The final results include 32 basic digital literacy and coding challenges, as well as additional educational resources in form of 16 explanatory videos and 10 learning sheets.
Coding and programming skills can lead to an effective improvement of creative thinking, math skills and metacognition, along with spatial and reasoning abilities. It has been shown, in fact, that developing digital skills is clearly, for older adults, a way to keep their mind active, remarkably improving creativity, attention and memory.
This not the only factor arising: the unpredictable and unexpected covid-19 pandemic emergency brought researchers to reconsider the concept of digital literacy as a crucial factor on which it may depend the individual free determination and access to services.
Could SilverCoders be the answer?
Coding has been recognized by the EU as one of the new transversal skills, in other words it is, a new transversal language that reinforces and multiplies the effectiveness of specialized skills.
For anyone and in particular when coming to over 55 people, learning to code can be somehow intimidating. Seniors and older adults should be supported in overcoming the psychological barriers, and helped to find motivations and willpower to learn more.
In many ways, practicing code can complement a brain-teasers you complete as a routine that offers mentally fulfilling and confidence-boosting opportunity.
Beyond that, coding, as supported by the SilverCoders methodology and related educational resources, can be the mean though which senior workers can empower themselves to transmit their knowledge as trainers. Coding extracts knowledge and multiplies it through the channels of information technology and communicational design.
The developed materials are now available for open access to be used by anyone!
As its final outcome, the partnership is pleased to launch the Train the trainers, an open e-course offering materials developed for trainers to implement the SilverCoders Programme for adult trainers.
The online tool is available in English and translated and adapted to national contexts of the involved countries: Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Greece.
https://silvercoders.eu/training/
In combination of the programming challenges developed in this project, additional educational resources in the form of YouTube videos are now online.
The videos cover different topics relevant to digital knowledge and programming. You may use these materials on their own or in combination with the developed learning material. On the YouTube channel you can watch the videos with a subtitle of your national language.
https://silvercoders.eu/educational-resources/
Participants involved in the training said:
“The contents of this training give me an additional tool, a training i have been waiting for a long time”.
“Complex topic but I appreciated how it was pointed out the importance for oder people to inform themselves and be updated with all the digital tools”
Folkuniversitetet (project coordinator) said: “The project has brought added value to the target group, one that is often overlooked by society in terms of professional development. To the partnership, Silvercoders has been very important and a lot of effort has been put into the development of the materials. Many participants gave positive feedback and mentioned that they have been waiting for a training like this for a long time. The course provided them with an additional tool to learn more about digital literacy and coding. I’m hoping to see more projects like this in the future.”
Adult training organizations interested in using our methodology can contact:
- Folkuniversitetet (Project coordinator) – (Sweden)
- Virtual Campus (Portugal)
- Anziani e non solo (Italy)
- University of Thessaly (Greece)
- IREA (Romania)
- Media Creativa (Spain)
Find out more here: https://silvercoders.eu/partnership/
Press releases
28 February, 2023
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