Laura Osborne, aged 90, said: “The schoolchildren are absolutely fantastic.  They’re so polite and very intelligent – they’ve taught us a lot!  Coming down and using one of the computers makes life less lonely, it’s good company.  You can explore and find out different things, it’s very interesting.”

The learning in the scheme has been made possible via the Get Digital programme. It is so heartening to see it in action: we thoroughly recommend having a look at what went on.

Do you have stories and outcomes from your events? Let us know!

The aim of this award is to encourage schools, or a group of schools, to organise events where young people, up to the age of 16, use their ICT skills to help other people learn about computers and how to surf the internet.

This type of event is very rewarding for everyone involved. As well as the many benefits for the learners, students gain new insights and confidence from the experience of teaching. For schools, it is a great opportunity to build community cohesion and they could win £5,000!

But, they need to act quickly because the closing date is Friday 29^th January and all events must take place before the end of the 2009/10 school year.

You will find more information and an application form here.

Also this year, to coincide with Silver Surfers’ Day, we successfully trialled a new initiative with ERoSH to help sheltered scheme managers to link up with local schools to run internet taster sessions. You can read all about that here

‘After the success of their Silver Surfers’ Day earlier in the year, Roade School Sports College and South Northants Homes (SNH) are continuing to improve IT literacy among retirement tenants by running a series of computer skills workshops.

‘On Wednesday 16 September, student volunteers welcomed 19 retirement tenants to the first of the six-week, hour long workshops at the school. Students work with tenants on a one-to-one basis and support them as they develop their computer skills and confidence.   

‘Roade School Sports College and SNH had held a very successful Silver Surfers’ Day on 15 May, which provided a one-day IT skills course for SNH retirement tenants. This was so well received that it prompted the development of these workshops.

‘Maureen Whitlock, Subject Leader of ICT said:

“We are delighted to be hosting these workshops.  It is great that the students will get a chance to experience a different side to teaching and learning. It is good to see the school’s resources benefiting the wider community.” 

‘Becky Pavey, SNH Community Development Manager said:

“These workshops will be of huge benefit to our retirement tenants and will enable them to make full use of the IT facilities we have installed in SNH retirement schemes. It’s fantastic to see the different generations coming together in such a positive way.” 
  
‘This is a great opportunity for community cohesion; bringing together the older and younger generations. The workshops are part of our Intergeneration Project, the outline idea is for the younger generation to help the older generation develop their IT skills and the older generation to reciprocate and help the younger generation with their reading skills. Hopefully student volunteers will be inspired to work towards one of Northamptonshire Voluntary Youth Action’s accreditation schemes.”

‘Digital Unite, who run Silver Surfers’ Day annually, started the Schools for Silver Surfers’ Day initiative in January 2009, with ERoSH, the sheltered housing charity.’

‘Nobody realised what  had been started when Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership (SLLP) and the Workers’ Education Authority (WEA) heard about the opportunity afforded by Silver Surfers’ Day, 2009 (SSD09).  We learned that the ‘Day’ is organised annually by Digital Unite (DU) and resourced online with some neat and helpful resources that support both professional tutors and volunteers in organising, engaging and guiding older people on to the Internet. For most of these older people the Internet is a place they’ve never visited before.

‘DU offered phone support and some on-the-ground support from head office in the form of a talk. The first result was that the SLLP and the WEA organised a Silver Surfer event at the Longmead centre, Epsom on May 15^th 2009.

‘The turn-out and enthusiasm of the Longmead invitees led to a 5 week course. To cater for increasing numbers, it was decided to have a morning and afternoon session and even these had 13 learners in each one, which proved quite a challenge to the tutor and volunteer.

‘Both courses were successful and Jerry Lewis, the centre manager, decided to advertise further. The result is that the WEA are now running three courses and Nescot have taken on one more. Forty or more learners go through the “computer room” on a Thursday and Friday,  with more learners on the waiting list.

‘The interest shown prompted SLLP to help constitute the InterGenEpsom group which bid for Councillors’ Allocation Funding from Cllr Jan Mason and Cllr Colin Taylor. Their £2,000 contribution means that InterGenEpsom can buy lap-tops which will be available to other community groups – hence the name: which indicates all generations of learners in the Court & Ruxley Wards. The lap-tops  will also be available at Cox Lane community centre and The Wells centre.

‘The SLLP  lap-tops in use at Longmead, will be needed in places where the U3A and Age Concern are gently coaxing their members to realise what the computer and internet can offer those who might otherwise feel isolated or be left behind in Digital Britain.

