News and views

A pioneering initiative that supports people to improve their digital skills is being extended for a further three years thanks to £4 million of National Lottery funding from the Big Lottery Fund.

The programme, One Digital, aims to support people to get online or to develop their basic digital skills through the help of Digital Champions, who have been trained to provide one-to-one support.

A new course to help frontline staff with supporting customers with digital skills is now available on Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network (DCN).

We were delighted to see one of our Network’s Digital Champions, Simon Cook, crowned Tech Volunteer of the Year at this year’s national Tech4GoodAwards by AbilityNet. The prestigious Awards recognise organisations and individuals who use digital technology to improve the lives of others.

Five new courses to help Digital Champions support those who face accessibility barriers when using digital technology are now available on the Digital Champions Network (DCN).

Noella is a Digital Champion for the Clarion Housing Group. She has been helping other parents in Croydon with improving their digital skills at her daughter’s school. The school has allowed her to use their IT suite and she meets her learners there before the start of the school day.

Sutton Housing Society has become the newest member of Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network.

As a provider of socially rented housing in the London Borough of Sutton, the association has joined the Network to help turn staff and volunteers into local Digital Champions who can go on to support their tenants with using the internet.

John Peberdy became a Nottinghamshire Digital Champion in August last year. Retired and in his late 70s John had several years’ experience with using computers and was keen to put his knowledge to good use in his local community. Since joining the Network John has been working with learners at a local retirement complex in Hucknall, Nottingham using 'hand me down' tablets and iPads.

Digital Unite is delighted to be working with Nottinghamshire County Council on the delivery of its Digital Champions Network for the third year running.

Digital Champion Co-ordinator (based in Birmingham and covering North and East of England)

Two days per week (£160 per day)

We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic Digital Champion Co-ordinator to join our team in a new part time role.

Dozens of colleagues and volunteers have joined London Borough of Waltham Forest’s Digital Champions Network since the initiative was launched just four months ago in November 2016.

As an organisation that has been delivering digital skills support for 21 years we were heartened to see the new, long-awaited Government Digital Strategy launched last week (1 March) with a firm commitment to closing the digital skills gap.

Residents at a retirement village in Nottingham have been given the skills and confidence to get online thanks to two local Digital Champions.

With over 1,100 Digital Champion reaching more than 11,000 people with digital skills across the UK, the One Digital partnership is celebrating the end of a highly successful Test and Learn programme.

One Digital is a unique collaboration between six diverse and distinct organisations; AgeUK, AbilityNet, Affinity Sutton, Citizens Online, Digital Unite and Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO).

London Borough of Waltham Forest has become the newest member of Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network as part of its drive to improve digital participation across the Borough.

AmicusHorizon is an award-winning social landlord managing 28,000 homes in London, Kent and Sussex. They joined the Digital Champions Network in January 2014 and now have more than 100 trained Digital Champions helping hundreds of customers with digital skills through 6,000 learner sessions…and counting.

We've just released new guides to help you get the most out of your smartphone, meaning our extensive collection of how-to guides just keeps getting bigger! This month’s new releases include:

“The course gets you thinking at the level clients will most probably be at. When trying to engage people with very limited skills the digital world can be a confusing place, the course does a good job in simplifying with a focus on giving confidence.”

One Digital in partnership with Walkgrove has been shortlisted for the prestigious Learning Technologies Awards in the category ‘Team of the Year’, reflecting the way the partners have worked together to provide new and effective digital skills training.

Two new classes to help residents develop their computer and internet skills have been launched in Mansfield, thanks to Nottinghamshire Digital Champion, Milly Alonso.

The weekly sessions are being held every Wednesday at the community centres of two of Mansfield’s District Council’s sheltered housing schemes; Sherwood Court and the Flint Avenue Centre and will cover a variety of digital topics.

We are delighted to see our collaborative digital skills programme, One Digital, shortlisted for this year’s NextGen Digital Challenge Awards in the Digital Inclusion category.

Digital Unite Chief Executive and One Digital Programme Director, Emma Weston reflects on the Digital Skills Crisis report published by the Science and Technology Committee Report on 13 June 2016. 

I have not yet been through the Science and Technology Committee Report on the Digital Skills Crisis (13 June 2016) line by line but I did skip straight to the section on Digital Champions. 

Collaboration, not competition – that was the overriding theme at the One Digital stakeholder event in London on Wednesday 25 May 2016.

Hyde Plus celebrated its Digital Champions programme at an event for 60 volunteers who have taught residents to get online throughout the past two years.

Hyde employees, residents and local community members came together on 14^th April to celebrate the programme’s achievements at London’s British Film Institute on Tottenham Court Road.

 With digital and housing high on the political agenda, the Greater London Authority has confirmed that four key recommendations made by the Connected Housing Initiative (CHI) will be included in briefing materials for the next Mayor of London. 

The recommendations are: