At Rural Libraries, Young and Old Connect to Learn and Teach Digital Literacy Skills

Roxana Ryan
Published: December 20, 2012
Related to: Southeast Central eTeam

Effingham Library’s “Connecting Generations” Program Matches Teens and Seniors for Computer Training

DECEMBER 20, 2012 – Nancy lives in an assisted living community and wants to learn how to use Skype to keep up with her out-of-state family. Makayla is smart, tech-savvy and goes to a high-school school that requires community service hours for each student. Both are meeting their needs thanks to the Connecting Generations program at Helen Matthes Library in Effingham.

Started as a pilot program this Fall, Connecting Generations pairs caring, computer-savvy students from regional high schools with residents of local senior centers who are eager to gain digital literacy skills. They meet once a week, in one-hour sessions, at Helen Matthes Library. Seniors received personalized, one-on-one training sessions that help them gain confidence in using the internet, their laptops and software programs.  Seniors get to pick the topic (Skype, word processing, search engines, etc.) and work at their own pace. Meanwhile, students gain leadership and teaching skills, boost their resumes and become more familiar with their local library.

At Nancy’s training session, she brought her own laptop, webcam and lots of cords and cables.

“I’m not sure what to do with all this,” she said. “My son got me a computer for Christmas, so we could use Skype to talk. I know how to log in, but I don’t know what to do with the camera.”

Makayla unpackaged the webcam and gave Nancy a tour of Skype.

“The side of the computer has all sorts of ports. The webcam goes in to this USB port. You have to plug it in here and point the camera towards you,” she explained. By the end of the session, Nancy was a video-conferencing expert.

Connecting Generations is one of 14 awardees of the Illinois Broadband Innovation Fund, a new internet adoption and usage grant program facilitated by Broadband Illinois. The project is collaboration between Lake Land College, the local University of Illinois Extension offices, East Central Illinois Development Corporation and Helen Matthes Library. Award funding will be used to expand the project to other rural libraries, targeting senior centers, nursing homes and high-school students who need service hours.

To learn more about the Broadband Innovation Fund, visit www.broadbandillinois.org/innovation.

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