By Dan Barron, Community Organiser
John has been attending digital sessions for 6 weeks at the Shaftesbury House Digital Drop-in from the ‘Get Connected’ project. John knew very little about smartphones and tablets and has had very little experience of using digital technology.
The only experience John has had is with an old mobile phone and his television. John first came to the project because he felt that he had to be proactive in learning how to use technology. In the words of John “whilst my legs still work and I’m compos mentis I should know how to use technology so I can do bits when I can’t move about like I can now.”
John has always come to sessions with a great attitude and a friendly nature not to also mention his stories that always began with “back in 1066”. He started off on just Rotherham Federation’s Tesco Huddle android tablet, on the first session having to learn to turn it off and on again and how to use the main menu. After the first session John had bought his own tablet so that he could practice in his own time. John always brings a great atmosphere to the group and loves to have a chat and a joke with others in the group which brings a great atmosphere to the group and loves to have a chat and a joke with others in the group which brings the session together.
Since the first session John has come on leaps and bounds as he has retained the learning. With each session John has become more independent with his tablet skills and has since been researching for topics in his own time whilst practising using the knowledge handed down in the sessions such as how to efficiently research topics on google by using the keyboard or searching by speaking through the Google application. John is also competent at navigating the tablet, downloading and deleting apps and has been learning how to use Google maps and YouTube to look at old boxing video highlights, engineering videos and films.
John is still interested in attending sessions even though he has learned a lot of the basics he is forever wanting to learn how to do something new on the tablet and Rotherham Federation will continue to support him to do so.
