Abstract:

As Europe’s population ages, the prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other dementias is going to increase substantially over the next 20 years. Organisations like The Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI), a national non-profit, work to support people living with dementia by offering a range of services including training for family carers. Given the nature and demands of family caring where availability to attend weekly training sessions can be a challenge, innovative ways to support the knowledge and education needs of this group need to be explored.

In response to this challenge the ASI a large national community sector organisation is in the process of developing Online Learning for family carers in Ireland through the international Erasmus + programme. This paper will outline the evolution and first stage implementation of the project which involves partnership working with organisations in Norway and Belgium. The project aims to develop an online course for family members caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or other dementias as well as a Quality Framework guide to support organisations that want to deliver the course.

This is the first paper in a series that will document in real-time the aims and experiences of implementing a three-organisation partnership, and the key decisions relating to the objectives and methodology of the project will be outlined. These include demonstrating the need for the project to funders; how to develop in-house educational technology expertise within ASI; pedagogical challenges of transferring a face-to-face course into an online environment and how to host and deliver the online course. A research strategy is an important aspect of the project, and the rationale and methodology will be enunciated.
The paper should be of interest to individuals and organisations in the community sector, educational institutions working in partnership with community sector organisations, educational technologists, social care professionals and organisations aiming to support people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias.

Keywords:

Lifelong learning, collaborative working, educational research, e-learning, technology enhanced learning, Alzheimer’s, Dementia.