Marjorie Tan serves in various ministries including the Small Group and Glowing Years Ministries at Wesley Methodist Church. / Photos courtesy of Marjorie Tan
Learn Digital@Wesley – A golden opportunity Confident participants of the inaugural batch of Learn Digital@ Wesley
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new initiative for seniors to pick up digital skills has been launched at Wesley Methodist Church. Learn Digital@ Wesley (LDW) is an initiative of Wesley Communications in collaboration with Wesley Glowing Years Ministry (WGYM). The pandemic had magnified the need to be digitally-savvy, and it was particularly challenging for seniors to pick up these skills.
Making digital headway in Wesley From feedback received, seniors at Wesley had expressed the desire to learn how to access information and carry out everyday tasks more expediently online. Recognising this need, Kevyn Lai, Wesley's Pastoral Team Member (Communications) said, "We wanted Wesleyans and friends to gain confidence and not feel left behind. We wanted to help them to use digital technology confidently in their daily lives, and support their discipleship journey." Discussion and planning for LDW started as early as 2019, led by then Communications Chairperson (now LCEC Chairperson), Alvin Tay. It was halted when Covid-19 set in and resumed at the end of 2022 in partnership with SG Digital Office (SDO), a government body that was set up to drive digital adoption in the community. LDW was customised to include modules specific to Wesley. Packaged in four sessions over three months, the workshops
12 Methodist Message June 2023
are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., led by SDO's Digital Ambassadors. To help seniors take their first steps confidently, lessons were conducted at a comfortable pace in peer learning groups.
Designed for seniors Echoing the need to help Wesleyans navigate the digital landscape with confidence, Koh Geok Cheng, vicechairperson of WGYM said, "Seniors may become increasingly isolated if they do not go digital—not only socially, but also in their daily living, as seen by how the Covid-19 pandemic has evolved and transformed the way we do things." To support the communication needs of the church ministries, LDW participants learned to access Wesley's website and other church platforms such as its Telegram channel for information and to perform online registrations. Besides being aware of cybersecurity issues, they also learned to connect to Wesley's wireless network while in church. In addition, the participants also familiarised themselves with government applications such as SingPass and Health Buddy, and communications platforms like email, WhatsApp and Telegram. "Just as church staff gather for microlearning sessions under the Wesley Learning