Many of you already have a great way of addressing the digital divide and providing intergenerational programs, but here is another program idea if you aren’t already doing it.
Youth Teaching Adults is a program designed for youth volunteer-tutors to teach digital literacy skills to adult learners in a one-on-one workshop environment. Here are some tips if you are thinking about implementing something in your library:
- Is this a need? Do you have willing volunteers?
- Contact you senior patrons, ask them to ask their non-library-using friends. Ask members of senior centers, lodges, homes etc.
- Contact high schools, youth centers, volunteer centers, teen library patrons.
- Create a schedule: determine how often they would like to meet (once a month?) maybe start with a onetime only, and based on feedback gage your repetition.
- Collect registrations via Wufoo or in library (ask perceived knowledge, ask what devices people use, ask what seniors would like to learn).
- Based on registration and knowledge, pair teens and seniors (pairings can change depending on the type of device/knowledge being shared).
- Send out reminders a few days before the program, invite participants to bring their own devices.
Day of:
- Make introductions between pairs, ensure they have all the equipment needed to go over the topic.
- It might be useful to have reminder cards to start off the topics.