ALISON Opens its Free Online Learning Resources to Support the Home Access Programme Announced by Gordon Brown

ALISON, the leading free online learning service for basic and essential workplace skills, has welcomed Prime Minister Gordon Brown's announcement to provide free computers and broadband connectivity to more than 270,00 families across England through the Home Access programme. In support of this initiative, ALISON is making its interactive multimedia learning materials available to benefactors of the programme at no cost. Adults and children will be able to log-on to www.alison.com and take a variety of free computer and other training courses - either alone or as part of a learner group set up by their teacher or educational establishment.

The Home Access programme announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown is an exciting initiative to mitigate the emerging digital and educational divide between children whose parents can afford up-to-date computers and connectivity and those who cannot. In delivering free laptop computers and connectivity for Internet access at home, the government is addressing two of the main factors contributing to the emerging divide in the UK. However, the success of the Home Access programme will depend on children and adults having the necessary computer skills to fully exploit internet access - skills which it is argued appear to be lacking at the moment.

The ALISON range of free online learning resources is an ideal complement to the Home Access initiative. The courses on www.alison.com allow adults and children to learn computer skills in their own home, at their own pace and at no cost. ALISON is also making access to its Learning Management System (LMS) free for teachers and trainers. These professionals will be able to access the LMS through ALISON Manager and set-up and manage learner groups at no cost - a feature of immense value to those not having access to a standalone LMS.

ALISON is excited by the surging interest in online learning and is currently preparing to announce an exciting initiative to create a highly-scalable IT Literacy programme for local communities across Ireland and the UK. The programme aims to increase IT literacy skills and enable graduates to use these skills to access the growing number of services and opportunities offered in an online environment. Discussions are ongoing with the relevant local bodies and more details will be announced when these discussions are complete.