Digital Outreach Trainers, their e-mentors and Making IT Personal project partners returned to the Source Meadowhall in Sheffield for the 3rd DOTs awards on the evening of Tuesday 12th July. Nick Jeans, from managing agency Sero, outlined how the event was not only for newly qualified DOTs to receive their certificates, but also ‘a chance for everyone to meet one another face to face, particularly important for a scheme where most of the interaction is online.’
The evening also offered the opportunity to reflect on the scheme’s achievements to date, and allowed those involved in the recent study trip to Malta to share their impressions of that county’s approach to digital inclusion. Feedback ranged from admiration at the amount of possibilities open to the Maltese in the digital realm, to how the trip offered younger DOTs the chance to broaden their skills and gain confidence in areas outside of their studies. This was demonstrated by Sam Blake from Sheffield College’s iMedia course with a video he made while in Malta explaining the DOTs idea to their hosts.
Fellow student Wakas Hussain exercised his growing confidence in public speaking by talking about the benefits that digital technology can bring to the disabled, particularly from the perspective of developments in gaming. ‘Being able to learn in the disabled community is a big thing, and educational games have been developed specifically for those with mental and physical disabilities. Making the connection between digital technologies and learning is important, and the DOTs scheme is helping out people who really need it.’
Martin Cantor, the project director and the evening’s award giver, described how the DOTs scheme is the result of five years work following the realization that ‘the South Yorkshire community really needed something to get it involved in the digital experience, and to help them navigate it in comfort and with confidence.
‘We felt that training courses didn’t offer a full learning experience, and felt we could draw upon people’s natural inclination to help one another to enhance it. And we’ve been proved right—the model we’ve developed has been described as the best of its kind in Europe. These awards, and the DOTs themselves, are further proof that it works, and that people are learning on a daily basis.’
Martin also stressed that the scheme would continue with a focus on digital skills for employability in the coming 12 months: ‘The advent of digital is the opportunity for us to become a leading place again. We need digital natives in our community to keep us at the forefront of the economy.’
