URI program to improve digital competency, engage generations earns national recognition

Cyber-Seniors matches URI students with older adults for tech education, intergenerational companionship

KINGSTON, R.I. — Feb. 17, 2025 — A University of Rhode Island program intended to “bridge the technology and generational gap” as students help teach older adults to use technological devices has received national recognition from Generations United, a non-profit organization that aims to improve the lives of children and older adults through intergenerational collaboration.

The organization has named URI’s Engaging Generations: Cyber-Seniors a “program of distinction,” listing it among “an elite class of intergenerational programs that demonstrate excellence in bringing together people of different ages for mutual benefit and positive impact.” URI professor and Cyber-Seniors Principal Investigator Skye Leedahl plans to accept the award at the organization’s international conference in June.

The Engaging Generations: Cyber-Seniors program, based on URI’s Kingston Campus, aims to increase digital competency in older adults while also bringing the gap between generations. The program pairs older adults with URI students to provide training and technical support they need to access online resources, work and meet remotely, and virtually communicate with family and friends. Dozens of students from multiple disciplines—including human development and family science, public health, communicative disorders, and more—travel each week throughout the state to meet older adults in senior centers, libraries, and housing developments to provide technology training on their devices, as well as intergenerational companionship.

“URI Cyber-Seniors continues to be a mutually beneficial experience across the generations,” said Leedahl, department chair and professor of human development and family science. “Students are building communications skills, life skills, and getting the opportunity to share what they know and what they’ve learned, which can boost their confidence on their academic journey. For older adults, it helps them feel part of the digital world. They appreciate being around the students, who help them find information, apps and programs that can enrich their lives. Programs like this really opens doors for them.”

The program is moving into a new phase, providing support specifically for health-related technology, thanks to a new grant from the Rhode Island Office of Healthy Aging. URI Cyber-Seniors is partnering with the Rhode Island Adaptive Telephone Equipment Loan Program, which provides digital devices for qualified individuals. URI students from various health disciplines will provide training and tech support at facilities such as IN-SIGHT, and AskRI, as well as various libraries and senior centers around the state.

The new phase further expands the reach of Cyber-Seniors, which has shown statistically significant improvements in older adults’ digital competence, technology use, and quality of life, and in strengthening social bonds, according to a study conducted by Leedahl’s team. The URI program has helped participants feel more connected to their communities, increase contact with family and friends, and generally improve their feelings of well-being and overall health.

In previous work, Leedahl and colleagues found participants’ use of technology, as well as their digital competence and comfort level using the devices, increased significantly after being in the program. More than 76 percent of participants reported daily usage of an iPad after having previously never used such a device. Their competence levels—especially using video calls, obtaining information from public authorities or public services, seeking health information, and being able to participate in a telehealth appointment—improved significantly. Many reported feeling less isolated and less lonely after learning how to connect via the devices.

“It has helped me because now I can be involved with other people who are using the tablet or the phone and be in the conversation,” one participant quoted in the study reported. “Before, I just had to sit there, and I didn’t know anything was going on. Now, I can participate.”

“It actually has impacted my mental wellbeing because with FaceTime, I have a friend, my best friend who lives far away, and I was able to see her for the first time in two years. That made me feel really good,” another participant said.

Overall, most participants felt Cyber-Seniors prepared them to utilize the devices, and access online resources on their own. Still, many expressed a desire to continue with the training program to further expand their knowledge and maintain the new connections they’ve established.

“The program provides students meaningful service-learning experience and helps improve digital inclusion among the older population,” Leedahl said. “It is unique in that it meets an important community need for older adults while also building career readiness skills for future professionals. Both generations learn from each other, and they seem to have fun, too!”