Students received a warm welcome from Maria Rolfini, School, Public Education and Equal Opportunities Councilor for the Town of Cento (Ferrara), who defined the Pane e Internet per Nonni e Nipoti Project as “an exchange of love, competence and experience.” 

Agostina Betta, Regione Emilia Romagna Manager pointed out that “only 51% of residents in Emilia Romagna use the Internet. Starting in 2009, the Region increased its effort to expand the use of new technology to access information and equal opportunity services via the web. School is certainly one of the best placed to raise awareness on this as our students were born with this technology.”

The Pane e Internet per nonni e nipoti Project (Bread and Internet for Grandparents and Grandchildren) is promoted by the Emilia Romagna Region and successfully implements the intergenerational literacy model developed by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale. Young school students tutor the over-sixties in the use of computers and other new technologies.

Mirta Michilli, Director General of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, points out that the fundamental elements of this project are “inclusion, technology, education and school.”  These elements are the ingredients of the debate on the “Feed Generation: how can we aggregate generations?” moderated by Radio and TV show host Federico Taddia. The audience is an active protagonist in this debate. Students, elders and teachers recount their experiences and interview Alfonso Molina, Professor of Technology Strategy at the University of Edinburgh and Scientific Director of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.

“I belong to the category of the digitally unfortunate,” Taddia explains “my computer was a Commodore 64, my first mobile looked like a soap bar and my favourite videogame was Tetris. Fortunately, working as a journalist I have been luck enough to understand new technology. Today, technology is a tool that brings generations closer and allows inter-contamination. It allows 18 and 80 year olds to meet and interact as peers.”  ”

The debate raised stimuli, doubts and curiosity. Audience participation included Alessandro (IIS Bassi Burgatti Cento), Fabio (IIs Aldini Valeriani Bologna), Gianluca (IIS Belluzzi-Fioravanti Bologna) and many other students, too. Why have you chosen us as teachers? Can elders keep up with such rapidly evolving technology? Can over–sixties become technology junkies?

“We have to stimulate students to develop life skills – learning to communicate, be responsible and resolve problems – elements that may sometimes be overlooked at school. Even elders must learn to keep active throughout the course of their life," Alfonso Molina emphasised.

Some elders ask the tutors for assistance on specific issues: for example, on the management of on-line bank accounts. Some questions even manage stumping the students: what is Facebook really for?

“The students have been better teachers than the teachers,” exclaims a lady in the audience. And so Grandparents on the Internet continues …