teachers & trainers | Target groups | Ageing in the Digital Age

Digital senior citizen

The project focuses on adult education and well-being of seniors aged 65 and over. These persons are at unfavorable situation in terms of digital skills because while younger generations acquire these skills practically from their childhood, older persons did not have the opportunity like that simply because computers and the Internet did not exist when they grew up and digital competences were not included in their educational paths. Even those who graduated the universities are among the low-skilled in the field of digital literacy. This fact severely limits their lives, preventing them from taking full advantage of the time spent in retirement. Moreover, the most attention is now paid to education of young people, and when computer classes for seniors are organized, they are usually not tailored in any way to the specific needs of this target group. They’re basic and technical, just like any other beginner’s computer science class, no matter what their age or ability is.

Project goals:

extending the competences of adult educators by preparing open educational resources (OER) containing an innovative, tailored to the needs of the “Digital Life” education course,
broadening the competences of adult educators by providing them with the Digital Story Telling methodology to train students at unfavorable situation, in particular seniors,
developing open educational resources (OER) adapted to the needs of adult educators and seniors in order to support the development of digital skills of both groups,
disseminating the results with the aim of reaching as many adult teachers and seniors as possible across the European Union.

The project developed the following results:

“Digital Life” course for adult educators, as an Open Educational Resource (OZE) [5 modules]
“Digital Life” course for seniors, as an Open Educational Resource (OER), [3 modules that will help listeners feel more confident in the daily use of ICT]
Handbook for adult educators “How to Conduct Digital Life Training”.

Project implemented in partnership: MITRA FRANCE (France – coordinator), Eesti People to People (Estonia), Danmar Computers (Poland), CESIE (Italy), Centre for Education (Spain) and UNIVERSITY OF THESSALY – UTH (Greece).

The project is co-financed under the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

Source: https://dsc.erasmus.site/pl/

Access date: 31.03.2022

The “Seniors in Action” Programme

The “Seniors in Action” is a nationwide programme, which has been implemented since 2008 by the Society for Creative Initiatives “ę” from the funds of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. It was launched to use the enormous potential of free time, knowledge and life experience of older people.

In the “Seniors in Action”, seniors decide. They implement their ideas, introducing positive changes in the lives of their peers and in their community. In the programme active persons who want to combine developing their own passions and interests with acting for the benefit of others are looked for. Younger people who want to support intergenerational activities are also invited to participate.

Recruitment to the programme is organized in the form of a competition, within which the ideas developed by persons 60+ (alone or together with a younger person – the animators in a pair must differ in age by at least 25 years) in cooperation with a selected non-profit organization or institution , e.g., a third age university, foundation, association, community center, library, or housing association can be supported.

Grants are awarded for the implementation of projects that involve the elderly in activities for the benefit of the surroundings, promote intergenerational cooperation and volunteer work of the elderly.

Participants of the “Seniors in Action”, in addition to grants for the implementation of the project, may receive funds for study visits, which enable them to learn about initiatives carried out in various locations covered by the programme. The possibility of cooperation with experienced trainers from the network of Flying Culture Animators and Flying Sociologists run by the Society “ę” is considered to be an additional support.

Source: https://seniorzywakcji.pl/

Access date: 31.03.2022

Adult Inclusive Design (AID)

Project under the Erasmus + Program entitled Adult Inclusive Design (AID) aims to develop tools that will allow organizations to teach active seniors how to volunteer to help other seniors. It has been observed that seniors are divided into two groups – those who have a high energy potential and would like to share their knowledge and experience, and those who feel lost in various life situations and wait for a helping hand. Often those in need of help do not keep up with the galloping development of the world and it is difficult for them to find a common language with younger people, so the project focuses on relations between seniors who certainly understand each other very well and can quickly find a common language. However, sometimes the mere willingness to help is not enough to effectively support another person, so the volunteers themselves will also need to expand their knowledge and develop certain skills.

