The people of Derbyshire are improving their IT skills at seven
Internet centres across the county
In line with the Government's initiative to open 2,000 Internet
access centres across the UK, Derbyshire County Council has
announced the opening of its seventh Learndirect centre in Glossop,
writes
Marc Ambasna-Jones.
The Learndirect centres provide technology-based learning and offer
Internet access to people throughout Derbyshire.
The courses, for people over the age of 16, are designed to improve
skills and help residents compete more effectively in the jobs
market. They include numeracy and literacy skills, using the
Internet, business and management skills for small businesses,
computer skills, and getting to grips with different software
packages.
"The Learndirect centres offer Derbyshire residents a chance to
learn about the Internet and computers and pick up the kind of
essential skills that are becoming increasingly important in the
workplace," said councillor Alan Charles, chairman of education at
Derbyshire County Council.
With £500,000 joint funding from the council and the Government,
the Learndirect centres are starting to appear across the county.
The new centre in Glossop contains a suite of computers with
Internet access. Other centres are based in Alfreton, Clay Cross,
Codnor, Ilkston, New Mills and Shirebrook, with an eighth opening
in Swadlincote in the next few months.
Derbyshire County Council teamed up with PC supplier Elonex to kit
out the Learndirect centres. Each centre has 10-networked Pentium
III machines running Windows 2000 and packages such as desktop
publishing. They currently ISDN 2 connections, but these are soon
to be upgraded to ADSL, offering 2Mbyte broadband access.
In addition to its drive towards offering Internet and computer
training, the council has also embarked on a programme to link
local libraries to its county-wide Concerto network. There are now
27 libraries on the system, enabling the public to access the
entire catalogue of material in Derbyshire.
The system has the additional benefit that only one membership card
is needed for all of the libraries on the network. It also speeds
up counter service and the supply of requested items.
Learndirect benefits
- Offers residents the opportunity to learn about IT and the
Internet
- Provides access to otherwise expensive course material
- Courses also aim to improve numeracy and literacy
- The county has fully embraced technology to try and offer its
residents access to improved services and opportunities.