The Project

Senior´s Learning in the Digital Society (SeLiD)

The project Senior´s Learning in the Digital Society (SeLiD) has been approved as an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for the period 1 September 2019 – 31 August 2021. The project is carried out by 8 partners from European universities. Comenius University Centre for Continuing Education Bratislava is the coordinator.

The main objectives are open education and innovative practices in a digital era, focusing on improving and extending high quality learning opportunities for digital technologies and ICT, tailored to the needs of individual low-skilled or low-qualified adults. 

The project focuses on elderly students and older people in general to improve and develop their digital skills and knowledge. They need special education and training in many fields for a more flexible use of ICT in their daily life and for an active citizenship. Many of them are afraid of digital communication with government agencies, digital and technical equipment at home, new ICT programs and work on Internet because of security threats. To make them more flexible in their daily life and in the digital society they need new experiences and new technical skills. Two main groups of elderly get especially involved in the project: the elderly students who will play a role as advisors and the elderly who have hardly used ICT and DT before the project and need encouragement and training.

The project concentrates on learning and training of basic ICT skills and key digital competences of the elderly. Methods that will be applied are: classical teaching, group learning and training, peer learning, work with manuals, excursions to the shops with electronics, collection of good practices to develop digital literacy and skills of the elderly.

The project starts with a survey by questionnaire and interviews to make an assessment of the needs of the elderly and where ICT could improve their daily life. It will address the use of a wide range of systems such as personal computers, smartphones and tablets, digital systems of agencies and smart technologies at home and in public. The contact with companies and shops with electronics will be sought to make them aware of the special needs of the elderly concerning design, handling and description of ICT equipment, systems and manuals. The main impact of the project is on isolated elderly, seniors in the communities and senior students of the universities of the third age and senior academies.

Planned activities are ICT courses, training of the digital skills, excursions to the shops, companies and digital agencies and research of the needs for ICT support, development of digital competences to help the elderly to overcome barriers in their integration into the digital society. The project focuses on many important parts of senior´s life and their daily digital environment not only at home, in the public transport, in using internet banking, security and flexibility in using smart technologies, digital agency, etc. to become flexible and domesticated in the digital society.

Planned outcomes:

1. The survey about the learning possibilities in the partner’s institutions in the subjects of digital technologies and will be inserted into the Review table. The analyses and comparison of the collected data will be discussed in the workshop and prepared for the final evaluation and use by the partners.

2. Research about the needs of the elderly, barriers and difficulties in the use of digital technologies and home equipment, about using ICT in learning will be evaluated by quantitative and qualitative analyses and comparison between the partners.

3. Results from the research on the digital education in the institutions and needs of the elderly will be used as a basis for the creation of new innovative curricula, training activities and enlargement of the seniors´ skills.

4. Summaries about needs of the elderly and good practices from the partners will help and support the creation of various types of learning methods for learning ICT.

5. Ways and possibilities for encouragement of isolated elderly, influence, attraction and persuasion to learn in their later life and for their daily life and active citizenship can bring more elderly to be involved in the life of digital society.

6. Digital education and training will reduce the number of low-skilled adults and promote their knowledge and flexible life in the digital society.

7. Project institutions will support these areas by spreading information about learning activities in the groups and communities of the elderly, which can encourage them in using ICT.

8. The project will put Strategic Partnership into practice with wider possibilities for cooperation and common research and events in the future.

9. Results gained from the Study and from quantitative analyses will be published in a booklet, on the project website and presented at the international events. At the final conference the final evaluation will take place and the final report will be completed by all partners.

The project partners of the project SeLiD will meet on 5 transnational meetings and workshops at different universities. They together with tutors, volunteers, senior students and other seniors can explore news of the digital world, digital traps in their daily life, interrelations and lines of development in all their fields of digital interest. The project should promote innovation in seniors´ life, exchange of experience in the field of digital technologies, ICT and knowhow between different types of organisations involved in the education for elderly in a European context. It can enrich and enlarge their learning programs with new elements and create appropriate methods for the courses in digital technologies or for courses in applications of new technologies for learning methods (in language courses, financial literacy courses, etc.) and training of the elderly according to their needs for domesticated life in the digital society.