Smart Cafés - Smarter Living for Older People
Digital literacy course in a café setting for senior citizens.
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“I learned how to do a screen shot! How to attach and send documents. How to book flights and much more!!”- Learner
This project aimed to improve the digital literacy skills of senior citizens. Trained tutors and digital champions worked with participants. They offered hands on support in a relaxed setting to address their digital literacy needs.
The project took place every Tuesday and Thursday over four weeks. They took place in the Community Office Dundalk, The Barbican Centre Drogheda, and the Deehub Ardee.
Classes covered the following themes:
Beginners
introduction to smart phones
communicating with others
Advanced
digital frauds and scams,
exploring hobbies and paying bills,
on-line shopping
Tutors covered each theme on Tuesdays. On Thursday, participants tried out what they learned over tea and a bun in a café setting.
The round table format made it a relaxed and accessible learning experience. Learners shared what they had tried out with each other.
96 participants took part in the project.
24 went on from beginner to advanced levels.
Certificates of participation were awarded at an event in Monasterboice in early November.
Everyone was eager to continue learning more about how to use digital platforms after completing the course.
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Learner feedback.
This project was a collaboration between Louth Local Development and ALONE.
For more information about the project, please contact Niamh McShane, Regional Literacy Coordinator in Louth and Meath ETB, at nmcshane@lmetb.ie
The Adult Literacy for Life Collaboration and Innovation Fund
The Collaboration and Innovation Fund supports projects for adults with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs and projects that support organisations to be literacy friendly. The closing date for 2024 applications has now passed but keep an eye out for information on our 2025 fund which will be launched in December.
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