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).