‘The Box Hill Village Hall Project continues to flourish with the WEA coming in one afternoon a week  to provide for those who have been on a waiting list for some time.

‘At Age Concern, Dorking, the Committee have now passed a motion which allows Joyce Riley-Smith to go ahead and realise her dream of Silver Surfer sessions at the Christian centre there.

‘In Bookham, Joan Gillingham and in Fetcham, Dr.Tony Cox,  are hoping to use the lap-tops at the Old Barn Hall, Bookham or to  access the state of the art  IT suites at St. Andrews School, Leatherhead, Leatherhead Trinity School and Children’s centre, Woodville Site and also West Hill Special Needs school.

‘With greater access to the internet via computer courses in community settings, SLLP hopes to tackle the social exclusion that is caused by the Digital Divide.’

]]> http://dnc.digitalunite.com/2009/10/02/silver-surfers-day-09-strikes-gold-in-surrey/feed/ 0 http://dnc.digitalunite.com/2009/09/15/choosing-a-new-school-take-a-visual-tour/ http://dnc.digitalunite.com/2009/09/15/choosing-a-new-school-take-a-visual-tour/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:06:15 +0000 gilladams http://dnc.digitalunite.com/?p=465 Gill, blog editor here:  We hear so much about what is bad about schools admissions and exams, so it was rather exciting to hear news of a service, being trialled in Bristol and elsewhere, whereby you can go on a video tour of a school and then apply to it online! For parents, this could make selection and application very much easier. (Those who aren’t online once again miss out!)  Here is the pilot video from Brislington, Bristol. It’s all part of a Government desire to make sure parents get online – and we’d like to see the same motivation for grandparents, too!

I was very much distracted by this link to Lancaster University’s summer school. You get to stay at this university and can do subjects like Computers for the Terrified in the morning, and Jungian Dreams in the afternoon; or How to Find Your Way Round the Internet in the morning and Sing Your Heart Out in the afternoon. Very reasonably priced and sounds like there could be quite a lot of sitting around under trees and chatting, and maybe bits of spontaneous singing in the quad (do Lancaster have a quad, and what is it anyway?) while the sounds of the workshop string orchestra float from an upper window into the friendly dark.  They say youth is wasted on the young – but I think they’ve just been creating the blueprint for fun, so we can act it out all summer, while they’re at home fighting for the few remaining summer jobs ! If anyone goes, please tell us how it was.

The Piggott School, Wargrave, Berks held a Silver Surfers’ Day on Friday 15th May, as part of Adult Learners’ Week. Members of the community were invited to come in and work alongside Piggott students. The students provided individual support on any aspect of using a computer, tailored to their needs.

Both students and visitors were totally engaged in supporting and learning and it was extremely exciting watching young and old working together. On line shopping, holiday destinations and Skype were just some of the topics covered.

It is hoped that further courses will be arranged in the next academic year.

The tuition took place in one of the school’s IT Suites and the instructors were Yr 9 (14 year) students who ensured they paired up on a 1-to-1 basis with the silver surfers and most competently helped them brush up on their computer skills or explained the basics if they were complete beginners. It was a pleasure to  watch the inter-generational interaction taking place.

One of the silver surfers was the Mayor of Chesham, Cllr Alison Pirouet, who opened the days’ proceedings. When attending the computer session The Mayor did the ‘reverse inter-generational’ tuition by demonstrating to the pupils, areas on the Chesham Council website which would be of interest to younger people.

The first ‘taster’ session was followed up, in a separate classroom, by a webcam link (via Skype) to a small rural village, Brenu, in Ghana where local elders and young students had gathered to participate in a debate about the inter-relationship between old and young within their respective communities. We were watching cultural differences come alive; the effect was mesmerising.

When the debate was over (far exceeding the time allocated!) we all waved good-bye to our new friends and reluctantly cut the link with the waving, smiling peoples of Ghana thousands of miles away.

Later in the day, after another silver surfer taster session the international debate theme was repeated, this time with a school in the suburbs of Paris - where a similar sequence of activities was repeated. This time the interchange using ‘simultaneous’ translation lent another interesting dimension and it was pleasing to watch the local Chesham students interact in fluent French.

In all and emotional and stimulating day – for old and young whether technophiles or not.

Well done to all at Chesham High, who also hold regular surgeries to help residents at nearby Cromwell House, for all the work in organising this event.

See this blog post for some of the ‘prep’ that went into the making of the event, here.