EVALUATION OF A COURSE ABOUT INTERNET FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the learning of Senior Citizens after a face-to-face course with the goal of teaching them how to use the internet. The study population was composed of people (n=18), of both genders, aged 50 years or over, from the open university for Senior Citizens UNATI (“Universidade Aberta da Terceira Idade” in Portuguese) at Araraquara. Two hour classes weekly were taught in the computer laboratory - LDI in Portuguese located in the School of Dentistry in Araraquara. The course program content covered the use of e-mail and researches in sites. In order to evaluate the learning acquired, a self-evaluation questionnaire was applied in twice (before and after the course), which enabled the development of students concerning their knowledge and skill in the topics approached in classes. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. The average performance of participants was calculated per point and interval of confidence of 95% (IC95%) in the beginning and in the end of the course. Comparison between the averages was performed by using the paired Student’s-t test. The level of significance adopted was 5%. It was observed that the students’ learning about computer use improved significantly after the course (Student’s-t test: -5.360, p<0.001, ?p2=0.628, ?=0,999), however, 72.2% of them reported that they did not know how to attach a file to a message to be sent by e-mail, as well as having no or little skill to perform this activity. It was concluded that the evaluated course improved the participants knowledge and skills in computer use.