Digitisation
Everything you need to know about the digitisation project so far, including webinar recording and FAQs.
Thank you to those of you who attended our recent webinars and submitted questions for the team to answer. If you were unable to attend, you can watch a recording of the first webinar here: Digitisation briefing for the Bikeability industry which gives an overview of the project and how it will affect you.
You can also read more about the background of the digitisation project in this blog post: the Bikeability digitisation project.
If you don’t have time to listen to the webinar, we have collated the most frequently asked questions below. This page will continue to be updated as the project progresses, so please check back for more information.
Watch the webinar
About the project
There are four key reasons why we need to introduce digitisation:
- Evidence of impact
- Real time data
- A standardised approach
- Better pre and post course engagement with parents
We need evidence to prove to Active Travel England that cycle training makes an impact. Digitisation is the best way to gather this information, which will determine future funding for Bikeability.
Digitisation will also ensure a consistent approach to gathering consent, booking training and offering feedback to parents. This consistency will allow us to report data to Active Travel England in real time, and ensure every rider receives the same great experience, wherever they live.
Finally, pre and post-course communications to schools and parents will help us reinforce the importance of cycle training and improve parental understanding of what their children have learnt, to ensure they continue cycling beyond Bikeability.
Digitisation will include:
- A digitised consent process
- API to connect to existing systems, including Clarity, CoOrdinate Sport and bespoke systems.
- An instructor web based app
- Rider report, including outcomes achieved, emailed to parents
- Bikeability Club; a dedicated website for riders and their parents after Bikeability
Digitisation will not include:
- Scheduling instructor working patterns or any other workforce management
- Risk benefit assessment
- Serious incident, safeguarding and accident forms
- Payment system for areas who charge a fee for cycle training
These may be introduced in future versions of digitisation, depending on feedback from the pilot and further funding to implement additional work.
The new system will not be a booking system for organisations to book training. It will be used to provide an audit trail of information for the grant claim, to record and feedback outcome information for course participants, and to provide evidence of impact for the DfT by surveying participants and parents before and after the training has taken place.
At the start of the project, we surveyed the industry to understand how they manage consent and booking. From this, we formed a workgroup of industry, representing the range of systems used throughout the country. We also talked to training providers who use bespoke systems to understand their needs. We have worked with Clarity, CoOrdinate Sport and SIMS to understand how digitisation will work with them.
IWGB CIB has a quarterly meeting with the Trust and has been consulted about digitisation.
Currently, development has been completed and internal testing by The Bikeability Trust is in progress.
The next steps are expected to be as follows:
- September: Paper or simple systems pilot. This will test the system using real bookings, schools, instructors and riders
- October: The Trust will review pilot outcomes and make changes (if required)
- November: Repeat pilot testing with higher volume of real bookings, schools, instructors and riders
- December (TBC): Coordinate Sport pilot
- January (TBC): Bespoke system pilot
- February (TBC): Clarity pilot
- Roll out: November 2023 to March 2024, dependent on your system
Yes. Digitisation is essential to secure future government funding. The Bikeability Trust will support you to integrate digitisation and the timescales will depend on your individual circumstances.
Yes. Regardless of whether you receive grant funding or not, you will need to integrate digitisation. As part of digitisation, the rider report will be emailed to parents so you must implement digitisation so all riders can receive Bikeability award materials.
No. We have significantly invested in this project and we will not be charging industry to access the system. We do not expect many training providers to incur any costs to integrate digitisation with their own processes.
The provision of smartphones, as with any equipment, is the responsibility and decision of individual training providers.
A full Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) has been completed, with expert input from Hope and May and approved by ATE.
All data will be encrypted and only Training Providers and instructors associated with that training delivery will have access to the data pre-course. Once the course is complete, instructors will no longer have access to the information. GDPR statements included on the consent form detailing how data will be used and specific consent will be obtained covering photography and further communication from the Bikeability Trust and Training Provider.
In addition to DPIA we have created and maintained a policy framework which governs our compliance with UK data protection law.
Our DPIA can be made available upon request by email to contactus@bikeability.org.uk
We will continue to provide project updates, via email and webinars, as the project progresses. All training providers have been contacted to identify your current booking and consent process. When digitisation is ready, The Bikeability Trust will support you to integrate the system. This will include:
- Technical user guides for all, including grant recipients, training providers, instructors and schools
- Walkthrough videos
- Interactive webinars
- Administrative guidance for training providers
- Information for grant recipients, including explanation for mobile phone usage
- Information for schools, including explanation for mobile phone usage
- FAQs
- One to one support, where required
For now, nothing! We are working with select grant recipients, training providers and instructors across the country on our draft version and this is progressing as planned.
As we work on digitisation, we will keep you updated on our progress, and you will have the opportunity to ask more detailed questions about the project. We will provide email updates, online webinars and detailed user guides.
About the consent process
If you currently use paper or simple systems, like Excel, you will capture consent using Link. If you use Clarity, CoOrdinate Sport software, or a bespoke internally developed system, we will develop an API. This means you can continue using these systems and data will be automatically transferred to Link. If you use a bespoke software, we will work with you individually to understand your needs and how to best integrate your system data into Link.
The consent form will ask for the following:
- Rider name
- Date of birth
- School year group (if applicable)
- Gender
- Cycling ability and frequency
- Confirm cycle and helmet check
- Medical information
- SEND information
- Parent(s) contact information
- Alternate emergency contact details (name, telephone, email) if parent(s) unavailable
- Consent to training
- Consent to photography and video
- Consent for training provider marketing
- Consent for Bikeability Trust marketing
You will be able to add optional questions into the form such as if a child needs to borrow a cycle. However, you will not be able to edit the core questions.
