Get Digital Evaluation

The evaluation will find out about the benefits of training older people how to use computers and the internet. It will explore benefits gained by residents and the impact on residents, staff, landlords and other stakeholders. An important part of the work will be to identify success factors and areas for improvement. The evaluation will also assess the public value of investing in developing older people's digital literacy skills. It will contribute to the business case for further investment.         

We are using qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data from residents, tutors, landlords and community partners.  For the quantitative element, we are surveying residents and scheme managers before they start the Get Digital learning programme, at the end of the initial learning programme and again 6 months after the first learning session. We are also surveying tutors when they have delivered the learning programme at each scheme and users of the resources on the Get Digital website.  

For the qualitative element, we are gathering data from 12 case studies. To do this we will conduct initial focus groups with residents to find out about their concerns about using computers and the internet, and what they hope to gain from participating in Get Digital. We will conduct a second focus group at each case study site after the learning programme has been completed. At this point we will interview the tutor, scheme manager, landlord and any community partners who have participated at the site. We are also encouraging residents to write about their experiences and what they have learnt.      

• Registered social landlords
• Sheltered housing schemes across England
• Digitally excluded older people who are resident in sheltered housing
• The Department of Work and Pensions who has funded the project. 

The Get Digital project will finish at the end of March 2011. The evaluation will continue until the end of September. This will enable us to follow up residents and scheme managers to find out how they have sustained their learning after the funding and training support has finished.    

We have conducted 6 focus groups at our case study sites and started our surveys of residents and scheme managers.

We are in the early stages of collecting and analysing data for the evaluation. 

Documents
	Summary of findings from initial focus groups with residents

Get Digital will provide access to computers and the internet,  and develop the digital literacy skills of up to 7.800 digitally excluded older people. The evaluation will find out what difference this makes to their wellbeing and life satisfaction including their contact with families, friends and the wider community, their independence and their access to lower cost goods and services. It will also explore the efficiencies and cost savings gained by landlords and public service providers.       

Dr Fiona Aldridge

Fiona.Aldridge@niace.org.uk