INNOVATIVE training is making IT skills accessible to rural communities in west Somerset. Brian Wilson finds out more.
Skills.FM is an exciting new development in west Somerset, which is making IT skills training accessible to small businesses and communities in a highly rural area. However, as Rural Services Network member West Somerset Council points out, the project "has been in the making for some time".
Originally, under the auspices of the regional development agency, outreach centres were created across the south west peninsular, offering face-to-face training in rural locations. Whilst a real step forward, even they were not accessible to everyone, especially in an area like Exmoor.
Changes to funding sources and rapid advances in IT technology provided the spur for trying a different approach, since the rationale for taking IT skills training out into rural areas remained as strong as ever.
Partners in the Somerset RDPE programme have therefore supported an initiative at the outreach facility in west Somerset – Exmoor Community Computer Centre – enabling it to develop an internet-based radio service called Skills.FM. In so doing they are helping the Centre to remain viable by diversifying its offer.
Users log on to the Skills.FM website and the audio player automatically starts playing. When the station is live they can e-mail or phone in with IT queries. Alternatively, pre-recorded material can be downloaded from the website at any time.
There are essentially two types of material available on Skills.FM. One sort is what they call "micro-skills training" or short audio-clips providing technical advice about common tasks. These cover things like creating a mailing list, setting up a new e-mail account, doing calculations in Excel and producing an invoice in Sage.
The other sort of material under development is the delivery of tutorials, to be aimed mainly at small businesses and organisations. They include sessions about submitting online VAT returns, using Social Media and tutorials targeted at the farming, tourism and creative sectors.
In October the Centre will start delivering face-to-face tutorials to groups of local farmers, covering things like submitting their online cattle movement records. Those sessions will be recorded and then made available in an edited format on Skills.FM. This will make the learning widely available and enable attendees to check back on anything they forget. The Centre likes to retain some face-to-face engagement as it's one way to ensure that content is tailored to local needs.
During its development stage the Skills.FM initiative has been jointly funded by West Somerset Council and the RDPE's Western Somerset Local Action for Rural Communities programme. As a result access to the station and all its content is currently free.
However, to sustain this service into the future everyone recognises that income streams will need to be developed. Various options are under consideration, which could include generating fees from advertisers, offering some tailored paid-for services and working with local agricultural colleges.
Another recent development has been the production of a Smartphone App. A version for the iPhone platform will become available soon. These quite literally place the power of the Skills.FM library in users' pockets, allowing access to its content from anywhere with a mobile, 3G or Wi-Fi connection. In due course, these services will attract an annual subscription charge.
The Smartphone App was launched in August, at the Exmoor Community Computer Centre in Winsford, with various local Councillors, business representatives and West Somerset Council's young advisers present. It is hoped that some will become ambassadors for the initiative – in the words of Corinne Matthews, Economic Regeneration & Tourism Manager at West Somerset Council, people who will "try it and then tell people about it".
For the most part, it is not necessary to have a broadband connection to access Skills.FM. The audio-clips are accessible for those who still only have a dial-up connection. Furthermore, by offering Smartphone access connectivity issues are further reduced.
Skills.FM is only now about to be actively marketed, but it is already accessed by many businesses, organisations and individuals. Over 2,500 users have so far downloaded an audio-clip and several hundred have downloaded the Smartphone App.
At the outset of this initiative Matt Barrow from the Centre says the question was, "how can we reach those people that we couldn't reach before?" By developing an alternative to traditional face-to-face training they have gone a long way to answer that question. Skills.FM can be accessed where and when people need it – a model which seems particularly well suited to rural circumstances.
This article was written by Brian Wilson whose consultancy, Brian Wilson Associates, can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Brian is also the RSN Research Director.