The "Communication Inclision" (COM-IN) project will be implemented by 5 organizations from Poland, France, Spain, Slovenia and Slovakia. The aim of this project is to prepare tools for educators and creators of educational programs from countries of the project participants who are able to deal with the activation and education of people over 60 in an attractive and effective way. The basis of COM-IN is diagnosis that the most important reason for excluding older people is insufficient communication skills understood very broadly. It is not just about individual assertiveness or communication with peers and the younger generation. This category also includes difficulties in understanding media and official communications and documents, lack of ability to reach the information needed and assess its credibility, lack of digital skills (Internet, e-mail, instant messaging, online shopping, booking ticket or a visit to a doctor, digital banking, electronic office, etc.). Communication skills also include: ability to use foreign languages and formulate messages tailored to the needs of modern recipient, as well as ability to present their opinions in a public forum. Communication exclusion drastically limits the social and civic activity of seniors. The COM-IN project is a continuation and development of "Silver Civic Education" project implemented in 2017-19 under the Erasmus + KA204 program with partners from Portugal and Bulgaria. It was based on educational model used by the SSP in working with seniors. During implementation of this project, some disadvantages of our model were revealed that may significantly impede its dissemination. The main disadvantage is excessive focus on journalistic creativity and creating a medium. The disadvantage is, among others too much focus on creating the medium and creativity of journalism. Such an "ambitious" approach also excluded people with lower education and qualifications from education, as well as those who do not use written language efficiently (eg immigrants). Meanwhile, journalism is a great communication education tool and a means of making workshops more attractive. However, it is not an end in itself. The essence of our method is to build a team, to find a place for everyone and - in an attractive form - enable them to acquire knowledge and skills. Meetings of the editorial team should be used to conduct workshops to improve participants' skills. Medium (website or profile on FB) plays an auxiliary role. In addition, a strong media orientation requires educators to have great journalistic skills and experience, which greatly limits the number of potential trainers. The main goal of COM-IN is to improve our educational model so that it becomes more universal and available in different countries and environments. The result of this cooperation will be development of educational materials suitable for practical use in various countries and languages. Project partners will implement innovative methods that increase the attractiveness and efficiency of their educational offer. The project also contains intellectual work result - a guidebook "Journalism for seniors. An educator's manual" containing recommendations, methods and training tools useful in working with seniors as well as other adult age groups.
Our aim was to enrich the educational tools and test the method with partners representing different educational fields. Our aim was to make our method more versatile so that it could be used to teach a wide variety of skills not necessarily related to creating and running media. We intended to prepare a practical guide for educators in English (and several other languages). With the knowledge and experience gained from the project, we are preparing a course programme for educators entitled. " Civic journalism and journalistic techniques in adult education".
The project was a summary of the Association's 10 years of work with seniors and experience in the field of media and communication. Com-In was a continuation and development of an earlier project 'Silver civic education' carried out with other partners. SSP intended to develop its own educational method of using citizen journalism and various aspects of journalistic work to activate and informally educate seniors (and adults in general). Cooperation with foreign partners offered the opportunity to enrich the educational tools, as well as The evaluation of the usefulness of the method for learning various skills.