TandemGo
partners’ Meeting - 9-10 December 2009
Banka Bystrica
University of
Matej Bel
The meeting was hosted by the University of Matej Bel that has a Lifelong
Learning center and a 3rd age university.
The mission of the center is to improve
educational activities to the various groups.
Meeting with
the Mayor
We met the Mayor who emphasized in his speech,
the importance of the third age program and the intergenerational program in
particular.
Seminar
The 3rd age University
The mission of this unit is to provide lifelong
learning in post employment age in order to improve the quality of life of
seniors.
It was founded 16 years
ago and taught 1500 senior students.
The learners have found in this environment a
place for improving their self esteem and new friendship.
The university offers a variety of programs including of ICT, mental learning, nutrition and other subject (general or age related). |
The group of learners
In
the frame of our visit we could observe a learning session in which young students
paired with seniors ( 10 senior and 10 students).
·
The young students are from other faculty of
the university and are doing this activity in the frame of their studies.
·
The senior learners paid a minimum fee for the
lessons (was not specified)
·
Seniors ages varies (most seemed to be over 65
but not much older)
|
The lesson
In this session the learners practiced
communication through the internet (email, chat).
·
The
group was divided into 2 sub-groups and each was in a different;
·
Each pair received a paper with a list of
question that they were supposed to ask someone from the other room;
·
Through this exercise, the younger students
showed the seniors how to chat, open an email account and use these 2 means of
communication;
·
While walking between the tables we could
observe that except for the formal subject, while waiting for the answers, the
young student also showed their seniors other applications such as google earth and others.
Discussion with the learners
From questioning the senior learners we have
learned that:
·
Seniors didn’t like the chat application;
·
They prefer emails and internet search but
nothing else;
·
They are not looking for making friends;
·
They don’t wish to give personal information on
the internet (including of payments) therefore might use it for rather limited
uses;
·
They don’t want to spend too much time on the
internet.
Visit in the
Arts & Crafts
After the seminar we traveled to a neighboring
village in order to learn about the local arts & crafts.
We were in the museum of Arts & Crafts
representing local crafts, mainly from the past.
The museum is hosted in a typical Slovak house.
Dinner
The day ended in a typical local cottage with
local music and food.
Partners
Progress Reporting Meeting
Malta
·
Information related to reporting:
PR and Photos are extremely
important for the report with logo of Grundtvig.
·
Project Activity
A core group of senior citizens is
being organized in writing seminar where they document their work experience
for further generations
Paris
·
Continuing with the intergenerational tournament
and serious game/Wii for physical exercises;
·
Checking European products for cognitive games
for elderly in order to add the cognitive exercises to the physical;
·
Training the trainers – session of Wii trainers took place in order to prepare more trainers
for this activity.
Portugal
Class of 16-17 year old starts to work with the
3rd age university students.
Slovenia
·
Computer course at the primary school combining
13-14 year old kids with an association of country side women.
·
The program starts with computer skills and
continues with storytelling - stories from the elderly women.
·
Promoting the project through workshops and
presentations.
Turkey
We were shown a photo presentation of their
activities
·
Traditional setting of the region made it more
difficult to bring elderly people.
·
Young kids brought their older family members
(grandparents or others).
·
The younger kids worked more easily with the
seniors.
·
No need for formal computer lessons the
teaching between young people and seniors came out naturally.
First session ended in October and a new one is
planned to start in January.
Slovakia
Both groups are under the administration of the
University 3rd Age but atmosphere less formal in the class-room.
The Slovakian partner proposed that we develop
and promote a community of best practice.
Poland
The Polish partner joined the Slovakian in
their initiative of best practice that may appear in the report.
·
Report related information:
Report should be short and include
statements from participants.
Handbook including photos should be
made in electronic form (before the next meeting).
Expectations from the project have
been surpassed
Be careful to keep a sequential list
of activities to the national agency (EU may compare reports between partners)
Our personal impression
For new comers it was difficult to integrate
immediately in the group since the name were not known or familiar (due to
different origins).
The visit was very well organized should
seniors be involved it may include more breaks (rest time).