Berlin speech
Intergenerational & e-learning.
Hello. I can tell you loads about intergenerational learning. I have been doing it all my life. I was very ill when I was little and only went to school for 5 years. I owe my love of learning to my grandmother who made me, a dyslexic, want to read. Dyslexia had not been invented then! My gran and I had such fun. Sometimes my bed was a pirate ship; we sailed the world. I learnt about geography & how people lived in other countries. Sometimes my bed was a princess’s throne. I learnt about history & how people lived in ‘the olden days’.
Grandparents are a source of information & fun. They have been teaching & telling stories to their grandchildren since time began. Many of them need & want to learn more about the new technologies that our children and grandchildren take for granted. It is both a source of great pride & shame that Oscar, my 10 year old grandson, can create a power-point presentation – after telling me that power-point is So last year grandma. I don’t know how to create a power-point presentation.
It is time I learnt or perhaps better that I learn what is So this year! I am your target market. I am a 67 year old great granny. I have 7 grandchildren & a little great grandson. When I said ‘I was not sure I was ready to be a great granny!’ Oscar piped up – you always have been.
My way of helping children learn is, as my grandmother’s was, to make learning fun.
To quote Mary Poppins ‘In every job that must be done there is an element of fun, so find the fun & then the job is done’. I, like countless generations before me, read stories to my children and grandchildren. I would then bring the stories to life, as my grandmother had with me, by creating games & activities associated with the story. Confusus said what I read – I forget. What I see – I remember. What I do I understand.
One day (I did not realise it at the time) I was given a wonderful opportunity. I was made redundant. I had loved my work with disabled people creating work opportunities, seeking ways to integrate them fully into society; focusing on ability not disability. The funding ran out & my job came to an end. I admit that I wasted a couple of years by being very angry & crying. Then one morning I woke up and realised that – I was not redundant. A chapter of my life had ended. It was time to move on & do what I loved doing, writing stories for children.
Now I write fun educational books. At the back of my books there is our unique Learn with Grandma holistic educational programme; partly based on the way my grandma taught me. The objective is to make learning fun and memorable. Another quote, this time from the Bible, Psalm 78 ‘Explain mysteries from the past, things we have heard and known. Things that our fathers told us’.
What I do I understand. Now at the beginning of the 21centary, for this first time in all those many generation since the book of Psalms was written, the young are not saying you don’t understand me. They are saying you don’t understand. There is a new comprehension gap between the young and the old. The comprehension gap of those who are growing up with the new technologies & cannot understand why what, to them are accepted facts, are a source of wonder to people of my generation.
Neither can they understand why, what to them is so simple, the older generation struggle to learn & to catch up. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of older people are learning the new technologies. I know of a lady of 88 who sends email. Older people spend more time surfing the net than younger people. Travel companies realise this & gear some of their advertising to this lucrative market. But I still find it amazing that I can access all the knowledge in the world. That whatever I want to learn in available at home in my little cottage in a tiny village in the Welsh hills.
I can research my books; correspond with people all over the world at the click of my mouse. It has all happened so fast. It staggers me. The young don’t find it amazing. It is normal. For them this is the way it has always been. How are we to encourage the older generation, like me, who want to be part of this world of information but struggle to understand? In every generation there are Luddites who resist change. Currently there are people in their 40’s who don’t want to know. They see no need to tap into the wonderful resource that modern technology offers. We don’t have to force them. They will either see the light or live in happy ignorance until this generation has past away.
Educationalists are beginning to realise that people of my age are a resource. In the UK over 60% of grandparents care for their grandchildren on a regular basis, because of our Learn with Grandma Programme, I am becoming an ‘expert’ on Intergenerational Learning & asked to speak at conferences like this. Intergenerational Learning is a buzz in education – as is e-learning. I have come to Berlin as much to learn as to show you opportunities & to find international partners for a Grundvig application based on Intergenerational & e-learning.
It was not until I started writing what I would say today that I realised that I am an e-learner. I use the internet all the time for research. The series that I am currently working on is a pan European history that progresses from The Ice Age to The
Roman Empire. The series will end with The Welsh Empress of Rome. Yes there was a Welsh Empress of Rome – Princess Elen, wife of Magnus Maximus. I found out about her on the internet! I found virtually all the facts in my books via the internet & I found the experts who could verify those facts for me – via the internet.
It is not necessary that I learn how a computer works. I drive but don’t understand an internal combustion engine. What older people need is to understand the capabilities of the new technologies, so that we can pass knowledge on to the older generation in a format that simple & easy enough for them to understand.
As the young embrace modern technology, we are in danger of losing ancient skills. I want the young to see older people as a source of information & fun. The time is right. We are partners in a successful Gundvig application for EU funding. The funders know us & have approved our intergenerational concept in principal. We are now seeking more partners for a new bid to create new course disks that will help the older generation understand the capabilities of the new technology. To enable them to fulfil the instructions in Psalm 78 – to pass on the wisdom of our ancestors – in a format that is acceptable & comprehensible to younger generations. If you are interested in joining a partnership application, see me after class!