When you create a training event, you will be able to choose between school or non-school delivery. Non-school delivery, such as local community groups, will then follow the same consent process as schools. You will be able to add the organisation and contacts and collect parental consent in the same way.
Family and adult training is not part of the digitisation project. You will need to follow your existing consent process for these courses.
Yes! The consent form will include the option for parents and carers to opt in to your marketing. You will then be able to export a list of these email addresses from Link and add to your own mailing list.
You must ask for consent from a parent or carer before a child takes part in Bikeability. This will not change with digitisation. Therefore, you should manage this requirement as you currently do.
The Office of National Statistics states that 99% of adults aged 16 to 44 years in the UK have access to the internet. However, there will be a paper alternative available for the minority who are not able to complete the digital form.
No. It is not a legal requirement to arrange translations of documents or provide an interpreter for other languages, except where that language is Welsh. We expect you to manage this barrier as you currently do.
Yes. You will be able to choose when to send consent forms, and this can be before a training date is set.
Yes, the system is flexible enough to deal with last minute additions of instructors, riders or consents.
About the instructor web-based app
Firstly, it’s not technically an app! The instructor “app” is a web-based application, so you won’t need to download it from the app store. It will work with most smartphones, tablets and computers.
The app is designed to collect and send data when there is a mobile signal or WiFi. This doesn’t have to be during training – you can fill in information and this will be uploaded automatically later.
No, the app is extremely simple and therefore will not use lots of data. We do not expect the use of the app to impact your data allowance, and you can always wait until you connect to a WiFi network if you prefer.
From our research, we know that many instructors already use a smartphone to access and collect delivery information. For the minority of instructors who do not have access to a smartphone, a paper based route will be made available to record information required as part of digitisation.
Ultimately this information will need to be added to Link for riders and parents to receive their digital rider report. Therefore, if a phone cannot be used at the time of delivery, a PC or tablet can be used to access the app after the event. Training providers may need to adapt processes to support those instructors that do not have smart phones.
The Bikeability Trust will produce guidance for schools, which explains why instructors will carry a smart phone and that this will not impact the training experience. Mobile phones should already be permitted in case of emergency. Instructors may also choose to record the information on a tablet or computer off-site after training takes place.
No, we are not expecting instructors to use their mobile phones during delivery. We expect instructors to balance their instructing with recording information, as you do currently with recording rider outcomes and completing the certificates. We recommend instructors complete the required information at appropriate points during and after the course.
About the award materials
Children will still receive a physical certificate and badge.
Our certificates will be redesigned to be more engaging and fun.
Our badges will keep the same design, but we have improved the quality.
We will no longer provide handbooks. All information will be available via email and online instead.
Our research, and that of national bodies like Ofcom, shows that parents now engage with their children’s education by digital means.
A direct survey to parents showed that 57% read the handbook, but only 5% looked at it “in detail.”
An email campaign featuring the same content was opened by 95% of parents. 60% of them completed activities recommended in the emails.
No, riders will still receive a physical badge (or sticker for Balance and Learn to Ride courses).
Yes! As part of this project, we have secured a new supplier. Badges are higher quality and more environmentally friendly.
No, riders will still receive a physical certificate. However, these have been redesigned to be more fun and engaging, and the outcomes will be removed from the back of the certificate and communicated digitally.
We have also removed the requirement to add a date and instructor name, as these will be communicated in the digital rider report. Instructors will only need to handwrite the child’s name.
Certificates are currently being designed and we expect these to be ready later in the year. We will keep you updated as the project progresses.
New award materials will be phased into use. We will not ask you to throw out or destroy current stock. An email and message on the Shop will provide further information in due course.
About feedback and surveys
You will complete feedback on the instructor app. You will be able to select multiple riders at once and, using your professional judgement, assign them a rating (independently, with practice, with assistance or not attempted) against the relevant National Standard assessment criteria (i.e. identify and respond to hazards) with one click.
You can also add personal, individual feedback via a free text box on the app.
You will be able to download and print the rider report from Link for this minority.
Yes, you can also add personal, individual feedback via a free text box on the app. This can be sent to parents/carers immediately, so you may wish to use this function to communicate information such as feedback if a rider cannot progress to Level 2 on a Level 1 and 2 combined course.
There is a separate section to feedback information about cycles or kit. This will be communicated immediately to the parent or carer.
Yes, you can modify child feedback until the course is marked as complete.
We need evidence to prove to Active Travel England that cycle training makes an impact. A parent and carer survey will allow us to better understand the impact of Bikeability cycle training on a rider’s cycling habits. A hands up survey is used by many training providers and other behaviour change programmes to provide evidence of impact. Child feedback is a fantastic way to demonstrate the importance of Bikeability.
The survey has been devised by the Transport Research Laboratory’s monitoring and evaluation team and Sheffield Hallam University. It has been piloted by industry and approved by Active Travel England. Questions will not be changed.
Yes, you will be able to download this anonymised data from Link.
No, these surveys are not intended to gather information about individual instructors. All responses will be combined to provide a national picture from riders and parents. This will give us better evidence to demonstrate our value to Active Travel England and secure future funding.
Still have a question? Email contactus@bikeability.org.uk and we will be happy to respond to your query.