Dr. Lenny Shedletsky, Professor of Communication, just published an article in the Journal of Intergenerational Relationship (Volume 10, Issue 4, 2012). The practice-based article entitled “Undergraduates Mentoring Older Adults: Breaking Stereotypes” explores perceptions undergraduates develop about older adults after mentoring them.
As part of a course on intergenerational communication, undergraduate students mentored older learners on basic Internet skills. The older learners were taking an eight-week long course in a lifelong learning institute for people 50 years old and older - the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at USM. Each undergraduate kept a journal of his or her experience. The article chronicles highlights from those journals to explore the perceptions of the undergraduates as they interacted with older adults.