Digital Seniors - Austria | Digital Skills and Jobs Platform

The "Digital Seniors" initiative is a service point, designed and operated by the non-profit association ÖIAT (Austrian Institute for Applied Telecommunications). Its aim is to promote improved access to the benefits of digitalisation to all Austrian citizens, and especially older people. The initiative is set in the context of the digital transition and its rapid transformation of economy and society. As such, "Digital Seniors" is a focal point for teaching and learning activities, adapted and tailored to fit seniors' learning purposes and goals.

In this sense, another objective is to make more information available on the various opportunities, both trending and emerging, targeting older people, that have the potential to shape lives, improve day-to-day operations, and facilitate participation in social life and public activities. Active since 2017, the project aims to raise awareness of the importance in developing adult education in Austria further, through a range of tailored skill-building projects and initiatives in the field of digital education for seniors.

Main contents of this programme

The variety of materials aims to make digitalisation tangible for everyone, and offer an excellent resource to support teaching and learning activities in educational institutions, teachers, and trainers.

Free training material in various formats

Learning and training content is available in a range of formats, including:

Brochures, or guides for coaches and documents that help older people use the internet and digital media safely.
Factsheets – infographics and illustrations that provide an overview on a specific topic for seniors, who want to improve their digital skills.
Presentations – can be used by coaches and educational institutions for senior teaching and learning in the field of digitalisation.
Explanatory videos and quizzes – bite-sized, informative videos allow learners to acquire new knowledge and then consolidate it in a playful way via a quiz or a game.
Step-by-step guides – guidance on particular aspects relevant for seniors, such as 'reporting fraudulent advertising’, ‘setting up digital protection’ and ‘verifying files for viruses’.
Update service – opportunities for coaches and educators to further their own training via training materials for direct use and training on key digital topics.

Course - digital skills for senior citizens

Part of the programme is the "Senior Trainer for Digital Everyday Skills" course, one of the many courses in a repository of training materials and workshops for seniors, who want to upgrade their digital skills. The Digital Seniors online course is designed and developed educators and teachers with experience of working with older groups, and especially people over the age of 60, as well as senior coaches in basic digital skills and targets IT and digital coaches, adult educators, teachers specialising in educating those over the age of 60, education managers and others.

Made up of 90 teaching sessions, course participants need to attend at least 80% of the course and hand in homework to receive a certificate of completion. The training programme, and online course are supported by the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs.

Course Awards

The ‘Digital Senior Education’ label is used to reward educational opportunities offered by a variety of providers if they meet certain criteria related to relevance and quality. Educational opportunities can be awarded if they address primarily seniors, stimulate learning via the use of digital media, are offered on a permanent or rolling basis, and have had a market presence of at least one year.

The education award is supported by the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection. Participating students also have access to guides and supporting materials, such as the ‘Compendium of criteria for teaching and learning adapted to senior and seniors with digital technologies’, which contains a checklist, a guide to reference one's work and a place to brainstorm ideas.

Workshops

The Service Centre of Digital Seniors provides free advice to organisations, associations and businesses that help people access digital media in adulthood. In doing so, they assist in the development, planning and implementation of workshops in the context of digital education for the elderly.

Know-how

Know-how is disseminated in the form of numerous free online publications. Studies, checklists, factsheets and info, as well as tips on teaching and learning with digital technologies are available to support learning for a wide range of purposes.

Why is this a good practice?

Digital Seniors is an excellent example of targeted and tailored action to promote digital education among seniors in Austria. The initiatives makes various training materials available and accessible to Austrian seniors free of charge, and accompanied by a quality label (certification), additional lessons, and online publications on key topics to strengthen older people's digital literacy levels. The Federal Ministry of Austria's support underpins the relevance of this initiative at national level, and contributes to ensuring its sustainability and future continuation.