Demystifying computers for elderly
I am excited about a project that will hopefully start soon. Demystifying computers for elderly.
How do you go about teaching a senior citizen who lives in a nursing home how to use the computer?
The task is incredibly complex and breathtakingly interesting.
Complex because of the varying level of comfort with the medium, the idea that it is a complex and intimidating tool, cognitive impairment such as low attention span and retention ability. Interesting for the same reasons.
initial fact finding…
questions about the student:
What is their current understanding of the internet?
How comfortable are they with the medium?/ What do they already know it?
What pieces of technology are they already familiar with? (And how can I use that as a starting point?)
I believe who they are and their interest in the medium is at the core, and should frame the “curriculum”.
Do they want to keep in touch with family members?
Do they want to conduct research?
Are they bored?
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I have found the following article on The New York Times, “High tech for Elderly“.
Interesting excerpt:
“Older people are a logical choice for intensive computer training since most completed their education before computers were widely used. In their personal lives, too, they have managed for more than 55 years without a computer, but, as Richard P. Biondi, regional director for public affairs at Bell Atlantic, observed: ”More and more in our everyday life we’re asked to convey information via the computer. Some people can no longer use a pen or pencil because of rheumatism. They have to learn to adopt and adapt to new technology.”
Michael Negrelli of Yorktown Heights, a volunteer who shares coordinating and teaching computer technology at the Town of Ossining Senior Center with Marian Picarelli of Ossining, said, ”As a senior, too, I know the most frustrating thing can be a brilliant young person who does things so quickly mature adults can’t learn from him.” “
