The best ideas can arrive out of the blue. So it was with the Log On, Learn initiative. In the spring of 2008, computer giant Intel asked its community relations manager in Ireland, Evelyn Pender, to research reasons for the ever-widening ‘digital gap’ between young and old. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), fewer than one-quarter of people over 60 use the internet.

“We found there were very few places where older people could get age-appropriate computer training,” said Pender. “We ran some pilot groups to talk to older people and they consistently talked about the 'fear factor', that information technology was too hard, too complicated and for young people. We wanted to address that, but weren't sure how to do it.”

One evening, Pender was driving past her daughter's school and remembered the teenager’s positive experience as a transition year student. “I suddenly thought, 'Oh my God, that's the answer’,'“ she recalled. “If we involved transition year students, it would be a non-threatening way of teaching technology to older people in their own community, working with local kids who they might even already know.”

One to one
Pender and Intel got to work on developing materials for Log On, Learn, which transition year students could use to teach older people on a one-to-one basis over an eight-week period. Microsoft and An Post came on board the project as partners. The venture immediately had support from the government's Office for Older People, which includes it in the broader Strategy for Positive Ageing.

“Educational disadvantage is one of the most serious barriers to successful ageing for many older people and is a major cause of their being marginalised from the mainstream of social and civic life,” according to Áine Brady, the Minister for Older People and Health Promotion. “The fact is that the vast majority of older people received no training in information and communications technology in the course of their formal education.”

By the start of October 2008, Log On, Learn was ready to launch. “We had 20 pilot schools initially,” said Pender, “but by the end of the academic year, 150 schools were running it and, overall, 3,000 older people were trained through the project.”

The programme takes into account the older person’s initial skill level, learning pace, interests and hobbies. It aims to build their confidence and teach them to enjoy surfing the net, sending emails, learning about word processing, booking holidays and managing their finances online.

Inter-generational learning
Not only do the older people learn new skills through the one-on-one buddy programme, but great friendships are made between the older students and their young teachers, with teenagers reporting in great surprise that their older students were “just like us”.
“One girl said to me that she was amazed how the older people didn't care what people thought of them and just got on with things,” said Pender. “She said it certainly helped her feel much less self-conscious.”

“The manner in which the project involves transition year students in 'buddying up' with older people from their local communities is an excellent way of creating inter-generational solidarity,” said Brady. “Learning ICT skills together has the potential to create bonds of friendship between younger and older people, leading to greater mutual understanding between young and old. This is very important in a society in which the younger and older generations seem to have very limited opportunities for interacting with each other.”

Learning the lingo
Pender agrees. “One teacher in Sutton said to me, 'There is an alchemy at work here and the kids are lined up waiting for the older people to arrive’.”
She believes knowledge of the internet opens many doors for older people, allowing them to buy groceries online, for example, and helps them feel included in today's society. “If you are listening to Pat Kenny or watching The Afternoon Show, they often say, 'For more information, go to RTE.ie'. If you do not know what that means, it's like someone you listen to or watch every day is speaking another language.”

Log On, Learn has been so successful queries have come in from places as diverse as Wales and Japan about running the programme. “This will get an awful lot bigger,” said Pender. “It will go global before it runs out of steam.”

From September 2009, 240 Irish schools will be running Log On, Learn. If you or someone you know would like to participate, call Dublin (01) 214 7417, or check the website: http://www.logonlearn.ie/.