In this issue...
Welcome to Members' News 1 June, 2010
I’m delighted with the success of the Face your online fears campaign for Silver Surfers’ Day, which managed to get a huge number of people online. We had over 7000 myguide registrations during the main week of the campaign, with lots of these coming through the Face your online fears game. If you held an event, I hope both you and your visitors enjoyed it – and that you’re raring to go for Get online week which is taking place in October.
If you haven't already, you will receive an email in the next couple of days inviting you to register as a UK online centres partner. Moving to a partnership model is part of us really recognising the huge role our centres play, and wanting to cement what we offer to you. Partnership replaces membership, so you will need to re-register, but you can read all about it here.
Best wishes
Helen Milner
Managing Director, UK online centres
Personalised landing page now live
This weekend we launched the personalised landing page on Centre partners, which is a great tool for you to use to see how many myguide registrations your centre is achieving each month. The page will only show the myguide registrations you make using your Centre ID, and so it is really important you use this every time a learner registers. You can have a look at the page here.
Updated myguide technical specification
We’ve updated our myguide technical specification, which is the advice we give to all centres on what they will need to run myguide successfully in their centres. Please note, we are no longer supporting Internet Explorer 6 and so if you choose to use it in your centre you may experience problems.
UK online centres are on Facebook and Twitter
If you took part in the Face your online fears for Silver Surfers’ Day campaign, you may have noticed that we have been promoting our Facebook group. We think the page is a great way for you to interact with us, and post any photos or videos you have of your centre. If you held an event for Silver Surfers’ Day, why not post some photos? Or you could start a discussion on how to get the best out of an event. Visit our Facebook page here. Just click the ‘Like’ button at the top of the page to be able to post.
We’re also on Twitter, and our username is @ukonlinecentres. If you’re on Twitter, we often have interesting things to say about digital inclusion so we’d love you to follow us!
Get online week - save the date!
Face your online fears for Silver Surfers’ Day has been a great campaign, and now it’s over we’re starting to gear up for Get online week. We’ll give you more information about the campaign in the coming months, but this year the campaign will be Get online week rather than Get online day, and will take place between 18 and 24 October.
Training grant applications
The Training Grant funding year is now into its last month! Get your applications in by the 18 June and benefit from receiving funding to train both your volunteers and paid employees.
There are lots of benefits for your staff and volunteers. 61% of people recently surveyed thought an accredited course would improve their chances of success in the future, and within four months of completing an accredited course, 33% stated that they had already been promoted.
Safia El Yahbak, from Best Training said: “The training helped me to gain a recognised qualification and boosted my confidence.”
To find out more information and to apply for the training grant please visit our Staff training section on our Centre Partners page.
Race Online 2012
Race Online 2012, which is led by Martha Lane Fox and is a national challenge to help everyone get online by the 2012 Olympics, wants to encourage all UK online centres to became an Official Partner. You can then make a promise, big or small, about how you are helping people get online. We’ve signed up, and so can you! Visit the Race Online 2012 website to find out more
UK online centres and Jobcentre plus
We would love to hear from any UK online centres that work closely with jobseekers and their local Jobcentre Plus.
If you have any examples or case studies of how a UK online centre works with Jobcentre Plus to impact positively on jobseekers, please email ukonlinecentres@ufi.com as soon as possible.
Your Questions...
...answered
Q.
Why is it important to keep the myguide window open when completing a course?
A.
So that learner progress can be saved, the window must be kept open so the course can report back to myguide, and save progress within the Learning log.
Funding news
If you're having trouble registering learners onto Online basics before they've learnt the basic mouse and keyboard skills, why not put them onto the Starting with computers course which they can try before they register and which will give them the basic mouse and keyboard skills.
What else is happening?
Get online week - 18 - 24 October