Rapid technological and social change encourages people to adjust to new situations in their life. However, unfavorable circumstances, such as age-related lack of certain skills and or lower motivation to learn, for many becomes an obstacle in their integration. Older people experience a shortage of skills in different fields of modern life, but primarily they need to improve their digital competences as they have fewer qualifications in the rapidly growing technology sector. Because of that, they are unable to take full advantage of public services and virtual communication tools. As a result, their quality of life is affected. In order to deal with these challenges, it is important to create new training models by expanding the synergy of various adult training institutions and by improving the competences of their staff. With this purpose, 6 organizations from Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, and Turkey joined their efforts together for a common project. The aim of the project is to improve partners’ potential in developing the elderly’s digital skills by empowering adults’ educators to promote and organize family learning. This type of learning is becoming increasingly popular around the world as it provides a range of opportunities for families to learn together. For the elderly, family learning can be the first step to taking up further learning opportunities. It leads not only to the improvement of one’s skills but also to active intergenerational communion, develops moral values and positive attitudes, uplifts mood and has a huge impact on health, family relations and lifelong learning. To achieve the goal, specific objectives are planned and certain results expected: • 4 international experience exchange events will be arranged with a purpose to improve the competences of adults’ trainers on family learning. As a result, 40 adults’ trainers will broaden their professional horizons and grow their competences. • New ideas for family learning will be generated and tested in all partner institutions. 120 elderly people and their family members will be involved - they will improve digital competences and discover the benefits and enjoyment of family learning. • Examples of the best practices and success stories on the development of the elderly’s digital skills through family learning will be collected and published in an attractive online digital journal. The collection will serve as an ideas’ bank for various institutions involved in providing training for the elderly. In the long run, the level and quality of activities at partner institutions will not only reach a certain higher level but are expected to consistently improve. Stronger staff competencies will empower them to introduce new ways of training, implement new learning models, and continuously tailor services based on actual needs. Older generations across different communities will strongly benefit from that as it will allow them to remain sharp and knowledgeable on skills crucial for living a fulfilling and integrated life.
The project aimed to improve project partner institutions’ potential in the development of the elderly digital skills empowering adult educators to promote and organize family learning. This type of learning is becoming increasingly popular around the world as it provides a range of opportunities for families in the widest sense (children, parents, carers, grandparents) to learn together to raise skills across generations. Many institutions such as libraries, adult education centres, museums, NGOs, and clubs provide inter-generational programmes separately or in partnership enabling families to learn in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. For many adults, family learning can be the first step to taking up further learning opportunities. Family learning is also extremely important because of its dual effect. It leads to improvements in skills as well as to intergenerational communion, develops moral values and positive attitudes towards education, uplifts mood and has a huge impact on health, family relations and lifelong learning. To reach the task the specific objectives have been planned: 1. To organize 4 international training/experience exchange events with the purpose to improve the competencies of adult trainers. At the same time, it provides them with the possibility to improve additional competencies in foreign languages and communication, which are important for future professional contacts and cooperation. 2. To collect and share information about intergenerational and family training programs offered in partner institutions, to identify examples of innovative experiences. 3. To generate new ideas for family training/learning and test them with target groups in this way increasing the variety of training topics and programs in partner institutions. 4. To encourage partnership at institutional and international levels laying the groundwork for future collaboration and possible new projects. Although the direct target group of the project is adult educators, older learners will also benefit from improved teachers’ qualifications and pilot training activities planned in the project. International experience exchange was crucial in this context. The cultural background and experiences in all countries differ, but the programs performed in each country can be employed by other partners as well. For example, people from Southern countries (Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Turkey) have stronger family ties, but in Northern countries, (Estonia, Lithuania) development of digital skills is at a more advanced level. Combining these different experiences and approaches project partners created new and successful models of digital skills development.
A leap in technological development brought big changes to society: new technological opportunities, a networked society, economic and cultural globalization need for lifelong learning. States, communities, and institutions are investing in innovative ways of using technologies. Each individual, despite their age or social status, has a right to gain skills and knowledge necessary in the digital age as an increasing number of commercial, public, social and health services are being moved to the online environment. The lack of digital skills is becoming a major problem. The organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has carried out research in 33 countries representing various regions and proved that a big part of adults is not using the opportunities available in a digital environment. These researches revealed that even though the general competencies of the population in many regions are sufficient, problem-solving skills invoking technologies are low. Elder people are most behind and they experience specific challenges: • Elderly do not trust technologies as they think they are designed for the youth. They fear the transformed world: although they cannot deny the changes, they choose to ignore and criticize them. Fears come from the lack of knowledge – only a computer is seen, but it’s not understood that much bigger ICT power lies in an intangible virtual environment. • Older people feel that youth do not trust them and are skeptical about their ability to learn. This reduces seniors’ self-esteem and motivation. • Adult educators lack ideas of how to develop digital skills for the elderly. Traditional learning may not always be suitable for them; too much attention is still paid to theoretical knowledge while leaving social skills behind. Modern educational methods and engaging digital content are rarely adapted in adult training. Because of that, it is difficult to attract seniors’ attention and involve them in learning programs. In order to deal with these challenges, it is important to create new training models expanding the synergy of various adult training institutions and improve staff competencies. With this purpose, 6 different organizations (libraries, adult education centers, university, and NGOs) from Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, and Turkey joined forces to implement this project.