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"Thirty senior citizens squeezed around a long table designed for about 20, the crush made tighter by canes, walkers, and wheelchairs. As late arrivals wriggled between others in search of a seat, snippets of conversation floated from the chatty crowd." summarizes eSchool News.
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| Photo: eSchool News Before the one-on-one tutoring sessions begin, students are put through what program creator Jean Coppola calls "sensitivity training." |
“I don’t have a computer. I don’t have any of that Google stuff,” one exasperated woman said. “Facebook? What’s that?” another asked loudly, to no one in particular. “It’s a program. It’s a computer program,” a man responded knowingly, displaying a confidence rarely seen in the 75-and-over age group when talk turns to laptops, PCs, iPads, smart phones and all that comes with them.
That’s why these seniors had gathered at the Hallmark, their assisted-living facility in Lower Manhattan. They wanted to begin the task of catching up with a technical world whose rapid-fire evolution has left much of America’s oldest generation isolated from its children, grandchildren, and tech-savvy friends.
“It’s so hard to do. But at least I’ve stopped crying,” said Roz Carlin, 92, speaking for many as she described breaking down in tears when she first tried using a computer. Like most of the students, Carlin initially resisted the technology until her daughter forced the issue by giving her an iPad.
Now, after mastering eMail, she was back to learn more.
Their teachers were students from New York’s Pace University, who earn credits participating in a program to bridge the gap created by the computer age.
“Let’s face it—20 percent of the population is going to be over 65 by 2050,” said Jean Coppola, a gerontologist and information technology professor at Pace who started the program after officials in Westchester County, north of New York City, asked the university to conduct a computer seminar for senior citizens in 2005.
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Program teaches computer skills to older generation
Source: eSchool News
