UVic Students Help Seniors Navigate The Web

University of Victoria computer science students are teaching seniors how to use the Internet. The program, which began in January 2008, offers free training for people who are 60 years of age or older. Participants learn the basic skills for navigating the net and using email —allowing them to keep in touch with loved ones and share photos. Accessing search engines, news and banking may also be covered. The course has already been taught four times to great acclaim from the participants.
“When we started we weren't sure if anyone would show up. In the end we had to turn away over 100 people,” says course instructor Warren Shenkenfelder. “Seeing the demand, it was a unanimous decision to run the course again.” The next offering is scheduled for October 2008 and will include four one-and-a-half-hour classes on Fridays (October 10, 17, 24, 31) from noon to 1:30 p.m. in room 348 of the Engineering/Computer Science Building. To register, download and complete the registration form at http://webhome.csc.uvic.ca/~csvp/forms/participants.pdf and email it to jwong@cs.uvic.ca. The form can also be faxed to 250-472-5708.
According to Statistics Canada the number of seniors who had Internet access in their households has increased seven-fold in the period from 1994 to 2004. “Given the ever growing interest seniors are displaying for using the Internet to keep in touch with loved ones, myself and all the volunteers are really excited and honoured to be helping even more people enjoy computers,” says Wong.

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