The eReading Rooms evaluation

Read the evaluation report for our eReading Rooms pilot programme, engaging with communities who are traditionally very resistant to community learning.

The Skills Minister and officials at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills had a vision of a network of informal places where local people could go for enrichment much like the Reading Rooms of the Victorian Age – but this time updated for the 21st Century through the use of technology. They asked us to devise a pilot to see if this vision could become a reality.

Between September 2012 and January 2013, we ran the eReading Rooms pilot alongside the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to look at new models of community learning. The eReading Rooms pilot brought together 20 pilot centres around the county, who using both innovative new technology and a local approach to learning, were able to reach groups who were traditionally very resistant to engaging with community learning.