Minutes of and action plan

from the 5th strategic meeting of the EuCoNet partners Alicante, Spain, 4-8 February 2004

The focus of the meeting in Alicante was set on:

1. An analysis of the model projects as presented on the project homepage. This included a comparison of the various teaching approaches used by the partner organisations, with particular regard to the structures of education of elder persons in the partner countries (emphasised by a lecture supplying statistical data on the use of the Internet by elderly persons in Europe)
2. The publicity actions in the various partner countries. A detailed review of the work done so far was given
3. The development of strategies for reaching a wider public through
   • making available outside the university the acquired know-how in CT teaching
   • disseminating publicity material and developing and implementing public relations actions (see point 2.)

At the meeting, much of the work was done in teams two partners each, with results being later presented to the plenum.

ad 1. The main subjects of discussion were

University vs non-university educational structures and formal vs. informal approaches.

The programme activities at universities in all the participating countries can be divided into three groups.

• Based and closely related to university structure and regular courses
• Programmes based at universities with some related courses as well as informal and peer teaching
• Programmes outside of universities, with some academic, but primarily informal courses and teaching

Although the support by a university was regarded to be a key factor for success (as this may provide infrastructure such as offices and PC pools, professional tutors and technicians), the university's formal procedures, such as admission formalities, can be elitist, or at least be regarded as such by the public, and thus may put off potential students without academic education. The quality of courses is generally high, but the teaching methods may not always be suitable for the elderly. Innovation and experimentation may not always be easy to implement. A serious problem is the increasing tendency that financing the third age education has to be accomplished through projects. This seriously reduces the continuity.

Non-university systems are better accessible to the wider public and the community through flexibility in selection of courses and the use of peer volunteer tutors who also develop teaching techniques. Here however are problems with financing of the administration and organisation of such activities, getting access to PCs, motivation of the volunteers, and quality controls and continuity.

Use of the Internet by Seniors in Europe - statistical basis (lecture by Erich Regula, Ulm)

An analysis of the use of the Internet by elderly people in Europe (with reference to the projects available in the various countries) has shown some remarkable results :

• The number of the PCs in a certain country does not necessarily correlate with the number Internet users –i.e. some countries (Italy and Spain) provide PCs in public places such as libraries, etc.
• The use of the Internet may not be related to the income, i.e. in some countries with a relatively low income such as Estonia, the Internet use is relatively high.
• The reasons given by elderly people for not using the Internet, such as reduction of social contacts, are often based on lack of information and old prejudices against this media. Needed is a campaign showing the constructive and useful use of the Internet.

ad 2. Publicity material and public relations actions.

All partners have initiated publicity actions to promote their work with the IT and the EuCoNet project.

• Alicante had sent out the new flyer to 52 press and TV media incl. international ones. A very good response was received.
• Bratislava publicised the project through radio and TV interviews, in the university journal and during a meeting of Slovak U3As. The result was an increase in the number of people wanting to join the U3A at Comenius University.
• Prague and Brno were publicising the project through the Association of the U3As which publishes their own Journal. Prague reported that the support from the university and the ministry has increased as a result. Brno reported an increase in the number of people wanting to join their courses.
• Vicenza have published articles in educational journals and in the local press. They publicised the project in the Association of Italian U3As and at a fair on third-age educational projects in Italy.
• Glasgow have designed a publicity flyer which was adopted by all other partners. An article about the project was published in the British Council Socrates Grundtvig journal „NOW“ and in a student newsletter.
• Ulm have publicised the project at numerous educational actions at Ulm and its region. This was done within the framework of educational networks in Germany and abroad (ViLE, LiLL). They also had developed a press release that was also used by other partners.

All partner countries had made contributions to the EuCoNet publicity video and had sent them to Brno and Prague where the first version of the video was prepared. The video was presented at the Alicante meeting and highly applauded.

ad 3. Developing actions for co-operation with the community

Bearing in mind the above mentioned structures and their opportunities and limits, the following actions were already initiated or are in the planning stage:

• Bratislava is working on a extensive plan of actions of co-operation with the community. Steps were taken to give courses at old people's homes. Assessment will be made of available technical equipment at such homes.
• Glasgow has developed an action plan that involves the Members' Club and its journal to bring more people to the university for taking Internet courses. The present Buddy approach is a one-to-one approach, which is slow and for a limited number of persons only. A non-certified course for larger number of people will be developed. Volunteer trainers will be retrained. Evaluation will be made. Actions for teaching in residential homes will be taken.
• Prague want to attract more people through their website and thus make it more appealing to a wider number of public. Their provide advice and teaching in 5 other faculties at the university. A pilot project will be made for teaching outside of the university.
• Alicante are working on a platform MicroCampus for a wider use, where courses will be made available online. They have developed a concrete strategy for reaching European residents living in communities in the area. Inclusion of senior volunteers and peer tutors in their programmes will be considered. Another challenge is the inclusion of disabled people in their programmes. A questionnaire will be made available online in order to assess the educational needs of older people.
• Brno have used special didactic for older people and will develop special individual courses to be offered to wider public.
• Vicenza will spread good practice in IT teaching from Vicenza in the province of Vicenza at the branches of the Institute Nicolo Rezzara. They will train senior tutors to help seniors in the region to communicate with their emigrated relatives and attempt will be made to establish Internet clubs in the area. They will start with 3 clubs. Publicity will be made in the annual meeting of the U3As.
• Ulm will continue with online training such as the AVL and the TVL courses opened to members of public as well as online courses on specific subjects. IT teaching actions in and outside of the university will continue to take place.

Tasks to be done until the next partner meeting in Slovakia

• All partners will start up or continue the listed-above actions for co-operation with the community and report on these in Bratislava
• All partners will continue with the dissemination actions
• A new section on „Marketing“ will be installed on the homepage by Ulm – Alicante will distribute their strategy paper on how to reach new members
• Vicenza will send to Ulm their findings gained within the courses using blended learning (i.e. on English Literature) on working with foreign languages and on buddy learning for the „Methodology“ section on the homepage
• The video will be completed by Brno by June.
• The curriculum and a paper on the methodology for peer teaching will be exchanged between Ulm, Brno and Prague.