Basic Computer Literacy Training for People in the Third Age: Challenges and Solutions
During their life, a person always learns something, one’s interests and desires can change: some new appear, others are lost. Therefore, it is always necessary to fill in those lacunas, to immerse into different spheres of knowledge. While aging, a person gradually loses a habit of systematic education, but third age people have enough time and desire for it. Not only the health condition is changing, but so do life values, as well as social and family circumstances. Therefore, the computer literacy training performs an important social function, helping an elderly person to navigate in the modern lifestyle and respond adequately to changes. Computer classes also help to reduce social and psychological tensions. After all, the new skills of an elderly person who developed innovative competencies can strengthen one’s self-confidence, people believe they are able to cope with the changing environment, to control themselves and others, to influence life situations through reflection, viewing risks as new challenges. While arranging computer literacy courses for third age people in one of the districts of Novosibirsk city, we developed and tested a training program that was later divided into three modules with a certain logic in introducing new knowledge and skills, taking into account specific characteristics of the third age. Later, the analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness and quality of the implemented training methodology were carried out. Through SWOT analysis and key quality improvement tools, we were able to identify the main problems and find appropriate solutions based on the experience of working with this category of people.