Help older people learn basic IT skills

It's been a busy summer for the Getting Started team, summer camps are not only for young people as we ran a number of IT learning camps for older people where they had a computer class each day for 4 consecutive days. This proved very popular with the learners and volunteers. 

We have spend August planning our autumn term which kicked off in Sept. we will be running classes in over 70 venues across the country ranging from libraries, sheltered housing complexes, community centre, schools and companies. 

Our corporate partners have also been busy either running classes or planning class for the autumn term including VMware, Eli Lilly, Cisco, Dell, HP, IBM, Fujitsu and Lionbridge. We also have a number of secondary schools where transition year student will teach older people. 

We are receiving lots of entries for our Silver Surfer Awards and the closing date is 5th Oct. Students can nominate their tutors for an award and likewise tutors can nominate their learners at the link below 

It's going to be a busy couple of months ahead! 

Links:

• http://www.ageaction.ie/silversurfer

Getting Started launched its Silver Surfer Awards in May and the search is on once again for Ireland’s top Silver Surfers. The Awards celebrate and showcase older peoples’ use of the internet and technology.

This year we are looking for enthusiastic people over the age of 50 who have an interesting story to share about how they use their computer and the internet and who will become a role model to inspire more older people to embrace technology. We are calling on people across Ireland to nominate a friend, neighbour or relative who uses technology for pleasure or as a way to enhance the quality of their life. 

The closing date for nominations is Sunday 5^th October. The link to the nomination form is  www.ageaction.ie/silversurfer

This is the sixth year of the awards and there are five award categories as follows:

New to IT Award
A person over the age of 50 who is new to technology and has overcome challenges to become an IT user

Hobbies on the Net Award
An older person who uses the Internet to pursue their passion or hobby or who uses IT for communication and social networking

IT Tutor(s) of the Year
An individual or group of any age who provides voluntary support to older learners

Google Silver Surfer Award
An older person who embraces the Internet or technology with a sense of fun and adventure

Golden IT Award
An individual over the age of 80 who uses technology to enhance their life

These stories are hugely important to assist us to encourage more older people to go online.