My Story - creating an ICT-based inter-generational learning environment

MyStory (MS) will address an increasing imbalance within the aging European population.  Access to, and understanding of internet technology is becoming more polarized, with many older people not being able to take advantage of the many benefits it can offer. This leaves many seniors - who already have to cope with a higher threat of marginalization – even more isolated, struggling to find a dignified role in society and to cope with the inevitable change. On the other hand, provided that it is used in the right context, the growth of the internet and the emergence of modern networked societies have created new interaction and collaboration opportunities, irrespective of physical distance. Younger generations grow up in a society impacted by massive amounts of information and media. They become proficient in the use of the Internet and of ICT applications from an early age, a valuable aspect which the MyStory partnership will employ in order to bridge the "digital divide" between generations.

 MyStory develops an ICT-based solution to: empower seniors to learn basic technical skills via intergenerational learning, to gain access to new learning opportunities and make contact with different social categories facing the risk of social exclusion (i.e. internet-savvy younger generations who face a risk of exclusion due to overexposure to ICT) by collecting min. 120 stories + adjacent worksheets in EN & partner lgs, 3 training kits for ~ 200 direct end users(seniors, youth & elder home staff); envisaged indirect beneficiaries  include ~ 200 orgs and 2000 stakeholders in Europe.

 The common “language” through which this will be achieved is the seniors’ life stories, which will be collected by technically competent younger people who are well-versed in navigating the digital space. These stories-as films or audio files-will also be exploited as an authentic resource for research into the history of the second part of the 20th C, and well as for networking purposes.

 MyStory will address one of the effects of the ongoing socio-economic transformation brought about by demographic ageing. According to Eurostat, in the UK alone, 16% of the population (around 9.9 million people) is currently over the age of 65. In Romania, it is 14.9% (3.3 million individuals), while in Lithuania it is 13.5%. Eurostat’s ‘Combating poverty and social exclusion 2010’ brochure shows that 63 % of Europeans aged 55 to 74 have never used the Internet and are in need of basic computer skills in order to access and navigate around the Internet.

 This is the main issue that the MyStory consortium is looking to address, together with two secondary issues, which are not (yet) perhaps as widespread as the "digital divide" which separates most European seniors from the younger, computer-savvy generations but which have the potential to become just as problematic. These issues are the over-exposure of youngsters to the Internet; and the lack of expertise of staff in elderly homes with regard to acquiring the skills needed to provide dignity support for seniors and engage them in motivating activities for their communities.

 The MyStory project also departs from the rationale that while the internet has significant potential among seniors, the challenge is to come up with innovative ways to motivate them to learn and use ICT. Technology itself does not drive seniors to the internet: unlike younger individuals, who are driven towards cutting-edge technology by peer pressure and ads, seniors look for deeper significances and meaningful experiences, which would allow them to connect and form emotional bonds in order to learn.

This is exactly what the MyStory partnership aims to do: develop a set of training tools in EN & partner languages which allow young people and elderly home staff to serve as "internet mentors" for seniors, transmit a series of basic ICT skills and bridge the digital and age divide via storytelling.

The consortium consists of 6 organizations from 5 partner countries  coordinated by EuroEd in Romania.

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The 3rd project partners meeting took place in Lancaster, England on 10-12 November 2011.

It was attended by the project partners from Lithuania (SIH), Romania (EuroEdi Foundation), Slovenia (ZDUS), Finland (Context Learning), England (DHE Solutions Ltd, Elder Homes) and the external evaluator of the project from Ireland (Universal Learning Systems).

During the meeting the partners discussed the progress of cooperation between storytellers and story collectors, reviewed the stories already produced, shared their experiences on project dissemination. The decisions were taken on further course of collecting stories, the topics of stories, the processing of video materials and exploitation issues. The structure of project portal was analyzed and training programme for story collectors presented.

The meeting took place in Ripley St.Thomas School, so the partners had the opportunity to get acquainted with the structure of school. During the meeting the participants visited the day care centre for the elderly, where they got a chance to chat with one of the storytellers.

Project assistant Aiste Kevalaityte represented SIH at the meeting.

The second project partners meeting took place in Helsinki, Finland on 6-7 June 2011.

The partners from Romania (EuroEd Foundation; DAS; Cuza University, Iasi), Finland (Context Learning), Lithuania (SIH), Slovenia (ZDUS) and Great Britain (DHE Solutions Ltd.; Elder Homes) attended the meeting. During the meeting the partners discussed the idea of the project, the aim and objectives, workpackages and planned results, partners divided roles and responsibilities among themselves, discussed activities of the first year of the project implementation.

Our institution is responsible for awareness raising campaigns at national and European level and project dissemination. Next meeting is planned to take part in Finland.

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Adult Learners’ Week, 15th - 21st November, 2010

On the 15th - 21st November, 2010 there was an annual (11th) Adult Learners’ Week coordinated by the Lithuanian Association of Adult Education.
Like every year, Soros International House participated in the Adult Learners’ Week and organized various events: a competition “My beloved teacher”, open lessons “Visit each other, learn from each other” for public and students, teachers of SIH, a seminar for language teachers “Educational video films in a lesson”.

 During the Adult Learners’ Week we arranged an exhibition of children and teenagers artwork who participated in the EUROCHILD talent competition and Lifelong Learning and Nordplus programme projects’ exhibition “Learning myself and teaching others”.

On the 26th of November teachers of  SIH Lauryna Butrimienė and Robin Alexander Muck arranged a seminar “The Unity of Teaching and Learning Methods and Tools when Organizing a Successful English Lesson” for the emplyees of Pakruojis Adults and Youth education centre and teachers from Pakruojis region. International project coordinator Nijolė Šmitaitė presented projects being implemented by SIH under Lifelong Learning and Nordplus programmes.

http://www.sih.lt/index.php?cid=11407