bring IT training and support to local people, organisations and business through an exciting new project called “Digital Mentors”
What is a Digital Mentor? Tim Evans & Andy Thompson are COSMICs Digital Mentors. As Digital Mentors they aim to provide technology training, support, workshops and advice to local people, organisations, sole traders and SME’s in the East Devon and Blackdown Hills AONB area. The support and guidance on offer includes the use of standard ‘Office’ software, social media, simple website creation and promotion demonstrations, tips on online selling, computer maintenance and support
The support offered is flexible and can covers content relevant to the beneficiaries. Individuals can benefit from 1-2-1 sessions, up to the total 8 hours allowed for each individual under the scheme) whilst 3 hour workshops are available for organisations, groups and SME’s.
A time limit of 8 hours per person is in place for individuals benefitting from the programme and whilst some funding has been achieved to subsidise the project, a small charge is made for each person attending a session/workshop. These are kept as low as possible and are from as little as £5 per hour.
Tim and Andy have a huge enthusiasm for their work. Tim notes that “Digital Mentors is a fabulous concept and it’s extremely exciting to be making a difference to the lives of people in the area in which we can work. Many small busineses and organisations are missing out on the benefits that Digital Services can bring, either through lack of knowledge or the affordability of support that is available. To be able to to take the time to find out what it is that is really needed by the people taking part in the project and then provide advice, assistance and support, rather than making assumptions is what really makes this an incredibly valuable project”
Andy reflects on the fact that “everyone is being told to run their whole lives on the internet; tax their cars, fill in their tax returns, shop and bank and communicate online ...but it's not going to work for everyone. Recently I have come across three cases of retired ladies, all with a similar story. Two ladies were widows and had the experience of "my husband did all that", the third her husband is very unwell and has Parkinson's, all saw little use for the internet.
This 'my husband did all that' syndrome is a real problem. Widows and widowers left to run a house, a life and left to run the IT too! Being told they can sort their pensions out online after their local post office was closed is not always going to work if they don't know how to use a computer because their 'husbands did that'.
The lady with the husband with Parkinsons had a dial-up internet connection and so had a very distorted view of what the internet could offer her. She very rarely used it, couldn't really see what she was getting for her money and had almost dismissed it! In my Digital Mentor role, I was able to explain to her that with a faster connection she'd see a completely different internet and options such as shopping and banking etc would be open to her. Not one to be swayed immediately, it took some time but she did make the move, but only with my Digital Mentoring support. She's now doing her shopping on line with Tesco's, ordering the heavy stuff to take the hassle out of that and just buying the rest in the village. She plans to bank on line and she has discovered the iPlayer, which she loves,
But what happens to the others? What happens to those who don't have a Digital Mentor on their patch to show them? What happens to those who haven't even got a PC? What happens to those who can't afford one! There are many 'what if's' out there, many 'my husband did all that', many 'left to run the IT's' too and not enough Digital Mentoring!”
Martin Young of Sitting Spiritually has been engaged with the project for some time now. He notes that “My overall impression of COSMIC’s Digital Mentoring has been excellent. The way Tim has systematically worked his way through my shopping list of things I needed to learn, like with most computer programmes, a little knowledge can sometimes be a dangerous thing and I am certainly very grateful for all the patient guidance given.”
Siobhan Lancaster agrees. “Discovering the Digital Mentoring scheme has been fantastic, both for me in my job as a Freelance PA and my clients that I have introduced to it. Tim (COSMIC Tim as we have christened him!) is the very best teacher, he is patient, kind and thorough, never patronising or impatient, as so many other computer trainers have been in the past, so the amount I learn from him is extensive and the sessions are really enjoyable. Digital Mentoring has been an enormous assistance to me as Tim helped me, amongst other things, to design and build my own website, which is meant to be a complex process, but not so in his capable hands. May the project long continue.“
Sarah of Sarah Rhodes Design adds “I have been really happy with the excellent service that COSMIC has given me to help set up my social networking Ning site. Your recommendation of using Ning was spot on as it gives our group the possibilities for networking, sharing information and communicating easily. After my session with Andy yesterday I have been able to make the site look as I would like and link it to other sites. I'm really pleased with the information and help COSMIC has been able to give me.”
Julie Harris CEO at COSMIC explains “Its such a great project to be piloting during these uncertain economic times. There is so much need out there for people to get the support they need to develop ICT in ways, which directly benefit their business and organisation. The mentoring approach allows us to provide this support in the context of this need – and that’s what people have been crying out for in recent months – support which makes their job more effective, more profitable and more sustainable. We’ve recently had interest from Google UK and we will be working with them to trial new online tools and generate case studies from the digital mentoring projects – so watch this space!”
