Intergenerational Gaming
Fee: $75 for those in the California library community and Infopeople Partners, $150 for all others.
(An Infopeople Online Learning Course)
June 16, 2009 – July 20, 2009
Are you staying ahead of the game at your library? You may be offering gaming programs for kids and teens but missing opportunities to involve older adults in the fun…and learning.
All over the U.S., libraries are discovering the benefits of intergenerational gaming programs. Connecting young people with older adults, gaming programs actively engage young minds and keep aging minds young and engaged. These programs recognize the popularity of gaming with teens and the demographics of the "baby boomer cohort" and its impact on all parts of society. It's a profoundly social experience where experts and novices come together to learn from each other.
In this course, experienced gamer and library programmer Kelly Czarnecki will help you:
- Understand how gaming is developmentally appropriate for teens and older adults
- Generate ideas for intergenerational gaming programs
- Develop talking points about your programs targeted to potential funders.
- Identify elements that make an intergenerational gaming program successful
When you complete the course you'll have a "game plan" for starting intergenerational gaming at your library, with funding and marketing strategies, evaluation tools, and tips from expert library programmers
Workshop Description: In this online course you will explore ideas for intergenerational gaming programs that bring teens and older adults together. Starting with age-appropriate outcomes, you'll develop a plan for a gaming program at your library, look at spaces and equipment, identify funding sources, create marketing tools, and figure out how to measure success, sustain and expand the program.
During the course, you will be reading background materials and case studies, completing assignments and participating in online discussion forums. The instructor will provide resources, best practices, and useful tips and techniques that can be applied immediately.
Online meetings during the course will provide opportunities to hear:
- Jan Perrier, Roxbury Public Library in New Jersey, talk about her popular class, "Wii for Seniors: Beat Your Grandchildren."
- Maddie Siegel describe the intergenerational gaming programs at the Peters Township Public Library in Pennsylvania.
- Allan Kleiman, former Senior Spaces manager at Old Bridge Public Library, now a library consultant, share his experiences with intergenerational gaming and focus on success and sustainability.
Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:
- Week One: Gaming and Libraries
- Historical context
- "Brain fitness" in teens and boomers
- Developmentally appropriate gaming
- Week Two: Bringing the Generations Together
- What makes these programs different
- Characteristics of successful programs
- Planning, promoting and implementing
- Week Three: Internal and External Funding
- Identifying funding sources
- Short term planning
- Longer term funding
- Week Four: Evaluation and Expansion
- Case studies from successful libraries
- Ways to measure success
- Expansion and sustainability
- Use of volunteers
Who Should Take This Course: Anyone from the library community with an interest in intergenerational gaming, connecting teens (ages 12-18) and older adults (ages 55 and up). Those responsible for library programs will find this course especially helpful and interesting.
Course Start: This 4-week-long online learning course starts on June 16, 2009.
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