The Digital Unite Blog

My name is Nicola Avery and I work at Surrey University currently as an eLearning Adviser. I recently visited the Box Hill Community project.

The Box Hill community started with Lottery funding as a BBC WW2 storytelling project. The project involves using technology to tell digital stories.

The community is in an incredibly beautiful rural area. Nearly everyone in the community is a senior citizen. The project has been live for five years – Brian said that he didn’t expect it to get as big as it has. It originally started with twelve people and then for various reasons they were looking for tutors – Sue and Brian could see the need and the waiting list was long so Sue offered to step in as volunteer tutor – and has been doing ever since. They also spend time preparing as well as delivering sessions and responding to queries.

Everyone who helps does so as a volunteer from tutoring, coaching, making tea – they also get some volunteers from outside the community – they have people who are also senior citizens to assist with the skills assistance so that they understand the pace and move a little slower when needed, however they don’t put any restriction on age of the volunteers they recruit and they quite a few younger ones who come to help with the sessions. Sue mentioned

“We do expect all of them to be understanding, but our young ones are really very good.”

Pauline as secretary also initially attended and was unfamiliar with using a computer but together with Brian – now manages the administration using one – including things like registers, course bookings etc . They started with eight laptops – and had to put in an internet connection to the village hall (its on top of a hill surrounded by fields).
The attendees pay a small contribution towards tea and coffee, there are some small expenses claimed. At one point they ran out of funding – they were raising awareness through village fair stalls etc and some entrepreneurs stepped in and provided funding so that they could continue.

It has brought the community together even though it is a small community, before the project people didn’t necessarily know each other – some attended in small groups initially but now everyone knows everyone. It provides a way for them to connect as well as learning how to create stories using computers.

Some bring their own laptops – so that they can carry on at home after the session. Other attendees also coach/mentor new attendees. One gentleman today has only been attending for a couple of weeks and because the course closes for the summer, another attendee asked if she could help him out.

What particularly struck me:
The overall friendliness and happy atmosphere – Brian said if anyone looks down because e.g they can’t keep up or something else bothering them – just spending a couple of minutes together makes a huge difference totheir confidence and interest in learning
When I first walked in – they were doing an activity editing photographs – everyone was chatting, some were showing others, some focused on their own photos – but everyone looked extremely comfortable with the laptops.

Sue agreed

“that part of the success of the project is that it provides a social atmosphere as well as a learning one. There is never any pressure. And I am struck by how they all look after one another. If someone hasn’t been for a few weeks, everyone wants to know if they are ok. On several occassions, when a member has been ill, the group has asked to make cards in class to send get well wishes”

A huge, huge thank you to Rebecca Court at Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnerships for putting me in touch with Brian, Sue and the Boxhill Community, I really hope to get back there very soon !

June 23rd, 2009 nicolaavery | 2 Comments »

Comments