Stepping UP
ICT for a Better Future.
Stepping UP is an ICT training programme targetted at parents who have graduated from Computers in Homes and others in their communities, encouraging them to ‘step up’ to further learning opportunities and enhanced job opportunities.
The goal is to provide training to 4800 people in eight Computers in Homes communities over a three year period (1000 in year 1, 1600 in year 2 and 2200 in year 3). 20% of these people are expected to come from families who have completed the Computers in Homes programme.
Go to www.steppingup.org.nz
The other 80% will be people from the same communities who are seeking to increase their ICT skills or make better use of ICT in their workplaces. At least 10% of all these people are expected to further step up to more formal tertiary education training.
The Stepping UP curriculum is sufficiently flexible to meet the specific needs of people in local communities who are seeking to up-skill with ICTs but do not have the opportunity to participate in formal tertiary education programmes. The programme focuses on three ways for participants to improve their work skills:
Digital Literacy:
creating confident users of ICTs. This is the first step beyond Computers in Homes which aims to increase confidence in managing ICT as a tool. Programmes such as Positive Computing for Parents developed by the 2020 Communications Trust and those developed by the Internet Safety Group are two examples. Microsoft’s Digital Literacy curriculum could also be offered. Those seeking recognition for training undertaken could then step up to the globally recognised International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) or the Internet & Computing Core Certification (IC3) assessment tools.
Job Skills – creating more productive workers. The focus of these programmes will be on using ICTs more effectively in work situations. This could cover areas such as accounting, publishing, presentations, direct mailing, project management, digital media, database development, web publishing.
ICT Skills – creating pathways to jobs in the ICT industry. The focus is on building higher level skills for people interested in pursuing careers in ICT. There is a shortage of people with the skills necessary to support our society’s rapidly expanding use of ICTs. We need more programmers, more engineers and more technicians. The programmes offered would be a stepping stone towards formal tertiary qualifications such as Level 2 - 4 Certificates in Computing, offered by many polytechnics and institutes of technology, or industry recognised qualifications such as the Cisco CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) or Microsoft Certifications (Technology and Business).