About us: Learning Digital Together is a fledgling social enterprise based on PhD research undertaken by Sandra Flynn that investigated modes of learning support for digital skills development amongst older adults in Ireland.
Meet the founder: Sandra is a project management professional and educator who retired from industry in 2017 to pursue a PhD in the social gerontology field of older adults and digital literacy. She completed her thesis in June 2023 with the title ‘Ireland and the lifelong learning curve: The intergenerational contribution to digital literacy for life.’
Our vision: By 2030, create an Ireland where all older adults who wish to improve their skills to participate in the digital economy and digital society, can do so with the support of an informal learning exchange, facilitated in their local communities.
Our mission: To support older adults with development and maintenance of the necessary skills to participate in a world that is becoming increasingly digitalised. We do this by providing a social framework to facilitate informal peer and intergenerational learning exchanges in local communities.
Our values: We believe that lifelong learning is from cradle to grave. We understand that digital literacy skills may not always be easy to keep up with. We aim to support collaborative learning together in a social, informal environment.
Our pilot
Digital Drop-In was a pilot initiative supported by the Ideas Academy of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland that aimed to provide an informal social environment where older adults could come together to enhance their digital skills through facilitated peer and intergenerational learning.
Arising from PhD research, Digital Drop-In was the first project from social enterprise, Learning Digital Together that took place in Skibbereen Community School during Autumn 2023.
Supported by a small team of enthusiastic Transition Year students, our informal workshops helped guide older adult participants through each step of what they wanted to learn, gaining the skills and confidence needed to maintain develop individual digital literacy skills.
For an overview of the pilot project please watch the slide presentation below presented at the Open Education Research conference held at Munster Technological University, Cork in March 2024.
Photos courtesy of Centre for Ageing Better positive image library.
Sandra Flynn 