Media literacy for the elderly at Feltrinelli in Milano
The Milan Giacomo Feltrinelli Institute continues to host students as tutors for the new digital literacy course for the elderly. Grandparents on the Internet is organised in synergy with European Project EngAGEd (Intergenerational Digital Engagement). The objective is to improve media literacy and the understanding of ICT technology to contrast disinformation and recognise fake news [see news: Nonni su Internet (in Italian) on the school website].
Coach Tullia Romanelli speaks about the first training session with the students who will act as tutors for the over-65s.
I head towards the auditorium, ready to meet the young students who will become teachers for ten meetings. The students will be asked to teach a group of citizens aged 65 to 90 how to use PCs and cell phones to promote digital inclusion and, in turn, become aware citizens.
All this will start next Tuesday. Today, the project is presented to the students through an hour and a half training session … a “Train the Trainers”. While I set up the slides, I wonder what this year’s group will be like. Will they be shy and not ask questions, not be very attentive? For the second year in a row, I am pleasantly surprised in front of a hall full of silent and very interested students. They are so attentive that they realize I forgot to list a meeting in November. They come from different schools, but all have a common goal that reaches beyond the PCTO credits they receive. They clearly desire to do their part so that “our grandparents” will learn what they have set out to do.
Their only question is: “What can I do if I try and try again but that grandpa just can’t learn that skill?” In addition to their familiarity with English terms – I see them nodding when I talk about “cooperative learning” – the determination typical of their age is clear in their eyes. As if to say, now I’m here, I will show you that at the end of the journey my grandpa will be the best of all.
It's the same interest exhibited by the girls in a newly-formed school editorial team, who ask me if they can be part of the group for the final project to “make quotes, report opinions, and bring out the voice of the grandparents.” With this spirit, I eagerly await next Tuesday and the first meeting and await the meeting between the students and their "adoptive grandparents."
