VIVID teamed up with Eastleigh College for Get Online Week (19- 25 October) to offer community taster sessions of the college’s new ‘Essential Digital Skills’ course to VIVID customers. The training was part of the housing association’s wider programme to help communities feel more connected and to tackle digital and social exclusion in partnership with the Good Things Foundation.

VIVID’s collaboration with Eastleigh College allowed customers to sign up to attend two face to face taster sessions during Get Online Week, with tablets provided. Eight customers attended the face to face sessions and other online courses also ran virtually throughout the week.

As a leading technical and professional college, Eastleigh College offers a wide range of programmes to provide the skills and knowledge including many online professional qualifications, and the new part-time course ‘Essential Digital Skills’. This new course is designed to help people with little or no previous digital skills to use smart phones, tablets or computers. It will run as daytime and evening classes over 10-15 weeks depending on the on venue and no previous experience or knowledge is needed. 

Jan Waterman, Community Development and Digital Officer at VIVID said “As we’re currently unable to deliver our face to face mentoring service from Hampshire Libraries, when we heard that Eastleigh College could offer a taster of their new qualification  ‘Essential Digital Skills’, we thought this would be ideal for those customers who are struggling to learn without the face to face delivery. The college was very well set up with social distancing and all attendees felt very safe in the surroundings.

“With lockdown restrictions set to change and potentially increase over the next few months, the training proved timely in supporting more people to feel confident getting online and feel connected. Attendees remarked that they felt inspired by the session and left feeling much more assured in their ability to use a tablet.”

Employer Engagement Manager at Eastleigh College, Belinda Moore, said: “It has been fantastic working in partnership with VIVID for Get Online Week and we are pleased that the course was so well received. Our “Essential Digital Skills’ course has gained support from many employers and organisations and we’re working together to support our community as people prepare themselves for life during and after the virus. We are continuing to develop a wide range of programmes to provide the skills and knowledge to help individuals get online”.

For more information on VIVID’s digital training offering, please visit the VIVID 'getting online' page.