Learning new skills can be fun at any age.

Te Rōpū Kaumātua Kuia o Te Whare Tapu Ō Ngāpuhi meets on the last Thursday of every month, and this month’s hui was a wānanga to support the Rōpū with new skills in a digital world.

Nikora Ngaropo and Kiri Leach delivered the digital course called Kanorau Digital Literacy Foundations which was offered free of charge through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. The course teaches comprehensive digital literacy skills and capability training, and is available for Māori and Pasifika whānau.

Lee Mason, coordinator for the Rōpū, said the course was popular with 24 participants who were able to take their workbooks home and continue to mahi in their own time.

“If any of our Kaumātua Kuia would like time to practice on a computer, this can be arranged at the Rūnanga (Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-Ō-Ngāpuhi) for them,” said Lee.

The course provided an overview including:

• sending and checking emails using gmail
• using other Google tools to create, organise and connect, overview involved the following
• solving online and offline problems using tools like Google and YouTube
• exploring day to day tasks online such as shopping and banking
• building your own free and easy-to-use website

This video shows the fun and wairua during the wānanga.