The project entitled “ICT - why not culture and creativity for seniors?” is a joint initiative of 5 partners - NGOs from Poland (SIE), Turkey (TROYA), Germany (SLO), Sweden (MobilEducation) and Finland (Tiedetila). Each of the partners deals with non-formal and informal education on topics important for sustainable development, both in terms of the environment and in terms of human intellectual development. One of the target groups for the project activities implemented by partners are seniors: seniors are an increasingly numerous social group in Europe, and at the same time the group that is the least able to deal with technologies that dominate the modern world; without ICT knowledge and skills, this group will remain marginalized in society. Especially in the current situation, when the isolation of seniors due to the Covid-19 pandemic limiting contacts between people is recommended. The partnership will develop content and methods to improve ICT skills and use ICT to participate in culture and develop creativity. The project activities support 2 key competences in lifelong learning: digital competence and cultural awareness. The results of the project will supplement the knowledge of educators / trainers passed on to the target group - seniors. Seniors will become co-creators and partners of activities, according to the principle of the new learning culture: “Don't teach a tree how to grow. Just give him earth, sun and water”. The analysis of the content of ICT education shows that not much has been done to combine ICT with opportunities for participation in culture. The current situation has exposed many failures in the field of ICT teaching, but also showed the directions of action - for seniors, ICT can be a tool for learning and participating in such values as culture, developing their own creativity or intercultural and intergenerational dialogue. The aim of the project is to support seniors so that, regardless of the situation, they remain in good mental and physical condition, so that they can share their knowledge and experience with each other, also with younger generations. Partners know the needs in their countries in this regard. Each country is at a different stage of use, knowledge and availability of ICT (Sweden and Germany - over 70% of seniors actively use ICT; Poland and Turkey – 30%), but all countries lack education in the use of ICT in the context of culture and creativity. The milestones of the project are international meetings (5 in total, one in each partner´s country) aimed at exchanging experiences, learning about best practices and working on results. At the local level, each partner will conduct workshops / seminars / webinars /online meetings. It is estimated that at least 350 people in total will participate. A wide audience will be achieved through websites, social media, networks and cooperation with other organizations working in the ICT topic. Project implementation is based on the principles and methods established by the partnership: systematic communication between partners, schedule of activities, dissemination plan, monitoring, evaluation and joint problem-solving by consensus. The results of the project will be: 1. Newsletter (5 editions) prepared by the organizer of the international meeting (pdf) containing information on the subject of the meeting, photos, messages; 2. Creative writing courses online in Sweden; 3. E-manuals that allow seniors to observe their environment and its change; 4. Digital stories to inspire; 5. Ebook “sensor for seniors”; 6. Database with best practice examples and useful contacts; 7. Well-established international partnership; 8. PR of the project on partners´ websites and in social media. The project results will be included in the partners´ curricula. They will be used by trainers, transferred to stakeholders as well as organizations and institutions cooperating with partners. Experts, trainers and educators conducting the training will participate in the project activities. Educational activities will be “lifelong learning”. A sustainable effect of the project will be to increase the knowledge of the target group, but also to increase the level of knowledge and skills of teams of partner organizations and an extensive network of contacts and cooperation. All results in English and partners´ languages will be published on the partners´ websites and on the Erasmus + Project Results Platform and will be available to the public.
The aim was to develop educational content that would increase the attractiveness of ICT tools and show seniors new opportunities to participate in public life. The aim was to increase the recipients' knowledge about the possibilities offered by ICT in the field of culture, creativity and activity. The aim was to increase awareness that ICT skills enable inclusion in the digital world, facilitate transnational dialogue, inspire educators and institutions dealing with activities for seniors to go beyond the framework of "traditional" classes. The aim was to achieve higher competences in English language, in project management, international cooperation and substantive knowledge of the project partners and to establish transnational contacts with NGO, stakeholders and experts. The aim was to exchange knowledge and experience in order to learn about new solutions to activate seniors. To offer good quality and interesting topics in lifelong learning. The project offered seniors a way out of passivity and of opening up to new experiences. It reduced feeling of isolation and made seniors to feel more comfortable using ICT. The title "ICT - why not culture and creativity for seniors?" it is both an encouragement and a provocation.
ICTs have become a strategic element in the life of modern societies. Statistics show (EC, 2017) that still almost half (44%) of Europe's seniors lack basic digital skills. It is well known that ICT can be used as an easily accessible source of information, can help develop interests, participation in public life, facilitate many daily activities, and can improve the quality of life. The situation with the Covid-19 pandemic provoked reflection on how to help seniors who were deprived of physical contact with relatives and friends and had to give up their activities outside the home practically overnight. In such a situation, values such as culture and creativity became not only sought after, but even necessary for the elderly to remain mentally healthy. The partners concluded that one of the solutions could be a proposal to use ICT to increase seniors' participation in cultural events and to inspire creativity. The document "Key Competencies for Lifelong Learning - European Reference Framework" distinguishes 8 key competencies. The activities of this project are specifically related to points 4 and 8: Digital Competence and Cultural Awareness and Expression. The project is Partnership's response to these needs.