The AID project will provide institutions working with seniors with tools to effectively support senior volunteers in expanding their competences. During the project, educators and trainers of four institutions prepared a guide for trainers containing not only information on the necessary content that a senior volunteer should know, but also scenarios of workshops shaping the volunteers‘ skills necessary for their effective work. Seniors in four countries assessed the effectiveness of work – through participation in workshops conducted according to the developed scenarios, and tested the acquired skills in practice as senior mentors for other seniors, emigrants or disabled persons.

Project results:

methodological manual “Volunteering as a source of better quality of life for seniors” available in the form of an e-book
application and other IT tools supporting people who want to become a volunteer or train such persons.

Implementers of the project: “Active XXI” Foundation, Castilla-La Mancha University (Spain), SYNTHESIS Center for Research and Education Ltd (Cyprus) and LUMSA University (Italy).

Project co-financed by the European Union.

Source: https://aktywni21.org.pl/pl/aid/

Access date: 29.03.2022

The project entitled „Seniors in action”

The objectives of the SENIORS IN ACTION project under the Erasmus + Program are:

inclusion of the students of the Jeleniogórska Academy of the Third Age in active lifelong learning.
strengthening the key competences of the students of the Jeleniogórska Academy of the Third Age (digital, social and learning competences).

As part of the project activities, two group adult learning mobilities will be organized during which seniors cooperating with the Foundation “Active XXI” will have one-week classes at universities of the third age in Milazzo (Sicily) and Cuence (Spain).

Participation in mobility activities will activate seniors in their activities and encourage them to be more active. The obtained results will motivate them to further work. They will also be an inspiration for other adults studying at the Academy of the Third Age. Preparing for departure: searching for information, preparing presentations, planning joint educational activities with partners from Italy and Spain and participation in mobility will strengthen their key competences such as digital, language, learning and social skills (empathy, communication, tolerance).

The project is implemented by the “Active XXI” Foundation.

Project co-financed by the European Union.

Source: https://aktywni21.org.pl/

Access date: 29.03.2022

We owe it to them

1 out of 6 pensioners has paid a bribe in the public service (especially in the field of health services), according to the survey from 2018. Seniors are also more likely to believe the disinformation.

Transparency International Slovakia therefore launched a project to raise their awareness called “We owe it to them”. Seniors are riddled with manipulation and corruption that only a quarter of them would report. Their vulnerability is related to lower awareness and also to their ability to distinguish facts from misinformation. Therefore, Transparency prepared a two-year project where they supported the education of seniors in the form of training (within whole Slovakia to educate at least 1,500 seniors) to better protect them from corruption or manipulation.

They also developed:

Transparency academy (focused on Local Government, Public expenditure, Justice and info-law, Education, Officials and ethics, Health and Critical thinking via quizzes, guides, practical advice and answers and stories – podcasts);
rankings and portals (Ranking of hospitals, Open Local Government, Public companies, Bugles, Open Courts, Open prosecution, Map of family connections in the judiciary, Open government contracts, Corona subsidies);
publications and a book called “The power of corruption”.

Source: https://transparency.sk/sk/dlhujemeimto

Access date: 04.11.2021

Digital Coalition

The Digital Coalition builds on the original idea of the European Commission, first presented to the world in 2013 as the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs. In Slovakia, this initiative was taken up by the IT Association of Slovakia together with our Ministry of Investment, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic and on 27 September 2017, the National Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs – Digital Coalition initiative was born.

Its goal is to mobilize despite the spectrum of public, private, academic and civil society organizations and institutions in Slovakia for the improvement of digital skills of citizens, IT specialists, all employees and in education. Members join the Digital Coalition voluntarily and free of charge with their own commitments to manage the digital transformation of society. At the same time, each member undertakes to contribute to the promotion of the topic of digital transformation in their area of operation, within their respective capabilities, and to assist in the development of a study on the impact and preparedness for digital transformation. Currently, the Digital Coalition has 83 members who have collectively declared 232 commitments.

Source: https://digitalnakoalicia.sk/

Access date: 04.11.2021

IT course for seniors

The IT course for seniors focused on the development of information technology skills for seniors, through which they could improve their skills in working with a computer, tablet or smartphone, get acquainted with modern technologies and use them to improve the quality of their lives.

