UA Project Preps Older People for the Digital World

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Trying to stay in touch with family members but being out-of-touch with technology can be frustrating for older people. Now, thanks to a University of Alabama community project called FIT 4 Retirement that is not the case for a group of older people in Tuscaloosa.

Spearheaded by Dr. Laurie Bonnici, assistant professor in the UA School of Library and Information Studies, and several of her graduate students, the project teaches seniors in an information technology literacy course.

Bonnici believes FIT 4 Retirement, which partners with the Tuscaloosa Public Library and Focus on Senior Citizens of Tuscaloosa County, will enhance the lives of the senior citizens, and preliminary analysis of the data is already showing positive results.

UA students working on the program include Jackie Brodsky, a doctoral student in the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences, and project manager Muriel K. Wells, a librarian with the National Children’s Advocacy Center and C&IS doctoral student.

They are now looking forward to writing grant proposals to national agencies to get additional support for their program.

Wells said that the project meets an unmet need in the community. “The senior population is exploding and they’re kind of getting left out in the cold,” she noted.

The UA Center for Community Based Partnerships funded the project in 2008 with $5,000 in financial support.  Subsequently, the team’s efforts were recognized in 2009 with an Outstanding Faculty/Staff-Initiated Engagement Effort Award and $2,000 to continue work on the project.

“It’s wonderful that CCBP had invested in us to do this” Bonnici said.

With this program, seniors are full partners in the creative control of the course. “We asked them what they wanted to learn,” Wells said. “There’s no reason to teach them how to write a resume because they’re retired. They have needs and interests that younger people don’t have. We cater to those needs and interests in the course.”

Each semester, two classes were held for 10 senior citizens at Focus on Senior Citizens of Tuscaloosa County. With laptops provided to them, they learned how to open attachments, view pictures, send and receive e-mail efficiently and search the Internet for retirement related issues. Communicating with family and maintaining contact with grandchildren and loved ones was a key skill that they all wanted to learn as well.

“They’re so eager and so exited to learn. Their exuberance for the courses made it more exciting for us as well,” Wells added.

Because the course was in such high demand, seniors were calling Focus to find out when the next class was or if it was full so they could register. “That’s kind of fun for them. You can just see their faces light up,” Bonnici said.

As the program blossoms, the researchers hope to reach out to seniors in rural areas. “We’ve got to go to them,” Wells said.