Section Divider: Heading intro here.

Local + Digital + Scale: Innovation in Community LearningHelen Milner, Chief Executive, Online Centres Foundation (OCF)

OCF is the mutual and social enterprise that leads the UK online centres network

12 March 2013

• Learning in community places about how to use technology and the internet

• Learning in community places about anything via the internet

• Including via “eReading Rooms”

UK online centres: 5,000 Community Partners

Not owned, managed or funded by OCFCentre search and free phone number search

(one database for UK)

No such thing as a typical centre.All centres do something else (and support digital skills).Most centre partners run outreach sessions in care homes, pubs, clubs, village halls, mosques, churches, social housing, et al

1m people learning & getting online* UK online centres: April 2010 – July 2012

Measuring impact? One way we did it

Joining up …From April OCF is funded by BIS/Skills

Funding Agency and DWP and NHS Commissioning Board

Plus 25% more income from Foundations, Corporate Partners, and commercial/trade income (including our City & Guilds E3 Online Basics award – possible partnership for your “Pound Plus”)

Increasing participation: UK online centresSurvey results January 2013

Socially Excluded 83% Receiving any benefits

57%

Unemployed 47% Below level 2 50%

Income <£9,999 28% Disabled 29%

Aged 65+ 16% BAME 16%

What do they do with their new skills?Survey results January 2013

Any positive outcomes 96%Progression to employment/employment activities

65%

Voluntary work 11%Move from unemployed to employed 5%Did further learning 50%Did more hobbies 46%Used Government websites 73%Feel more confident going online 93%Learner satisfaction 99%

Measures and evaluation

• Online data – across UK online centres• Surveys – online and phone• Impact measures – local evaluation and

nationally assessed/replicated

Top down: Can we help drive more general informal learning?

Bottom up: Our learners want to learn more, can you help us?

eReading Rooms PilotSeptember 2012 – February 2013

• To bring informal learning to those who wouldn’t normally access it

• Making learning available in friendly, familiar locations in communities

• Using new technology to open up the whole world of learning both in community venues and beyond

• Not a good name, and only a little bit about ‘reading’

20 Pilot Partners

Findings

• Learner-led approaches• Hyper-local community partners and places• Role of volunteers• Technology is important• The Networked Effect

Learner-led Approaches• All pilot partners used learner-led approaches to make

learning relevant to non-traditional learners• For some, learners led the creation of the whole

curriculum– “How to pack a suitcase”

• For others, tutors designed the curriculum around learner interests:– Internet classes based on exploring the local area– Reading via a Newspaper Club

• A blended learning mix of practical demonstrations, one-to-one tuition, online resources and group sessions to ensure learning was exciting and relevant

Hyper-local community partners/places

• Friendly, hyper-local and welcoming places was vital to the success of all the projects

• Places where people already are: day service centres, mosques, cafes, Children Centres, village halls

• Places where the learning topic is more relevant: kitchen, gardens, parks, local streets

Volunteers are important, inc peer learning77 staff + 134 volunteers = 1337 learners

OR 1 staff + 2 volunteers = 17 learners

Technology is important• Technology is still motivating as a subject to learn:– 16m lack basic internet skills, 72% from C2DE– Makes learning attractive for some who have resisted all adult

learning in the past• Mobile devices take relevant learning resources into the

learning location: kitchen (soup), allotment (gardening), Children’s Centre (family literacy learning), Traveler’s Homes

• Mobile devices disguise more frightening subjects: Reading ‘by stealth’ at newspaper club, family learning

• Curated web content brings the world of learning into the learning location: MyLearningZone, as well as YouTube, VideoJug, partners’ own content

Services Products

The OCF Networked Effect

National Co-ordination: the OCF Networked Effect

• Beyond just sharing good practice, we:– discover innovation happening at a local level– seed it, by helping local partners to evolve, share

and shape their ideas– and scale it, by amplifying it across the network of

partners to deliver more, with faster adoption of new methods, and deeper impact.

• A three times multiplier on what would have happened without the OCF Support

• It’s a way of working

We began by helping:• Learning in community places about how

to use technology and the internetWe piloted:• Learning in community places about

anything via the internet

LOCAL+

TECHNOLOGY+

SCALE

It’s all about people

Thank You

helen@ukonlinecentres.com@helenmilner on twitterwww.ukonlinecentres.comwww.learnmyway.comwww.mylearningzone.co.uk