Communication students develop COA campaigns

Text: Loes Vader

The communication students are linked to COA through Hanze’s Professor of Digital Literacy and Inclusion, Arnout Ponsioen. Ponsioen is involved in the Digital Academy Northern Netherlands (DANN) and the Digital Literacy Coalition (DLC). Through these roles, he maintains an extensive network of organisations that support groups with reduced digital skills, including COA.  

Three campaigns

Students worked in groups on different campaigns, each aimed at a specific target group within the asylum seeker community. One group made a video that highlights the benefits of digital skills. Another group designed stickers, posters and a beach flag to get the message across.

Second-year Communication student Sandy Lenters and her project group created a campaign for single Syrian men aged 18 to 24. During research, Sandy found out that many of the young Syrian men often have digital means, but they are not digitally literate. "Some had a mobile phone and were on TikTok, for example, others were not. Some spoke English, others didn't. So there were big differences in the target group and I found that interesting," Sandy says.

Sharing success stories

Sandy's group developed a campaign in which asylum seekers share their success stories. Amaar was central to their creative concept. "Amaar is a Syrian boy who has been living in the Netherlands for some time and has built his life here. Amaar is the role model on posters, a slideshow, an infographic and on flyers. All physical means that should lead to more registrations for the digital skills lessons.
The research showed that the target group would like to, but often does not have the courage to take the step towards a training session or getting more information. "We wanted to show through our role model that people who do take that step make progress. COA is now going to assess what they are going to do with the campaigns. It would be really nice if they were actually used."

Digital inclusion and COA

Alet Bouwmeester is a COA spokesperson. "Digital inclusion is a theme that is certainly important to us as COA since not all residents are digitally literate, while being digitally literate, finding your way in online society, is almost a precondition for participating in society at any level," says Bouwmeester. "Think of applying for a DigiD and online banking. We see that the digital skills of our residents can generally be greatly improved, but most people still do not find their way to classes, the information desk and to our app MyCOA.nl. We also don't have a clear view of the extent to which residents realise the importance of digital literacy."

A deep bow to the students

COA has not started the campaign yet. "We are looking at what resources we could use. Our organisation is a national one, so we also have to roll out resident communication nationally and uniformly. I would love it if we could implement the students' advice and the resources they provided nationally," says Bouwmeester.

It was the first time for Alet Bouwmeester’s organisation to collaborate with Hanze . "But certainly not the last time. A deep bow to what the students have delivered in such a short time. It certainly wasn’t an easy task and it was nice to hear that students thought it was a fun assignment."

Valuable assignment

Sandy Lenters agrees. "I thought it was a very fun, interesting and, above all, a valuable assignment, because you can really make a difference. I thought it was great to be able to contribute to a current social challenge with our campaign. We have not only contributed to digital inclusion, but also made a concrete difference in the lives of asylum seekers. It was a super educational assignment," Sandy concludes.

IDDI-lab

The collaboration between Hanze and COA is a great example of how educational and social organisations can work together to tackle current challenges. Do you also want to work with motivated students on a public service or information management issue, or do you want to discuss the possibilities? Please contact us via [email protected]. The IDDI lab connects governmental partners and knowledge institutions in the Northern Netherlands around the theme of information management.