Hello and welcome to Jack's senior capstone website!

I received this great opportunity from Mrs. Mongellier back in March, who forwarded me an email from Mr. Wilde of the retirement community. I was too contact the lifestyle director, Allyson Stiffler, however, since she was just about to leave I had to wait for her replacement. It took a few months to finally set up a meeting with the new lifestyle director, Liz Meyers, but I finally did in June. She is my mentor for the project, and you can contact her via email: [email protected]

I planned to teach a class, so I asked if there was a room with a projector. I was told that there is a theater at the community, so I was excited to know that I could create a presentation for the residents so that everyone could see and follow along with what was on the big screen. I looked around online for a presentation for those looking for an introduction to the ipad, but I couldn't find anything near satisfactory so I made a 30 page slideshow myself from scratch. I also had Liz print it so the residents could use it afterwards.

Day 1 (June 26)

From the outset I presented in the theater there and had everyone sit in the front row so I could easily assist them if need be. I ended up having to individually help people at least half of the time, which was something I anticipated considering the age of the residents, however, many of the residents asked for personal help on unrelated problems during the course of my presentation. I helped out most of the time, but as I was hoping around from person to person, sometimes I had to stop helping someone in-between tasks to help someone else. After my first session I was questioning whether my strategy was effective and whether it was what the residents wanted. It seemed as each half wanted me to do something different; one wanted me to exclusively help them with their own problems, while the other wanted to learn new skills from the presentation and was frustrated when I took too long to help out a specific individual. It was one of the most confounding dilemmas I have faced in a project because even after pondering over the ideal solution it just didn't come to me.

In between the first two sessions I helped out individuals within their own residences with computer problems. For the first person, I helped him following my first session and spent much longer than I anticipated (2 hours, although he probably would have liked to keep me for many more). I helped him set up maps on his computer and showed him how to print them, as well as pair his phone to his car via Bluetooth, showed him how to play music off of his phone and set up his computer so he could rip CDs without having to press a button.

Day 2 (July 11)

As for the second person, I spent 30 minutes with him before my second session, but was unable to fix the issue he was having. It had to do with not getting internet access even though he was connected to the WiFi, which I believe was the result of his residence being far from the center of the building, which I believe the router is located, as well as some other factors I was unsure about. I had never encountered this specific situation before so I was unfortunately unable to solve his problem. Liz told me afterwards that internet access was very important to him because he was working on a WWII memorial project online in which many veterans submitted stories about themselves during that period of history.

During my second lesson, I almost finished my presentation. I focused on features of the iPad such as the Camera and Notes. I went to each individual constantly to make sure everyone was on the same page and didn't get lost. I still hadn't felt as though I'd conquered the problem I'd had earlier of individual learning vs. communal learning, as one of the residents criticized me for focusing to much on individual people and not my planned presentation.

Day 3 (July 18)

On the third lesson we had a table in the theater. This made it a lot easier to make sure everyone was getting the message vs. having everyone in a line and having to run across the room every minute to help everyone. This time I finally finished the presentation and helped the residents learn some of the other applications on their iPads, such as email and FaceTime. I got several of the residents to FaceTime family members, so now they can finally initiate calls instead of always having to be the other way around. The residents thanked me for teaching them.

Lesson 4 (August 2)

On the fourth lesson there were only 2 people so we sat by a table outside of the theater in the main hallway. I installed several apps for them, done for entertainment and some to train the brain. The two residents did not really enjoy the brain games but did seem to like the entertainment applications such as an old time radio app (which included radio shows) and Youtube Music where I showed them how to search for music like Frank Sinatra (everyone likes Frank Sinatra!), as well as some of the OSU marching band performances.

Day 5, final day (August 8)

On the fifth day no one was there when I first arrived at two o'clock, which may have been due to the event listed as a "General technology help session" on the calendar. I asked Liz what I could do and she told me that some of the residents in wheelchairs really like playing Wii bowling in the theater but wanted to know how to save their records. I showed her the Mii avatar creation process, and then she invited two residents in to try it out themselves. While she was fetching the residents, a resident came in and asked a few questions about her phone which I helped her with. The three came back, and then a guy in a pirate outfit came in. Apparently he was there to entertain the residents. He told some pirate trivia (some of which I knew, some of which I just learned) and then a story of how he talked to an eight-year-old. Only, after he did, someone came up to him and asked him, "How did you do that? That kid was a nonverbal autistic. We have a hard time taking to him." The pirate responded that he just treated the boy like any normal eight-year-old.

I helped the two residents create their own Miis and then we played bowling for a bit, until one of those residents had an appointment to go to. I said my goodbyes to the two residents and Liz and made my way out of the building knowing that the work I did in there helped those people. I'm glad I got the opportunity to assist and teach such fine residents in an unorthodox yet helpful way, and participate in such a meaningful and fulfilling experience. Helping those who find it difficult to help themselves pays back in a way that cannot be acurately nor completely described in words. I feel as though I've grown and become a greater person by giving back to my community.

Timelog
Date	Hours worked
6/27	4
7/11	2.5
7/18	1.5
8/2	2
8/8	2
4 hours spent making presentation
5 hours spent making website
Total	21