DIGITS programme to roll out in Highbury

DIGITS programme to roll out in Highbury

A digital city-wide programme called DIGITS is on a mission to provide devices, internet connections and digital literacy tuition to 1,000 households with school-aged children in Palmerston North by 2018.

Digital Citizenship Coordinator Bronwyn Meads is coordinating a project to roll out in Highbury. This follows a successful pilot project in Roslyn where parents and teachers agreed that it was affordable and met a need in the community.

Working in partnership with Te Aroha Noa in the Highbury area she will facilitate and work with families, schools, community organisations and stakeholders to provide families with school-aged children with mobile technology, a Chromebook, an internet connection and digital literacy tuition.

A comparison of areas show that Highbury is the most digitally excluded area in the city with 32% of households with dependent children not having access to the internet, compared to the city average of 13% or Aokautere at6%

Ms Meads says “The members of the Highbury community have huge community pride, strong community agencies, and social cohesion. This is the place to invest in.”

Te Aroha Noa Community Services Chief Executive Officer, Bruce Maden, believes this is an exciting initiative that will make a significant difference to educational outcomes in the Highbury community.

“Every child in Palmerston North should have the opportunity to be connected.”

“Through a Computer in Homes Programme Te Aroha Noa began to address this issue and provided over 45 families with computers, but this was always only scratching the surface of the issue. This initiative allows a scaling up of our aim to ensure every home in Highbury is digitally connected,” he says.

The project, being led by Te Aroha Noa, are hosting two fundraisers.

A Givealittle page is being set up for members of the community to go and donate a monetary amount to support the cause at http://givealittle.co.nz/profile/group/digits.

A fundraising quiz and auction night will also be held on Friday 1 July 2016 at the Hotel Coachman. Register your team of 6 to support DIGITS Highbury where all money raised will ensure that every family in Highbury is digitally connected with a device and internet connection.

Special guests include TV show “Nothing Trivial’s” Aaron Ward and Will Hall. To book a table please contact Te Aroha Noa at events@tearohanoa.org.nz.

Principal of Roslyn School Joanne How believes that having more internet-enabled devices for students helps to lessen the digital divide and decreases the learning gap between pupils with and without web access.

“Being a low-decile school we struggle to get funding and to have something like this is just amazing”, she says.

Teachers saw an increase in student’s confidence in numeracy, literacy and problem-solving online. Parents were able to be involved in their child’s homework and communicate electronically with their child’s school as well.

ENDS

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