Aston Pride 'Computers in the Home' project

Overview

Nowhere can the benefits of IT in supporting learning and economic gain be seen working better than in Aston.

In a 2006 Government survey Aston was identified as a significant 'digital divide' community because of its very low levels of home computer ownership (15% of homes against the then national average of 89%). This was recognised as hindering children's academic potential and affecting the employability of adults. Today over 700 homes have been connected and by 2011 2500 homes - nearly half of the homes in Aston - will be connected.
The Project

The Computers in the Home project (CiTH) was established to 'up skill' the community and educate families into the use of information communication technologies (ICT). This was to be achieved using children -the 'digital natives' of the community - as the primary educators and schools as the focal support hub of the initiative.

The project was led by Digital Birmingham, in a unique partnership with the Aston Pride New Deal for Communities (NDC), pupils, parents, schools, local authority, local university (Birmingham City University), e-Learning Foundation, local support groups (Saathi Centre), IT companies (Gaia, Microsoft, Tempus) and Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF). This partnership achieved national recognition in 2008 when School Minister Jim Knight mentioned it in his BETT conference introduction - "This partnership between local development funds and schools has resulted in hundreds of families going online. The results have been staggering."

An integral part of the project infrastructure is the filtered wireless internet cloud that was established over Aston. The cloud is generated by the project schools and participating families are supplied with a computer that links to it. The families have agreed to a weekly donation for internet access and a package of support material that included adult training programmes and subscription to several evaluated pupil learning platforms in a variety of subject areas. In the process of negotiating licensing access to these platforms and programs we introduced IT companies to the concept of 'Community Licences'. The family donations will be a major contributor to the sustainability of the project.

The computers were widely welcomed by the families and to date over 700 homes have been connected and 2500 homes - nearly half of the homes in Aston - will be connected by 2011.

The contribution of schools to the project is rewarded on the basis of the number of trained adults. This has already had an impact on the community and has begun the process of transforming Aston into a computer literate, internet capable and connected community. It is a powerful example of how collaboration between the IT industry, local authority, school and local community has extended ICT to diverse communities and allowed parents and pupils to share in educational content and information.

The effect of ICT on learning and the impact on the families and the whole community has been hugely powerful. What is clear is that both the children and families have benefited in terms of extended learning and increases in employment and economic opportunities. It has had a real impact on their lives with children that are motivated, confident and eager to learn and parents who are now actively involved in their children's learning.

The learning process is being actively supported by the development of adult/pupil teaching programs which include 'Inspire Workshops', 'Keeping IT in the Family', 'The Aston Pride ICT Certificate' and the DC 10 'Language Learning Programme'. 'Inspire Workshops' are a specific Birmingham initiative linked to parents and children working together on school based curriculum work (in this case ICT).

'Keeping IT in the Family' is a series of support comic books designed to help children teach adults ICT skills. The 'Aston Pride Certificate' is a specifically designed externally validated course and the DC10 'Language Learning Programme' is a course framed around diabetes (an endemic community illness) aimed at supporting language development through ICT.

The project will continue to build community connectivity (2500 families and homes by 2011) and develop:

- Frameworks to support connectivity (Skype networks supporting language and citizenship).
- Learning of ICT and other areas of the curriculum linked to the attainment of pupils.
- Community activities through a developed website (astonpride.org.uk).
- Business through connectivity support and training.
- Health through the expansion of the language development programme.

The funding of the project will also allow it to support other yet unidentified programmes which could support ICT linked community initiatives. Phase 1 and 2 of the project have been formally evaluated.