21st century is marked with rapid transformation and advances in technology and ICT. We live in a completely new world now, surrounded by technological devices which make life easier for ICT literate. 21st century has also brought population aging in immense numbers. With better health, higher longevity and lower birth rates, the number of seniors in EU has increased. Since statistics show that increases in the rate of seniors will continue in the coming decades, the necessity to engage them with the changes in society, especially the changes caused by ICT, becomes crucial since it is the seniors who are the least ICT literate in today’s society. Today, there are new concepts for everything that seniors are unfamiliar with: new socialization methods, new ways to manage money, new ways to reserve a room, new ways to shop… Seniors are sometimes at a lost to do the simplest tasks they were so skilled in the past and these changes in society related to ICT and technology are becoming obstacles to them and contribute to their social exclusion due to digital divide. Lifelong learning is an important tool for social inclusion of seniors and active aging but to access many resources they need to be ICT literate (such as signing up for activities), have e-mail accounts and use smart phones. Therefore, these two new societal changes should complement one another, not contradict each other. Seniors should learn ICT skills and use ICT as a new means for social inclusion by learning ethical dimensions and risks as well. lack of ICT knowledge makes seniors vulnerable to risks such as victimized by fraud, sharing personal information that can endanger their safety et . Technological trends should serve the needs of seniors’ social inclusion and to ensure this, seniors should have access to ITC, learn the new world and how to live in it. The Social Ethical and Privacy Needs in ICT for Older People focuses on this need as well as other EU initiatives. In this context, objectives of this Project are: -To compare, contrast, identify and promote good practice that can enhance seniors’ active social inclusion in social life and lifelong learning practices -To enhance the provision of good quality learning opportunities to seniors -To contribute to seniors' social inclusion by using ICT in partner countries -To develop and extend the competences of adult education providers and organizations that work with adults in general and seniors in particular -To demonstrate the significant role ICT plays in ensuring social inclusion of seniors and their active participation in social life and lifelong learning through current practices across EU -To present identified best practices and develop new ideas to prepare a Good Practice Resource Guide and Seniors@ICT social media channel. -To drive social change and contribute to society’s outlook to seniors’ active involvement in society by writing and sending a report on Positive Impact of ICT on Seniors’ Social Inclusion to policy makers in adult education sphere and by providing local, regional, national and EU level dissemination activities These objectives will be achieved with ICT for Seniors’ Social Inclusion- Seniors@ICT Project which will be conducted in a 26-month period with participation of 9 partners from 7 countries who work with seniors and expected results are: -increased social inclusion skills for seniors -increased ICT skills and competences for seniors -increased competences and skills for educators in partner organizaitons -increased capacity of partner organizations to serve seniors and inclusive EU by -6 short term joint training events and 1 transnational meeting with 126 participants from 9 partners (18 participants in each event) in addition to local participants and stakeholders who attend these events - Good Practice Resource Guide and Seniors@ICT social media channel - Report on Positive Impact of ICT on Seniors’ Social Inclusion
The project was born from the need to find new methods to ensure the social inclusion of seniors whose numbers are increasing in recent years. The trend shows that the number of seniors will keep increasing and policies and projections should keep this trend in mind. Hence, the project aimed to focus on the use of ICT skills in facilitating seniors’ social inclusion and examined the good methods that can be replicated in partner countries by adult education organizations. In this context the project aimed to: compare, contrast, identify and promote good practice that can enhance seniors’ active social inclusion in social life and lifelong learning practices enhance the provision of quality learning opportunities to seniors contribute to seniors' social inclusion by using ICT develop and extend the competences of adult education providers and organizations that work with seniors demonstrate the significant role ICT plays in ensuring social inclusion of seniors and their active participation in social life and lifelong learning present identified best practices and develop new ideas to prepare a Good Practice Resource Guide and Seniors@ICT social media channel. drive social change and contribute to society’s outlook to seniors’ active involvement in society by writing and sending a report on Positive Impact of ICT on Seniors’ Social Inclusion to policy makers in adult education sphere and by providing local, regional, national and EU level dissemination activities. The participants of the project included the staff of partner organizations who participated in the LTT activities in addition to the local participants in partner countries who would benefit from the dissemination and ICT activities geared towards them. It also included the adult education organizations, NGOs and centers that provide services to the seniors. Via dissemination activities and one to one correspondence, these institutions and their staff were informed about the project activities, the importance and ease of using ICT skills for social inclusion and relevant methods. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of participants increased with the ease of participating into LTT activities via ZOOM. In this way, the foreseen number of participants in the project for LTT activities was 126 for example but this number reached 258 and while it was not possible to meet with as many local participants in person during zoom meetings, it was still possible to reach them and invite them to the meetings. Due to the pandemic, senior homes and centers were either closed or did not allow visitors but they were reached via dissemination and for the most part, small scale activities were organized by partners. The activities taken during the project included one transnational project meeting and sharing the good practices in Bolu, Turkey and 6 LTT activities (3 of which were conducted online due to the pandemic). In addition partners organized small ICT trainings or activities using ICT skills for seniors, made surveys with seniors about their ICT needs, visited senior homes and centers to increase their awareness to include ICT skills in their programmes, kept in touch with local adult education organizations and NGOs who served the lifelong learning needs of seniors and distributed project leaflets and information via the social media channels of the project and the project website. After the LTT activities, selected good practices were organized in the form of a booklet which also included the types of practices that were observed to develop seniors’ ICT skills, tips for educators, a case study and suggestions. Project results "Good Practice Resource Guide" and the "Report on Positive Impact of ICT on Seniors’ Social Inclusion" were published in the website of the project and were distributed to adult education organizations and NGOs via e-mail and in person (print copies). It was observed throughout the project that seniors who were learning or using ICT skills were happier and were involved with others more. They wanted to improve their ICT skills to help them with daily tasks (such as online banking or shopping) as well as to help them socialize and keep in touch with their loved ones (via video calls, social media etc). The partner organizations also benefited from the project by improving the methods that can be used to teach seniors and observed many good practices that they can employ. It is believed that the significance of ICT skills for seniors has been comprehended better with this project which also coincided with the pandemic which showed the whole world that ICT and technology can be used in dire situations to improve the daily lives of people, especially the seniors. So, the project results will be used for many years to come and have a long lasting effect since the need for ICT skills for seniors will continue and new policies and programs will surely include seniors’ need to learn ICT skills for inclusion.