Abstract:

The aim of our paper is to inform about the possible way of implementing educational activities at universities of the third age in the period of a pandemic through the example of a specific public university in the Czech Republic. Universities of the Third Age are one of the most well-known forms of senior education and have a tradition of almost forty years throughout Europe. In the Czech Republic, they have been organized since 1986 and are implemented at all public universities. These institutions are attended by about 60,000 seniors a year.

Senior education contributes with its positive effects to the maintenance of mental and physical strength, activates and stimulates interests, maintains communication and social contacts, etc. The educational offer and its content usually focuses on areas dominated by the university that organizes the university of the third age. This offer includes almost all disciplines from natural sciences, technology to humanities and art. The offer of educational activities also includes courses focused on information and communication technologies, where seniors learn to work with various hardware and software and use it in everyday life. However, the vast majority of educational activities at universities of the third age take place in personal form. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major problems for these institutions in this regard.

The first goal of the paper is to present the results of a survey conducted among the participants, the aim of which was to find out to what extent they are or are not interested in an online form of teaching. The survey was also focused on finding out whether seniors are equipped with the necessary technology for online teaching (notebook, PC, etc.) or whether they would use the offer of IT consultations. The survey was conducted by means of an electronic questionnaire and was answered by 451 seniors (approximately 50 % of all). The survey showed that 98 % of students own IT technology for online learning and that 60 % of them are interested in this way of teaching.

The second goal of the paper is to describe how information and communication technologies were used to ensure the implementation of educational activities at the University of the Third Age of a particular university in the Czech Republic. Various technical solutions and platforms were considered. It was essential that this form be as accessible to seniors as possible. In the end, we decided to teach online in the form of live broadcasts via an Internet channel. This method is very successful and then also chat has been added to it.

The paper generally describes what specific technical solution was found, what preceded this decision and what technical problems had to be solved. The paper also contains selected specific statements of seniors and their reactions or responses to this way of implementing a university of the third age during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords:

Universities of the third age, information and communication technologies, pandemic COVID-19.