BASIC INTERNET TRAINING FOR BEGINNERS AT DUNGARVAN ENTERPRISE CENTRE

BASIC INTERNET TRAINING FOR BEGINNERS 

AT

 DUNGARVAN  ENTERPRISE  CENTRE

Dungarvan Enterprise Centre are pleased to announce that they will be hosting Benefit 4 Basic Internet training. This is aimed at beginners who need help with using online services. This training is open to all ages and abilities.

This Century is pushing us to use smartphones and computers to get information, to communicate, to conduct transactions and to research and buy goods and services online. Government services are also online so it is important to be able to use the Internet, just for daily life. A significant majority of older adults say they need assistance when it comes to using new digital devices, the Internet is not just for youngsters. If you don’t know how to use email or keep in touch with family on Skype, this training can help you.

After this training participants will be surfing online, booking flights, and using the Internet safely. Participants will learn how to use Skype, pay motor tax online and how to use email.  

The course is subsidised by the BenefIT 4 government grant scheme. Since its creation it has been successful in training 30,000 Irish people at 700 different locations with high satisfaction rates. So far Dungarvan Enterprise Centre has put 80 people through this course and the feedback has been very positive. To quote some of the participants from the previous courses “I’m so much more confident after completing this course”, while another says “I was given a tablet as a present and now I can finally use it to stay in touch with the family”.

You might not need this training yourself but you might know someone who could benefit from it, if this is the case please share this information with them. It costs just €10 for 4 weeks of training and takes place on Tuesday mornings from 11:00-12:45. Everyone is welcome to join this training. For more information call Dungarvan Enterprise Centre at (058)23598  

Check Out the Results of our Training Needs Survey Autumn 2014!

The feedback from Dungarvan Enterprise Centre’s Training Needs Survey for autumn 2014 has been astoundingly helpful and informative. Through customer comment and feedback Dungarvan Enterprise Centre has received an abundance of constructive advice which it plans to implement into its programme immediately.

Dungarvan Enterprise Centre discovered that close to 55% of respondents had not availed of a course in our Centre during the past six months with the prevalent reason being due to a lack of relevancy. Dungarvan Enterprise Centre plans to combat this finding by striving to bring the businesses of Dungarvan and West Waterford the most relevant courses. This will be achieved by open communication with business owners and by researching and staying on top of evolving trends in business.

Encouragingly, a massive 97.87% of respondents said they would take a course at Dungarvan Enterprise Centre in the next six months if they thought it was relevant to their business.

Comments under this section also praised Dungarvan Enterprise Centre as a “Great place to learn” and an “Excellent service that is easily accessible”.

As well as that encouraging statistic, we also found that 68.88% of respondents had no difficulty applying courses held at Dungarvan Enterprise Centre to their business. As 26.67% of the respondents were inapplicable to this question, only 4.4% found our courses difficult to apply to the day-to-day running of their business.

Other areas that were suggested by respondents through the comment section indicated an interest in upskilling regarding business plans, health and safety, sourcing new clients, office administration and filing minute taking, and project management.

The comments section also revealed many business owners would appreciate the creation of a networking forum to combat the isolation of working alone. Dungarvan Enterprise Centre is currently putting together an e-commerce forum. This would allow businesses that sell online or wish to do so, the opportunity to learn from each other in a peer-to-peer environment and benefit from each other’s expertise.

We also learned some very interesting statistics on where respondents find information about Dungarvan Enterprise Centre. Email is proving our most effective tool of communication with 83.3% of respondents finding information on us here. Our website (31.25%) and Social Media (20.83%) are also proving strong sources of information.

Overall, we are delighted with the findings and feedback of our Training Needs Survey for autumn 2014. 93.75% of respondents believe Dungarvan Enterprise Centre keeps up to the date with current trends while 97.87% said they would take a course at Dungarvan Enterprise Centre in the next six months if they thought it was relevant to their business.

Further feedback to highlight that Dungarvan Enterprise Centre was meeting customer demands was also revealed in the final comment section where respondents stated: “All evidence points to best practice”, “All courses (and above) show that DEC are up to date with current trends”, and “Notices of upcoming events show the level of commitment DEC has in the business community”.

With the information gained from this survey, Dungarvan Enterprise Centre looks forward to implementing your feedback in our bid to bring you the most relevant and necessary courses and training in the business world for 2015. 

If there is a specific area you would like us to help you please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or email, at 058 23598 or dungarvanec@gmail.com. Or if you know somebody who you think could benefit from what we do, don’t hesitate to send them our way.

Do You Know Someone That Wants To Learn How To Use The Internet?

Past particpants of Basic Internet Training who are now online

Do you know anyone that could benefit from a basic internet training course?

