When it comes to engaging people with digital technology, motivation has been a steadfast and stubborn barrier. This has been reflected in research many times over. Indeed, last year’s UK Consumer Digital Index from Lloyds showed that, of the 4.1 million people in the UK who are offline, three million (75%) had no interest in understanding the benefits the Internet can offer. Nearly half (47%) said that ‘nothing’ would get them to go online

Online learning has been around for a long while but its popularity has exploded over the past few months as people use their time during lockdown to build their knowledge and skills. Indeed, Google has reported a 300 per cent rise in searches for the term ‘online courses’ since the pandemic took hold.

The importance of being online was magnified in the period of social isolation brought about during the Covid-19 pandemic. Supporting someone remotely as a ‘Remote Digital Champion’ enables you to reach and help people who need it. Your support can make a massive difference. You'll be giving them new ways to manage their day-to-day life but also opening the door to an exciting new online world.

There are many fantastic tools which you can use to help and inspire your learners remotely. There are online communication tools such as Zoom which you can use to support your learners and which can also then help them to stay in touch with family and friends. There are also lots of online tools which can be used recreationally to support and develop interests.

In this third guide of our series on being a Remote Digital Champion, we take a look at these different types of tech and tools.

Helping people with digital skills remotely can be a very different kettle of fish to helping them face to face. Whilst some principles remain the same, such as being patient and avoiding jargon, there are other differences you should consider. This guide looks at the essential techniques for supporting others remotely.

We hope that you'll find these guides useful - for yourself and for anyone that you are helping to stay connected.

The Digital Champions (DCs) we support through our Digital Champions Network (DCN) cascade digital skills to peers within the workforce and in the community. In turn they support the development of digital skills with service users and customers.