Teaching seniors the technology ropes

This new age of technology has been booming at an incredible rate. It can be hard for even the most technologically savvy to keep up. For an older population, these growth spurts can be happening too fast to understand.  Dick Landry, 82, of Warwick, saw an opportunity to help the situation.

After retirement, Landry found that he had a lot of free time on his hands.  He uses that time to take free classes and research topics of interest, but he wanted to do something for the community.

“I wanted to give back,” said Landry. “I love the classroom and I love teaching.”

Landry approached Kathleen Bennett for the chance to volunteer at the center. Bennett is the Pilgrim Senior Center Manager and Activities Program Director. Landry has experience with computers and had been a teacher for 33 years, so a computer learning class was the perfect fit.

“He has been such a blessing for the center,” said Bennett.

The class started this summer. At first, there was only one class meeting weekly. Landry built a syllabus to focus all the different aspects of a computer, from turning it on and changing the wallpaper to Google searches and “cut and paste.”  From there, the interest grew to the point that a beginner class was added to supplement the intermediate students.

The intermediate class works on challenges like “copy and paste” or “drag and drop,”while the beginner class focuses on computer lingo and the basic functions of a computer. For all students, Landry makes sure they know how to download free antivirus software to protect themselves. 

“When computers first came out, I was teaching others,” said one student. “Now, my six-year-old grandson is teaching me!”

There are computers in the Pilgrim Internet Lounge at the Pilgrim Senior Center, but students are encouraged to bring in their own computers to learn how to maintain and better use the computer.

Some students might not even know how to turn a computer on, but they learn quickly. Two students, Dave and Harry, were a part of the original class. When Dave first started out, he was a complete newbie. Even though they are in the intermediate class now, they still come to the beginner’s class to help out and review.

“I wanted to learn about computers because I can’t communicate with anyone anymore,” says Dave.

“When you get older, it’s hard to connect,” continued Harry. “Technology helps with that.”

The group gave themselves the name “The Geek Gang” and surprised Bennett by having custom t-shirts made. On the back of the white shirt is a yellow triangle with a black exclamation point in the middle. Computer users will recognize that this symbol means there is an error.

“We used symbol because it sums up our group,” explains Landry. “When you have a problem, we work together to try and figure it out.”

One of Landry’s future goals is to teach students how to move photos from a camera onto a backup storage to ensure that family pictures are always safe.

“It’s important that my students are able to take this information and apply it to everyday life,” said Landry. “But most important is that we have fun.”

Groups at the Pilgrim Senior Center are free of charge for members. To become a member, there is an annual $5 fee for Warwick residents and $7 for non-residents. The intermediate class is on Tuesday’s from 10 a.m. to noon, and the beginner’s class is Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

For all students, Landry’s most important lesson is that “there are no silly questions except the ones you don’t ask.”