Does your Mam or Dad or grandparents know how to use Skype and email?  Are they confident enough on the internet to book their own flights without your help? Do they know how to pay their motor tax online? Would they like to learn?

Dungarvan Enterprise Centre will be running a basic internet training course for beginners that will run for four weeks, starting on Wednesday, October 15th.

The course is called Benefit 4 and is a government based initiative and therefore will cost participants just €10.

After completing the course, participants will be able to use search engines, email, Skype, pay their motor tax online, and book flights online.

Unfortunately, the government scheme that provides this cost effective course is coming to an end so this is the last time Dungarvan Enterprise Centre will be hosting this course. So, if you know someone who could benefit from partaking in this course don't let them miss out on this final opportunity. We have already put 70 people through this programme!

For more information on this basic internet computer course contact Dungarvan Enterprise Centre on 058 23598 or email dungarvanec@gmail.com.  

Results of Online Survey "What Can We Do For You"

In recent weeks we ran an online survey to find out your needs in terms of training. In the region of 95% agreed they needed training in both digital skills and business skills.

Statistics for digital skills show that the areas most people are interested in developing are:

Twitter for business 52%, Facebook for business 56% and Web design 46%.

In relation to developing business skills the most popular areas that you wanted training in are

• Advertising 55%
• Increasing Sales 51% 
• Building Brands 47%

When asked what areas would you like a speaker to give a talk/ seminar on, the most popular topics are

• Advertising 55%  
• Entrepreneurialism 38%
• Innovation and Branding (both 36%)

.

The most popular time for the workshops/training to take place was between 9 -1 (62%) and after hours 6-9 (34%)

In relation to fees for the workshops most people felt the the region of €25-35(36%) was an acceptable price with the price range of €20-25 and €35-45 very similar at 23% and 25% respectively.

When asked if there is anything you would be interested in having us facilitate mentoring was the main area that you sought along with web design and marketing skills.

Thank you for your help with this. Watch this space for our programme of events and also to see who wins a free place on one of our courses

Computers and the Internet? Let Dungarvan Enterprise Centre Get You Started

We are again this year offering a basic computer course which will concentrate on basic computing and the Internet.

The course is open to the absolute beginner who has little or no knowledge of computing and the Internet,so if  you have a son, daughter, mother, father or grandparent who have yet to get started or have just never gotten around to take that class this is the course for them. The topics to be covered include:

• What is a browser
• Using a Search Engine
• Setting up an e-mail Account
• Sending an e-mail
• Searching for and booking a holiday/flight
• Using Skype

The course will be run over four 2 hour sessions and will progress at the speed of the students,so no one will be left behind. As it is being subsidised by the government grant scheme BenefIT 4 the cost of the course will amount to just €10. The course begins mid February.

If you know anyone who would like to participate, contact Mags at  058-23598 or e-mail dungarvanec@gmail.com.
image courtesy of (isophere) Free Digital Photos.net

Dungarvan Enterprise Centre Celebrates First Birthday

Dungarvan Enterprise Centre first opened its doors on 5th December 2011. In the past twelve months the centre has become a key player in the business landscape, offering a comprehensive range of services to the local business community. The centre is almost at full occupancy, with just one office space remaining free. 

The aim of Dungarvan Enterprise Centre is to stimulate and encourage enterprise in West Waterford, while acting as a support to the local business community. The centre achieves this through letting affordable office space, meeting room hire, training, mentoring and event management. The centre offers a number of free services to start-up and growing businesses including flyer display, promotion through our newsletter and social media sites, general business advice and facilitation of networking and seminars. The centre also offers affordable practical business training and has provided training in areas as diverse as social media, cloud computing, self-effectiveness, e-tendering and marketing over the last year. To date the centre has provided training to over 100 local businesses.

The office spaces at the centre are of a very high spec and are offered at affordable rates, starting at €180 per month including management fee and VAT. The centre also offers subsidised high speed broadband with speeds of up to 120mg and VOIP telephony, with built-in IT support. “We are delighted to have eight businesses on board to date, this equates to 18 people employed within the centre,” says Mags Durand O’Connor, centre manager, “We have also provided room hire to a variety of clients including FAS, LEADER and Waterford WEN, numbering over 200 people having accessed our facilities over the past year. We have been fortunate to work closely with Waterford County Enterprise Board, Dungarvan Chamber and Waterford County Council in our endeavours and we will continue to do so in our mission to find practical means of supporting business in the local community.”

The next big project for the centre is a Coder Dojo in association with Waterford County Enterprise Board, who are driving the initiative through their Student Enterprise Programme. This free programme which helps children to develop essential IT skills will be available from January. The centre has already received a generous donation of two laptops for the programme from TQS Integration and would ask any other businesses who might be able to donate old laptops to get in touch with the centre as it is the aim of the programme to be inclusive.