The project focuses on elderly students and older people in general to improve and develop their digital skills and knowledge. They need special education and training in many fields for a more flexible use of ICT in their daily life and for an active citizenship. Many of them are afraid of digital communication with government agencies, digital and technical equipment at home, new ICT programs and work on Internet because of security threats. To make them more flexible in their daily life and in the digital society they need new experiences and new technical skills. Two main groups of elderly get especially involved in the project: the elderly students who will play a role as advisors and the elderly who have hardly used ICT and DT before the project and need encouragement and training. The project’s main priorities are directed towards open education and innovative practices in a digital era, focusing on improving and extending high quality learning opportunities for digital technologies and ICT, tailored to the needs of individual low-skilled or low-qualified adults. The project concentrates on learning and training of basic ICT skills and key digital competences of the elderly. Methods that will be applied are: classical teaching, group learning and training, peer learning, work with manuals, excursions to the shops with electronics, collection of good practices to develop digital literacy and skills of the elderly. The project starts with a survey by questionnaire and interviews to make an assessment of the needs of the elderly and where ICT could improve their daily life. It will address the use of a wide range of systems such as personal computers, smartphones and tablets, digital systems of agencies and smart technologies at home and in public. The contact with companies and shops with electronics will be sought to make them aware of the special needs of the elderly concerning design, handling and description of ICT equipment, systems and manuals. The main impact of the project is on isolated elderly, seniors in the communities and senior students of the universities of the third age and senior academies. Planned activities are ICT courses, training of the digital skills, excursions to the shops, companies and digital agencies and research of the needs for ICT support, development of digital competences to help the elderly to overcome barriers in their integration into the digital society. The project focuses on many important parts of senior´s life and their daily digital environment not only at home, in the public transport, in using internet banking, security and flexibility in using smart technologies, digital agency, etc. to become flexible and domesticated in the digital society. The project Booklet will describe the actual situation in ICT learning for the elderly, their needs, barriers, experience and innovative programs in the chosen institutions together with good practices from different European countries.
The main goal of the project was open education, innovation and exchange of good practices in education of Seniors in the digital age based on their needs and the requirements of society. The project aimed at improving and expanding the range of learning opportunities adapted to the needs of adults with low levels of ICT skills. The development of Seniors’ digital skills was to support their involvement in civic life in the digital society. The project focused on the development and training of Seniors’ digital skills that were necessary for their daily lives, allowing them to make active use of technology and digital devices. The objectives of the project were to contribute to preventing the exclusion and isolation of Seniors from society and relevant communities, as well as helping them to participate in active aging programs in the field of ICT. The outcomes should lead to responsible, flexible, and independent older people who, with new knowledge and skills, can participate in the opportunities offered by their societies. Activities for senior citizens are often associated with the physically handicapped, of whom there are many in this age group. Engagement with ICT can open up space for their integration into society, too.
The development of digital technologies requires the further education of seniors to meet their needs in order to avoid their exclusion from the digital environment. Many older people lose contact with the digital world after retirement, which prevents them from using digital devices and social contacts. We have seen the most significant needs of seniors to be the use of mobile phones, applications, browsers, as well as Seniors practical involvement in their societies and the digital client centres and the use of home devices. These facts encouraged us to prepare a project that would address the further education of seniors by researching the barriers they encountered and the needs they had, as well as their opportunities to participate in digital training and programs for the development of practical skills and competencies. In the past we had not carried out research on Seniors’ ICT needs within the participating institutions, so the programs they offered were more theoretically oriented. Therefore, we decided to include the research in a project that would open up space to innovate the educational programs and support the wider involvement of seniors in the practical development of digital skills and usage of ICT applications.