Over 250 Senior Volunteers To Teach Fellow Seniors On Smartphone Skills
More than 1,000 seniors will pick up smartphone skills through workshops jointly organised by People’s Association (PA) and NTUC U Live volunteers.
To help seniors grasp the basics of smartphone usage and skills through first hand learning, the People’s Association (PA) Active Ageing Council and NTUC U Live will jointly launch the “Get Active with Smartphone” workshop on Saturday, 4 March 2017. This is a series of five smartphone workshops supported by Infocomm and Media Development Authority and SingTel. The workshops to be held in English or Mandarin will be conducted from March 2017 to March 2018. Mr Heng Chee How, Senior Minister of State, Prime Minister’s Office, will be joining the seniors at the first workshop on Saturday, 4 March 2017.
Whether it is to learn how to use a smartphone, navigate on mobile applications or check their data usage, seniors will not only pick up these basic smartphone skills at the workshops, but also learn useful mobile applications such as Google Map and MyTransport. These will be conducted by an existing pool of 250 tech-savvy seniors made up of PA Silver Infocomm Wellness Ambassadors (SIWAs) and NTUC U Live Cyberguides. Each workshop will be conducted by one volunteer trainer and facilitated by 50 other senior volunteers, and each workshop targets to reach out to some 200 seniors
Through this first partnership with NTUC U Live, the PA Wellness Programme which aims to enrich the lives of our seniors in the community through lifelong learning as well as volunteerism initiatives would be further enhanced to bring a varied learning and sharing experience, for both the senior volunteer trainers and participants. With the cessation of the 2G Mobile Network from 1 April 2017 onwards, this collaboration is also timely to help seniors adapt to the change. The volunteers hope to not only impart the basic smartphone skills, but also to inspire fellow seniors who have been trained to step up and return as a volunteer to help others in the future.
Mr Ho Hew Lee, 74-year old, one of the PA Silver Infocomm Wellness Ambassadors conducting the workshop shares, “Many seniors are enthusiastic learners and want to experience using a smartphone to take photos or to connect with their loved ones online. Sometimes it is hard for them to learn from their family members who may not have the time or the patience to guide them. As a senior myself, I can better understand and relate to the challenges a senior learner will face. Seniors will take a longer time to learn the new skill, hence, it is very important that we create a comfortable environment and encourage the seniors to ask questions, when in doubt.”
“Technology has become an integral part of society that using a smartphone is no longer a hobby or interest, it has become a necessity. Being able to use technology with ease allows seniors to stay relevant and remain employable. With these skills, older employees can be more productive in the workforce, and will be more confident when using technology. I believe that as we age, we should continue to be socially active and contribute to society whenever possible,” said Mr Francis Chiang, 64-year old, one of the NTUC U Live Cyberguides who will be facilitating the next training in July 2017.