Digital Skills Plan Would Use Students As Digital Teachers

RISON - A common expression among many senior adults today is that if they want to learn how to use the latest technology, they ask a grandchild. The Cleveland County Broadband Committee is looking to put that idea into practice as they decided this week to look into developing a program that will use local high school students to teach "digital skills" to those who may not know how to use technology or know how to use the internet. Improving digital skills is one of the three criteria the Arkansas State Broadband Office will consider when it begins to award more than $1 billion in grants to help counties expand access to high-speed internet services to those areas that do not have it. The first round of those grants is expected to begin next year. Danielle Watson, the family and consumer science agent for the Cleveland County Cooperative Extension Office and a member of the broadband committee, said she has experienced first hand the lack of digital skills some people have in Cleveland County. Watson held a public meeting in June to sign people up for the Affordable Connectivity Program, a federally-funded program that provides $30 per month for internet service to those who qualify. She said it was during that sign-up period that she realized many of the people she was helping to sign up did not know how to use a laptop computer or how to use the internet. She said it was taking about an hour for some people to sign up simply because they were unfamiliar with using the internet. Glen Howie, director of the Arkansas State Broadband Office, said developing local programs to improve digital skills will be a factor in awarding broadband grants since expanding high-speed access would be useless if people were unable to use it. During a visit to Rison in April, Howie said his office estimates that as many as 275,000 Arkansans between the ages of 18 to 64, including about 600 in Cleveland County, lack the dig...