Community-led digital skills programs work.
Digital inclusion programs should be created with the people they are designed to support, not for them.
We can only make meaningful and real change when people are at the heart of designing digital inclusion programs that are made to support them.
This is why co-design is important. It means the program is grounded by real voices and reflective of the real world. It is about making time to hear from and understand different people’s perspectives, what they want to learn, how they learn and how they want to be supported. This is how we can build capacity within community organisations, local digital mentors and create effective digital inclusion programs that are relevant and useful for people they support.
Co-design is central to our Games for Good program.
Co-designing for Games for Good
Digital inclusion programs led by people with disability have incredible impact on both those they are supporting and the people delivering the programs, empowering people to fully participate digitally.
With support from Google.org we launched Games for Good last year. We want to make the internet a safer and friendlier place for people with intellectual disability and their supporters. This program not only supports people with intellectual disability to feel safer and more confident online, but also gives them a space to share their voice.
Making a learning game with people with intellectual disability
Since the launch, we have facilitated co-design sessions with twelve people with intellectual disability with a diverse mix of ages, abilities and interests to develop the concept for an online learning game. The group was split into two teams: online relationships and online financial safety and shared their insights based on their topic. Read about James’ experience as one of our Games for Good Co-Designers.
We are now building the game! The co-design sessions are informing the build of the game from the outset. Over the next few months, we will continue to test and get feedback from people with intellectual disability throughout the game design process.
Digitally empowering disability support workers
The Games for Good program is also empowering disability support workers with the tools to confidently support people with intellectual disability to have fun and stay safe online.
Good Things Australia heard from disability support workers about their ideas on resources and a learning space that works for them. From these insights, we facilitated two co-design sessions to develop and test the learning space and learning resources that will be most effective for disability support workers to teach digital skills.
Over the next few months, Good Things Australia will be working with disability support organisations to empower disability support workers to become digital mentors using the co-designed resources.
Good Things would like to thank Google.org for their support of this program. We’re excited to share what we learn with the world!
Together, we can make the internet safer and easier for people with intellectual disability and their supporters!