Meet the Clikkers, a series to communicate with school and university pupils and ignite interest in IT as part of Digital Agenda strategy

The European Commission has released a series of videos to encourage school and university pupils to engage with IT and learn more about how concepts like cloud computing affect their everyday lives. The lack of computer skills amongst young people is damaging job prospects, and the videos are one of the initiatives to improve that situation.

The videos focus on the Clikkers, a fictional family that are put into different scenarios to demonstrate how the IT affects the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. These videos include 'Granny Gets Fast Internet', ‘More Girls Digital’, which features Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda and “The Clikkers and the Cloud’ which explains the function of cloud computing in everyday life.

In recent years there has been much discussion about the way IT should be taught in schools, with proposals for a shift to more learning about programming itself rather than just learning how to use existing applications. Regardless, there has continued to be a distinct lack of confidence among young people when it comes to learning about IT in general.

Early in 2013 the Prince’s Trust conducted its Digital Literacy Survey, questioning 1,378 young people. The study revealed that 18 per cent of respondents do not think their computer skills are good enough and 17 per cent do not apply for jobs which require basic computer skills.

The production of these videos is part of the European Commission’s Digital Agenda strategy to help digital technologies, including the Internet to deliver sustainable economic growth and it hopes that it will lead to an ignited interest in IT among young people.

Robert Madelin, Director General of DG Connect, says: “When it comes to developments like IT Skills or cloud computing, there has been a huge emphasis on getting businesses up to speed with new technology to improve productivity. The attention now needs to be placed on the next generation who will be continuing these developments: school and university pupils. We hope that these videos are not only informative and educational for young people, but that they invoke an interest and confidence in their IT capabilities so that they can eventually make headways with the new knowledge at their disposal.”