The main motivation for the creation of the activity was an indirect request from the community, but also from the 1st Private Gymnasium in Bratislava itself. The Gymnasium has long been trying to open up the school community to the wider environment, with the aim that pupils and students will meet ordinary people and experience a different environment than the one at home or school. In this way, the school creates and seeks out situations and contacts where pupils leave their comfort zone and meet people who are disadvantaged and live in different circumstances to them.

The 1st Private Gymnasium in Bratislava was awarded the Engaged School label for its project “IT course for seniors” as a finalist in the first national award in 2020.

The school’s award-winning activity focused on helping seniors in the Bratislava – Ružinov district. It also responded to an article in the monthly magazine Ružinovské echo of the municipal district, which described the great interest of pensioners at the Ružinov Local Authority in IT education. In cooperation with the local authority, the school identified a group of seniors and approached them with an offer of a course focused on the development of IT skills. Each senior had one pupil who was also their personal assistant.

Source: https://angazovanaskola.sk/ocenene-projekty/it-kurz-pre-seniorov

Access date: 04.12.2020

Colabor Active

The project “COLABOR-ACTIVE: Development of a training program for enhancing Active Ageing through Not-For-Profit Sharing Economy” is launched with the main objective of increasing the competences (attitudes, skills, knowledge) of Elder Persons and their Communities, about how to enhance active ageing through not-for-profit sharing economy through an innovative training program.

Results of the project are:

Co-created Methodological Guide with the direct participations of End Users.
Training Materials for creating and improving the critical competences.
Designed Experiential Training Activities for enhancing the practical and experiential training.
Development of an e-Training Platform.
Creation of 4 SHARING-ACTIVE UNITS.

Training is available on the link: https://platform.colabor-active.eu/

Source: https://colabor-active.eu/

Access date: 04.12.2020

60+ Virtual Culture

60+ Virtual Culture was an international initiative in which 4 partner organizations of similar background in informal education, including education of seniors, from Poland, France, Czech Republic and Italy have worked together to improve and optimize educational offer for elderly concerning their digital competences within the context of culture accessibility.

The process of optimization has been developed in two stages. First, each organization appointed one teaching tandem (young ICT educator and one experienced senior (50+) educator) who took part in 3 Joint Staff Trainings, during which based on exchanged practices and knowledge, an educational model for local senior centers or libraries had been developed. Therefore, an innovative offer of ICT courses for seniors aiming at encouraging older people to participate in culture resources and cultural events using new technologies (e.g. accessing e-books, audio-books, visiting virtual museums, buying tickets online, creating and uploading content etc. ) was created. Simultaneously so created teaching program was implemented, tested and adjusted during two cycles of ICT workshops for seniors in each country. The teaching tandems provided during the project a total of 198 hours of workshops for 105 seniors in four countries. Additionally, from among the participants of workshops 8 Digital Ambassadors were selected – people at the age of 60+ whose leadership and digital competences enabled us to include them into dissemination process and in some cases into the process of supporting the trainers in the teaching processes both during and after the termination of project activities.

Results:

Lesson plans of ICT Workshops for Older Adults:

online newspapers,
books on-line (e-book and audiobook),
music and films online,
going out- cultural event,
monuments of the world- visiting historical places abroad.

Tips for trainers. How to approach seniors during ICT trainings.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under Erasmus+ Programme.

Source: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/search/details/2016-1-PL01-KA204-026593

Access date: 14.10.2021

Silver

The main objective of the SILVER project is to create and implement a distance training which would help to improve skills and employability of people over 50 years old. Project´s mission is to support the discussion with all the relevant stakeholders (employers, training institutions, career advisors), to identify the constraints of seniors in access to qualification and employment and expand the lifelong learning and “silver economy” concepts in companies and training organizations.

The primary objective of the project is to improve qualifications and competences of 50+ people by creating and implementing an innovative training. To create a training which will match the requirements of this target group, they conducted a research and discussed it with relevant stakeholders and seniors.
The training should help people over 50 years old to become more confident when looking for a job or when trying to (re)integrate on the labour market.

Source: https://silver-skills.eu

Access date: 04.12.2020