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The Digital Literacy Week was inaugurated in Rome. The event, which is promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, will take place until May 7. Schools will provide mini computer courses to over-sixties. The Istituto Fermi and the Romanian City of Iasi.
ROME – Sixty school and 50 elderly centres in the capital open up their doors today for the Digital Literacy Week. The initiative, promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, will provide Roman elders with the opportunity to attend brief computer courses and take their first steps on the Internet.
The project, which was conceived in 2003 to help acquaint the elderly with computers and the Internet, has spread beyond the borders of Italy. The project is now underway in Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Romania. In particular, the latter has received fuding from the European Community.
Romania was connected this morning via a Skype videoconference with the Enrico Fermi Technical Industrial Institute in Rome, where the event was inaugurated.
Thirty Roman “grandparents” who attended the courses counterparts and their tutors greeted their Romanian counterparts who are currently participating in a computer, e-government and social networking course implemented by the Silver, Stimulating ICT Learning for Active EU Elders Project as part of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. A Romanian student at the Fermi School, participating in the project, translated the conversations.
“This project has a threefold influence on our curriculum,” Fermi Headmaster Monica Nanetti underlined. “Senior navigators acquire indispendsable skills that keep them in touch with the world, students - through their teaching and explanations - become more aware of their knowledge and there is an invaluable social relationship that grows between the elders and their tutors, a common dream for a knowledge society that leaves no one behind.
The “educational value for the students” was also emphasized by Mirta Michilli, Director General of the Fondazione Mondo digitale: “Today, there is a lot of discussion about what to teach students to adequately prepare them for the working world. We believe that in addition to traditional skills, it’s essential to impart social responsibility, communication and the ability to transmit knowledge. This project,” Ms. Michilli added, “excercises all of these skills during the volunteer time that these students devote to this course.”
“We, the elders, however, are those that obtain the most from this course,” added a Romanian elder via videoconference. Beside him, Alexandra, one of the young tutors added, “I thought it was easy to teach. You just go to the board, speak and the others listen. Instead, we discovered that it’s very hard, but fun, too. It was useful to step in to the teachers’ shoes and teach computers.”
“We learned how to teach,” Stefano, a young roman tutor added, “and we also learned about the other generations and developed a fantastic relation with elders.” The Italian grandparents were enthusiastic. “We are very fond of our tutors,” Luigi said, “When the teachers asks us if we’ve understood something, we always say ‘yes’ and then run to ask the tutors for help!” Salvatore thanks “the tutors for all their work and for opening up a huge window on to a fascinating new world that I’ll probably never leave.” Salvatore is proud to present a huge floreal gift – made with the Paint Programme – to his Romanian counterparts.
The Redattore Sociale News Agency
