‘rejoin the human race’. Like many older people, he felt excluded by his lack of internet skills. His sense of being left behind was reinforced by seeing young people use technology with ease and confidence. We know that lack of internet access can reinforce the social and economic disadvantages already facing some older people. Recognising the divisive nature of digital exclusion, the government has invested £2.8 million in Get Digital, a project that will enable sheltered housing residents to develop computer and internet skills. This article reports on findings from the initial focus groups with residents before they embarked on the learning programme. Residents describe their experiences of using technology, their attitudes towards technology and what they hoped to gain by developing computer and internet skills. Get Digital seeks to narrow the digital divide by

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providing sheltered housing schemes with computers and residents with free learning programmes to introduce them to computer and internet skills. The project is being managed and evaluated by NIACE. The learning programmes are provided by Digital Unite. Through the project, 196 sheltered housing

schemes have received grants to purchase IT equipment, software and broadband access to the internet. Some have also purchased Nintendo Wii consoles to help residents improve their fitness. Each participating scheme is allocated a tutor who introduces residents to basic computer skills, such as emailing, word-processing and searching and staying safe on the internet. These initial sessions are followed by ‘expert supervisions’ which are agreed between the tutor and the residents at each scheme. Scheme staff and tutors work together to identify community partners and peers who will provide ongoing support and mentor residents after the learning programme finishes. In order to capture the lessons learned, NIACE’s

research team is evaluating Get Digital by assessing the benefits and impact on older people, schemes, landlords and community partners. The evaluation will identify costs and benefits for participating landlords in order to contribute to a business case for other landlords who are considering introducing digital literacy programmes into their schemes. Importantly, the evaluation will explore what factors enable the programme to be successful and what might be improved. The research team is collecting data using surveys,

interviews and focus groups. Residents and scheme managers are being surveyed at the beginning and end of the learning programme and a few months after completion. The evaluation will assess not only changes in residents’ digital literacy and their attitudes towards technology but also any impact the programme has on their wellbeing. Tutors’ views and experiences will be collected through a survey completed once they have finished work at a scheme. To gain insights into what works and what does not

work in different situations and contexts, the team is collecting qualitative data from 12 case study sites. The schemes selected as case studies were chosen for their

APRIL 2011 ADULTS LEARNING 29

n a recent visit to a sheltered housing scheme, NIACE researchers met William (not his real name) who wanted to learn how to use the internet in order, as he put it, to