Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
CyberSenior: Willow Glen resident Mona Khatami took a computer course in 1995, but says this is her first time working with the Internet. She's excited to have not one, but three, email addresses.
Class offers seniors a chance to master the online world
Library class offers a relaxed setting and personal attention
By Kate Carter
Some senior citizens in Willow Glen are plugging in and logging on. A class at the Willow Glen Branch public library designed just to help seniors get on the Internet and surf the web has been a wild success and has a waiting list of over 20 people, said librarian June Hayashi.
"We offer it to seniors because of the high number of requests from that part of the community," she said. "Once they learn a little bit about it, they're hooked."
The class, Basic Internet for Seniors, started in the fall of last year as a response to demand from local seniors who wanted to learn about the Internet, Hayashi said.
The library provides the free program to seniors in two sessions. A volunteer teaches one class a month to three seniors for two hours on two Saturday mornings.
By the end of the class, students have an introduction to the Internet, have learned to use a search engine and have had the chance to set up their own email accounts.
"The challenge is to address the needs of this group," Hayashi said. "We can see what they're interested in, the senior community. They really have a lot of specific interests and requests."
She said the class focuses on helping seniors become comfortable with the computer equipment and jargon that can be intimidating to people who don't use computers often, or who have never used them before.
The seniors who take the class do so because they want to understand what their children and grandchildren talk about and to not fall behind in what's available to them at their fingertips.
Three Willow Glen women at the library on Nov. 18, shared the two available computers while their instructor, Vikram Rao, helped them get online.
"What I learned in one hour was more than all the classes for five months I went to at the center," said Eileen Crilly. Crilly belongs to a "Cyber Citizens" computer club at the independent living senior housing complex, De Rose Gardens, where she lives. But the club doesn't offer classes on the Internet.
"We need somebody to come and teach us," she said.
Instead, she and her friend Mona Khatami, who also lives at De Rose Gardens and is a member of Cyber Citizens, decided to take the library's class.
They were joined by Patricia Buchser, who said she owns an iMac in her Willow Glen home and has used email before. But she wanted to learn how to search on the Internet and access the information available to her from her own home.
"They're [Macintoshes] advertised that they're user friendly, and I think that maybe they are, but not as user friendly as I need," Buchser said. "The trouble is, people who understand computers very well don't understand how little we know."
The library's class meets the needs of seniors by providing hands-on, personal training tailored to the skill level of the few participants. Students learn basic computer techniques such as using a mouse, as well as Internet terminology during the first hour of each session.
"You hear so much of it today, I don't know what they're talking about," Buchser said. "We come from a different era."
The second hour is devoted to practice on the computer. Buchser was looking for information on a book she was interested in, while Khatami helped Crilly set up an email account.
Rao stood available to help the women and offer suggestions. Rao, a Cisco employee, said he found out about the Internet class on the company's website of volunteer opportunities. He took over teaching the class after the first volunteer left in the summer, and he said he's really enjoyed the work.
"I'm excited to be able to make a difference in someone's life," he said.
Rao said he's worked or played with computers for most of his young life, but he only got online about five years ago.
"In the beginning it was quite confusing, but now I know exactly where I want to go," he said. "I think anyone can do it. There's no reason seniors can't do this. It opens up a lot of new opportunities, to be able to sit at home and get all this information."
He has even helped students interested in buying computers of their own.
"I offer them suggestions about where to look for a computer and what to look for in a computer," he said.
While many of the seniors do have computers at home, librarian Hayashi said they encourage the students to come back to the library to practice their new-found skills where the librarians can answer questions and help them.
The San Jose Public Library system also has an online eBranch website that includes links to websites of interest to seniors. Patrons can also access the library catalog, and order and renew books from the comfort of their own homes.
Seniors, who have difficulty getting out to look up information or who have trouble reading books and newspapers, can have an easier time using the Internet to stay informed.
Angelo DeManti took the library's class and now uses the Internet to stay on top of sports news and to stay connected to the latest listings and sales for his realty business.
Seniors can also stay in touch with friends and family through email. But the women in the Nov. 18 class agreed that talking on the telephone, while often more expensive, was a better way to communicate.
They also acknowledged that some seniors aren't interested in using computers.
"I think that people are just afraid of it," Crilly said. "Maybe they haven't been in the business world for many years."
Although some seniors do appreciate the small size and slow pace of the library's class, others are looking for more. Hayashi said she refers people to the SeniorNet class offered at the Willows Senior Center on Lincoln Avenue.
Ruth Moreno took the library's class, but she still wasn't satisfied.
"It just whet my appetite to learn more," she said. "I was really curious."
So she and her husband Carl each paid the $20 course fee for the five-week class at the center. There they had more time in a larger class to become more familiar with the computer and the Internet.
"They have a lot of information on there and it's amazing what you can look up," Moreno said.
She said they also learned about a free Internet service provider for seniors called Seniors in Free, which they had set up on their new computer at home.
Moreno wasn't convinced she was ready for the Internet, but she is now.
"I fought it for a long time, but now I'm into it," she said. "I'm learning and I'm fascinated."
To sign up for the Willow Glen Branch library Basic Internet for Seniors class, call 408.998.2053. For more information about library Internet services, visit www.sjpl.lib.ca.us. To sign up for the Willows Senior Center SeniorNet class, call 408.448.6400. For more information about SeniorNet, visit www.SNLCSJ.org.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
