A NEW Adult Community Learning Course will be held in Chelmsford to help any mums who want to become internet savvy and confident with computers.

The 10 hour intensive #techmums programme is all about giving participants the confidence to take part in the digital revolution, supplying individuals with the skills to confidently engage online.

Twenty five years ago programme creator Dr Sue Black OBE was a single parent of three children living in poverty, through tech education she was able to earn a decent living, bring her family out of poverty and create a better future for them all.

Inspired by her own experiences the #techmums programme was born.

She said: “While children are easily excited about technology the worry was what happened when they went home.

"If their parents were negative about technology then we didn’t get very far.

"I decided that we needed to target a different group of people if we really wanted to make a difference.

"We needed to target the key influencers on a child’s success in life, the people responsible for most of the financial decisions in the family, the people possibly least empowered around technology.

"Yes, you’ve guessed it we needed to target mums.”

The free course for local mums will be running at the Adult Community Learning IT suites in Chelmsford, Harwich, Harlow and Basildon.

The course is two hours a week for six weeks with the final session being a “graduation ceremony” at which Dr Sue Black presents certificates to all those completing the course.

Cllr Ray Gooding, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning added: “#techmums is a great initiative that gives participants confidence in our ever changing tech environment. It can help with future employment prospects, educates on how to stay safe online and, most importantly, challenges self-limiting beliefs that some people can hold around “I can’t do that”.

The #techmums programme covers email, editing and producing spreadsheets and documents, sharing files, App Design, Web Design, Social Media, online security and an introduction to programming.

Details of times and venues of the course will be available soon but mums can register their interest by calling 03330 138367.