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Aug. 26, 2011
Bubbes and Zaides who blog
A program increases the tech savvy of the senior set.
OLGA LIVSHIN
According to Statistics Canada, since 2000, the growth rate of Internet use by seniors has been highest among all age groups. In 2007, for people older than 75, the growth rate was 21 percent, nearly four times higher than the five percent reported in 2000. For people between 65 and 74, the respective numbers at the margins are 45 and 11 percent.
However, the absolute numbers of seniors using the Internet are much lower than that of any other age group. One reason for such a discrepancy is that most other age categories have already reached or almost reached the saturation point – use of the Internet has become ubiquitous. Seniors appear to be the last age group to adopt computer technology.
The seniors department of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver is taking steps to bridge this gap and provide the benefits and challenges of computer and Internet use to its members. To this end, the department’s newest program, Blogging Bubbes and Zaides, got off the ground in May. Designed to teach older seniors the basics of computers and online media, it’s been received enthusiastically, with robust enrolment.
Leah Deslauriers, JCCGV seniors program coordinator, told the Independent that the idea for the new program started percolating between her and Shelley Freedman in 2009. They applied for a federal grant from the New Horizons for Seniors program the following year. “We received the money in October 2010,” she explained. “After that, I hired Shelley [Freedman] to develop a manual, and we bought five laptops.”
The program is designed for younger seniors, all volunteers, to teach older seniors the basic of computers and the Internet. “It’s better that the instructors are seniors too, as opposed to being young or in their thirties,” Deslauriers said. “Such teachers are more attuned to their students. They speak the same language. They understand problems related to age. For example, some students have vision impairment; they need bigger fonts. Others couldn’t type.”
“When teachers and students are [all] seniors, they use the same common terms of reference,” Freedman confirmed.
Freedman’s original idea was to get seniors connected to younger generations and to their grandchildren via digital media, especially to teach seniors how to create a website or maintain a blog. As the first wave of students went through the program in the spring, both students and teachers learned a lot.
“The first course was challenging. It was a learning curve for everyone,” Deslauriers said. “It became clear that, for many older seniors, blogging was way too advanced. Some were afraid of computers, afraid to break something if they touched a wrong key. They had to learn basics: how to click a mouse, how to log on and log off.
“Those who aspired to more advanced levels learned how to open an e-mail account, how to use Google search, Skype and Facebook, how to share photos or find news on the Internet…. Our main goal was to create a comfortable, Jewish learning environment and to assist our students in embracing technology the way their grandchildren do.”
For Freedman, writing the manual for the new course was an endeavor of love. It has gone through several revisions, and the volunteer teachers, one of whom is her mother, provided feedback.
“I wanted to help seniors to see the computer as fun and approachable. The manual reflects this by using straightforward, non-tech-y language, with a handy glossary for each section,” she explained. “Creating this program increased my appreciation of modern seniors and their willingness to learn. They’re older people; they’ve already accomplished so much in their long lives, and now they’ve chosen to learn something absolutely new. I wanted this to be a good experience for them.”
The title page of the manual could be considered the course motto: Bubbes and Zaides: Get Connected. How to Get Connected and Stay in Touch Using Technology or … Oy, I Can’t Believe I Sent the Whole Message by Myself, Not a Single Call to My Kids!
The manual’s more serious instructions are interjected with humor and warmth. Some of the sections read oddly, but take into account their unique students: “Don’t be afraid! Repeat three times.”
Freedman said she tries to dispel the fears of the unknown. “You don’t have to know how a computer works in order to use it. We don’t know how a TV or a car works, but we use both all the time. The same with computers.”
The course instructors, like Stan Goldman (who also creates lesson plans), aim to help their students be on a first-name basis with their computers – and their efforts seem to be bearing fruit.
Student Sophie Cymbalista has already taken the course twice. “I’m much more comfortable with a computer now than I was before the class,” she said. “It was interesting and enjoyable, and everyone learned at her individual pace – but it was too short.”
For more information, visit bloggingbubbes.com.
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
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