Learning with passion

Retirees master digital reality

One of the new social initiatives of the Dubna State University is the development and implementation of the silver age university model as an innovative form of educational activity for elderly citizens of Dubna. The concept of such a university includes the organisation of educational, academic, sports and health, social and cultural events based on the results of monitoring of educational needs of the target group and modern learning technologies.

On 27 April, the City Council of Veterans hosted a research and practice seminar "Silver age university - implementation of the life-long learning concept". This concept is based on the desire for new knowledge and constant mastery of advanced competencies.

Opening the seminar, Chairman of the City Council of Veterans N.M.Shuvikova emphasized that the need for computer skills training for veterans was long overdue. Two months of training courses of the first group have passed, 14 people have completed their studies. The retirees are very happy. More applicants came to each lesson than those who had signed up. Anyway, the whole list has not yet been exhausted.

According to the project manager, Professor of the Department of Social Work of the University M.G.Solnyshkina, the activity of a modern university is not limited to scientific and educational fields. And the Dubna State University is increasingly involved in social problems. "We adopted the model of embedding the Silver University into a green, youth one." The main programs implemented at the Silver University are legal literacy, information technology, financial literacy, psychology in the family and society. The main goal of the project is to develop a new quality of life for older citizens.

A survey of 150 elderly citizens of Dubna randomly selected from the database of the House of Veterans was conducted. Its results showed that at the level of a novice user, 75% are able to handle a computer or laptop, while 87% expressed a desire to study computer skills further. The requests of older citizens are not limited to studying PC literacy. Financial literacy programs, psychological programs for the formation of communication, a healthy lifestyle, personal communication and teaching foreign languages are also of interest.

Why do older people need computer literacy skills? Over a third of the respondents wished to master it in order to learn how to search for information on the Internet, a quarter - to use the State Services website, 15% - to pay for online housing and utility services. In general, the Silver Age University institution involving the personnel resources of the Dubna University was approved by about 85% of the respondents.

The survey helped to draw an average portrait of an elderly citizen of Dubna. This is an educated person: 38% have a secondary specialized education, 33% have a higher education, 87% of the respondents rated themselves as socially active. And if to clarify this portrait, then this is a woman, a widow with a secondary specialized education, unemployed or partly employed.

Head of the Department of Digital Economy and Management of the Institute of System Analysis and Management of the University T.V.Tyupikova spoke about assistance to elderly citizens of Dubna in mastering advanced technical tools, as well as information technologies. In order for older people not to miss the digitalisation training undertaken by the Government, to increase their awareness via the Internet, they need to learn some skills, learn how to use portals and websites. Many are afraid of computer and quit their jobs because of the inability to use it.

As to Western countries, information technology is considered as a means of preserving the resource of an elderly person. According to international experts, in 2020, almost all citizens aged 70-75 in the United States and Canada, 77% in Great Britain, 62% in France, 42% in Poland and only 3% in Russia had access to the Internet. Computer literacy of citizens in Europe dates back to 1995. Today, the unified Qualification Standard "Electronic Citizen" (e-Citizen) is used in 166 countries of the world.

"After our training, retirees can not only type and edit a text, use e-mail but also have an idea about information and anti-virus security. They know how to fill out various online forms and electronic questionnaires, know how to change the password on the State Services website, to find a management company or polyclinic and if they are do not use this site, then to check their pension on the Pension Fund website, to attach a photo on the Dobrodel portal, to visit the electronic museum, to buy tickets and much more." Such projects are also beneficial for the Government, as they reduce the digital divide and the older generation's lack of adaptation to new living conditions at minimal cost for the development of educational infrastructure.

The financial literacy courses by N.N.Denisova (ISAM), aimed at overcoming fear for the rapidly changing technologies of the digital economy in finance and at forming a rational approach in decision-making in relation to personal funds among retirees, attracted wide interest.

Students of two faculties took part in the project: Social and Human Sciences and the Institute of SAM. They actively and eagerly participated as teaching assistants in the Digital Literacy and Information Technology and also Financial Literacy programs. Students of the Department of Digital Economy and Management of the Institute of SAM shared their impressions of work at the seminar. Among other things, they noticed that such communication experience would be useful to them in the future for establishing contacts with senior colleagues at work. "It was mutually interesting!" Warm gratitude to both the students and their teachers for their initiative and work was expressed by veterans, who not only learned how to work with a computer, but also became friends with each other.

One thing to be added is that the social program has been running for a little over a month, but it has already entered the top 10 social projects out of more than a hundred applicants and has won the Recognition award in the Territory of Care Federal Competition. The project of the Silver Age University Dubna is implemented in close cooperation with the Council of Veterans, the Complex Center for Social Services and Rehabilitation "Dubnensky", the JINR Council of Veterans, the Administrations of the city and the region.

Olga Tarantina