In my quest for fulfillment, I volunteer for a program called “Digital Champions”. The program helps anyone needing assistance conquering the digital divide. I’ve given a lot of volunteer hours in my life, and hands down this is the most enjoyable and rewarding work I’ve ever done.
Facilitated by NiddPlus, there are six 2-hour sessions per week offered in villages throughout the
Nidderdale region. I help with two different sessions every Thursday. We assist anyone who needs help with computers, mobile phones or tablets. Many of our “learners” are of a certain age, but there are no limits on who we assist. We have the occasional small business owners pop in for a quick consult, often on Excel.
The structure of the program is simple. There is one part-time paid staff person who keeps us organized, the rest of the “Champions” are volunteers. Most of the time, we assist learners one on one, sometimes we group a few learners together if they are working on similar tasks. We provide a friendly environment by serving up tea and coffee and spend as much time listening as we do teaching. Some of our learners are quite skilled, others are new to technology. We’ve helped people set up new phones, back up devices to clouds, sync phones to their cars and will occasionally make house calls to help with routers and desktop PCs. Much of what we do is teach people how to identify useful apps and teach them how to use them. Online safety is a BIG part of everything we do.
Being able to individualize the approach to each learner makes them comfortable. We’re there to help them make friends with their devices and give them the confidence they need to try. It’s often about finding one app or tools that will be useful to them. It might be the press-reader app for our local library, make online purchases safely, social media, maybe a game or apps that can help them plan a trip.
We preach the importance of creating original strong words for each website and or app and of recording passwords and WRITING THEM DOWN. Yes, there are many nifty ways to save your passwords in a device, but when learners don’t trust their technology, it creates a big challenge. In order to meet our learners in their comfort zone, we encourage them to use the old-style address books to keep track of log ins and passwords. Address books have alphabetical tabs to help learners keep logins sorted with the corresponding passwords. The notorious stack of sticky notes containing hastily scribbled passwords with no indication of what site or app it’s for never fails to make me sigh. Strong unique passwords require effort from the best of us and getting people of a certain age to generate password with over 8 characters that aren’t part of their name or personal information can require significant amount of handholding and patience. I was coaching a learner through the process one day and she was getting frustrated. When she asked to use the village where she was born, I shook my head no and she replied, “What if I spell it in Welsh. It has 14 letters and half of them are vowels.” All her passwords are now in Welsh and suspect they are safer than some of mine.
We have learners that have no knowledge of how to begin using their devices. We had a learner walk in one day and plonk a new Iphone (still in the box) on table and admit that her family gave her nearly two years ago. She had hidden it away in the drawer, but her adult children were now badgering her to use it. We help people start from scratch and even have a few older phones, tablets and even PCs that can be loaned out to help people start the journey to bridge the digital divide.
I’ve helped a 75-year-old lady figure out how to use WhatsApp so she could video chat with her grandson in Australia. I’ve taught people that remember using ration cards how to send and receive emails and texts. We help MANY people backup devices to “clouds” after trying to explain clouds in a number of creative ways. Helping someone set up the app they need to order prescription refills is rewarding. I love the days when I truly change someone’s lives. A favorite was the day one of our learners realized that the Googles Map app was actually a GPS system that can be used in the car and that she could stop arguing about her guidance skills with her husband on long drives.
Learners express their appreciation that we will sit there with them and explain as many times or ways as needs until they fully get it. Some learners require the same instruction several weeks in a row, before it fully sinks in. They often feel like they are burdening family with too many questions and the need for hand holding. A lot of our learners come every week, it’s just part of their social calendar. It’s always fun to hear “I don’t have any problems, what can you show me this week.”
It’s really rewarding to help people with something that most of us take for granted. I like to make a difference and I’ve learned a lot from the wonderful people that I get to help. I always look forward to Thursdays. It’s such a simple concept with the power to make a profound difference especially in small rural areas.