This guide is for Good Things’ network organisations that have been awarded a Building Digital Skills Grant through the Be Connected program.
Key info about this grant
Good Things program: Be Connected | Building Digital Skills Grant
Target audience: People aged over 50 years
Grant objective: Use grant funds and Be Connected learning resources to provide free digital skills support to over-50s in your community.
Grant term: 12 months
Number of people you need to support: 15 to 300 people, depending on your grant contract.
Learner requirements: complete 10 topics with new learners and 15 topics with existing learners.
Special conditions: If you have a “Targeted” or “Specialist” Building Digital Skills grant contract, you will have specific additional requirements you need to follow. This may include supporting people in remote/regional locations, who have disability, First Nations or CALD communities.
Check your grant guidelines and contract in my.GoodThings website to get to know your specific requirements under this grant and learn more.
What you need to do
Over the 12-month grant period, you need to:
- Accept your contract and submit your invoice to my.GoodThings website
- Review your project and budget plan
- Attend the mandatory kick-off webinar and explore mentor resources
- Provide digital skills support for over 50, using the Pre-Digital Skills Checker (pre-survey) to understand their learning needs
- Register learners and record the topics they have completed in my.GoodThings website
- Complete your Pro Digital Skills Checkers (post-survey) with learners
- Acquit your grant on the my.GoodThings website
Building Digital Skills grant timeline
Your digital skills support
Your organisation can design the digital skills support you provide using this grant funding and the topics you cover to meet the needs of your community. Use your project plan and Digital Skills Checker results as a guide to how you will deliver these topics.
You can choose to deliver your grant-funded support through:
- Group mentoring sessions – Support learners in a group setting. Ensure each participant has a device and guide them step-by-step through topics by using various activities from the Be Connected eSafety website*. Use practical activities to make it fun and relevant.
- One-on-one support sessions: Support individual learners in person. Guide them step-by-step through topics by using various activities from the Be Connected eSafety website*. Use practical activities to make it fun and relevant.
Top Tip: Develop a system for tracking learner progress at the start of your program.
*Be Connected eSafety website
The free Be Connected eSafety website is available to support your Building Digital Skills program. This website contains online learning activities covering various topics.
Remember, topics completed by your learners on the Be Connected eSafety website must be recorded in my.GoodThings website to acquit your grant.
Top Tip: For example, learning how to add an attachment to an email is one topic.
Reporting requirements
There are three things you need to do to report on and acquit your grant.
- Digital Skills Checkers
Completing pre- and post-support learner surveys – called Digital Skills Checkers – is a grant requirement. At least 50% of your learners must complete both Checkers. The links to the Checkers and their results can be seen in your my.GoodThings account. This will help you to tailor your support to meet your learner’s needs. They are also essential for showing impact and helping Good Things Australia secure future government funding. Each completed survey also counts toward your learning targets, so please support learners in completing them.
- Recording your learners
Log in to my.GoodThings website to register learners who were supported in your Building Digital Skills program. This is essential for acquitting your grant and measuring program impact. Use our step-by-step videos and guides to help with the process:
- Learn how to register an individual learner
- Learn how to record support provided to learners
- Learn how to create learner groups
- Final grant acquittal
Acquit your Building Digital Skills grant at the end of the term or once targets are met on the my.GoodThings website. Go to Manage Grants > Funding Award Requirement to access your online grant acquittal form.
Top Tip: Ensure all learners are registered and their learning activities are recorded in the my.GoodThings website before submitting your grant acquittal.
Support to run your program
Training for your team
Good Things regularly runs free webinars and skillshares for staff and volunteers running our digital skills programs. See all webinars and events.
Free marketing packs
Good Things has a special Be Connected marketing pack you can order and have posted to you for free. It includes learner booklets, posters and appointment cards. Some resources are also available in selected languages other than English.
Log in to my.GoodThings website to order resources.
Free downloadable resources
Good Things has created a range of free resources to help you run and promote your project. You can find the following resources in the Good Things digital mentor resource library:
- Session plans – digital skills group sessions we have designed for you
- Learner sign-in sheets
- Tip sheets
- Activity cards
- Videos and online courses
- Social media tiles and posters to promote your sessions
- A guide to promote your event
- And much more!
Top tip: Plan sessions in advance, tailoring them to your community using insights from completed Digital Skills Checkers.
Contact us
If you have any questions or concerns about your Building Digital Skills program, contact the Good Things support team at connect@goodthingsfoundation.org or call (02) 9051 9292. We’re happy to help!