Last fall, I wrote about TELUS launching a free program to improve digital literacy and online safety, for children and adults to help advance “Wise Internet and Smartphone Education”.
TELUS WISE will offer seminars and online resources that will help keep all members of Canadian families safer online. It is not just an online resource; TELUS WISE ambassadors will come out to any local community group to conduct in-person seminars on Internet and smartphone safety – a workplace, community centre, school, parenting group or senior’s centre, for example. Individuals can also book a one-on-one session with trained staff at more than 200 TELUS stores. Educational materials will also be available on a secure portal, available to anyone who wants to educate themselves on the safe use of smartphones, tablets and computers.
Two weeks ago, TELUS was recognized by CACP, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, for helping Canadian families stay safe online.
CACP has officially endorsed TELUS WISE, which has already reached more than 350,000 Canadians. The CACP Board of Directors is encouraging policing services to use the TELUS WISE program across the country, making the program materials and resources available to families in their communities.
The TELUS WISE program has two components – one aimed at adults and a second (called “TELUS WISE footprint”) which appeals directly to youth. TELUS regularly schedules free, in-person public TELUS WISE seminars led by specially-trained TELUS team members at convenient public locations. Groups of ten or more can book their own seminars in the workplace, at a community centre, in a school, at a parenting group or seniors’ centre. Individuals can also book one-on-one sessions at more than 200 TELUS stores nationwide. TELUS WISE and TELUS WISE footprint educational materials are available on a secure TELUS WISE portal for anyone interested in self-education on the safe use of smartphones, tablets and computers.
In our opening remarks at The 2014 Canadian Telecom Summit, Michael Sone and I called on the telecom industry to step up to provide the digital leadership that Canada needs.
We need to create the right conditions for Canada to lead in a global digital economy:
- We need to drive a greater degree of digital inclusiveness for all Canadians, young and old, urban and rural, regardless of their economic station.
- We need programs to increase digital literacy and access for disadvantaged Canadians.
- We need to drive increased adoption of Information and Communications Technology in business
- We need to improve ICT adoption in all dealings with government, especially in improving the quality and efficiency of health care delivery, and
- Our customers need to be confident that they can engage online securely and with their privacy safeguarded.
… it may be up to those of us in this room, gathered here at The Canadian Telecom Summit, representing the leading stakeholders in Canada’s innovation agenda, to develop and impart the vision to create a Digital Canada.
TELUS WISE is precisely the type of private sector leadership of which we spoke, “to develop and impart the vision to create a Digital Canada.”
The program deserves the recognition it received from CACP.