The Cyber Seniors program at Brookswood teaches digital literacy

November 27, 2017

The Brookswood senior Leadership Team has taken on the role of instructing the seniors residents from the Peninsula Retirement Home on how to use the internet, iPad cameras, and other technologies. The course consists of 8 to 9 monthly lessons that will run until April of 2018. By the end, the senior residents will have their own graduation ceremony for the program, with certificates and write-ups done up by their student instructors.

The leadership students have each been given a resident to instruct. They construct the lesson, build hand-outs, and teach. They have to adjust their lessons for the level of the resident, and have to learn to make adjustments for their lesson on the fly.

For their second session, the students were teaching the residents how to search with Google and use email. Though, some residents were learning how to use the features of the iPad, including the camera.

For one Portuguese speaking resident, the time she spends with the leadership students is highly valued. Since she speaks only Portuguese, she does not often have many people to talk with. However, she was paired with a student who shares her language, allowing the two of them to converse in Portuguese.

The other residents plan around the time they spend at the school, moving appointments and otherwise to ensure that they get to attend class.