Education is an extremely important global issue. Education can set individuals up with skills needed for joining the workforce and can also be a predictor of long term success in life. Recent data suggests that students who do not complete secondary school are more likely to experience poverty, unemployment, and social isolation (Petersen & Andersen, 2018)*. Around the world, young people drop out of secondary school and are not employed. In the European Union (EU) as a whole, these people make up 10% of the population. In Romania, this percentage increases to 16.4%. Romania experiences the fifth highest early school dropout rate, meaning its educational system and supplementary programs are in need of change. According to the Fundaţia Regală Margareta a României (FRMR), these dropouts are due to the rampant poverty that affects half of the child population. 

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       In a movement to combat this problem, the FRMR created its Generations’ Centres which use intergenerational learning to connect children and retired individuals, encouraging community mentorship and innovative learning experiences. According to the FRMR, these centers combat the two largest social problems that Romania faces today: early school dropout and accelerated demographic aging. The volunteers working at the centers provide both the retirees and children participants with role models, intergenerational collaboration, community building, and academic guidance. As of 2017, there were 589 children enrolled in 15 Generations’ Centres across Romania and 63% of these students improved their academic performance (FRMR, n.d.). 

       Similar endeavors can be found in the United States to increase academic success through after-school programs and intergenerational learning. The Boys & Girls Club of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters are after-school programs that are great references for improvement, as they were created to combat child poverty, lower early dropout rates, and combine adult mentoring with academic tutoring. In addition, the Providence Health and Services of Washington State is known for its Intergenerational Learning Center that has an innovative problem solving curriculum, allowing the children to have independence with the guidance of elderly mentors. This center is very similar to Romania’s Generations’ Centers, however this center is located on a retirement home’s campus and the students come to visit. This way the center is able to provide additional resources to care for the mental and physical needs of the elderly. The drawbacks of this center are its high operational cost, the fact that people pay to participate, and its emphasis on the elderly, none of which are present in the Romanian centers. 
 

       Our project aimed to design a fun, safe, and technologically based intergenerational learning center. The new design targets underprivileged children in order to help them keep up with their classmates both academically and socially. To support this, we looked into the supplies and technologies that will be most effective in creating the design for the space. We then advanced our understanding of the problem by evaluating the needs of our stakeholders, the FRMR staff, the volunteers, and the participating children, to gain a clearer picture of the needs of the children and volunteers. This information was used to create a design plan for the center. Promotional videos showing the positive impact of technology in the Generations’ Centre were created based upon our findings. These  videos will be distributed to the stakeholders as well as potential sponsors and volunteers. Finally, we compiled additional information into a volunteer resource website in order to aid in the training of the retirees. The website can be accessed by all the centers, providing the same resources to each volunteer. 

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       Overall, we want our final deliverables to assist the FRMR in facilitating mutually beneficial collaboration among generations. Through the implementation of technology and multimedia resources for new software and hardware, we aim to help generate a more exciting environment to foster intergenerational learning. The promotional videos we created will assist the center in sharing an image of this exciting new atmosphere with future sponsors and volunteers. With the resources we provide, the FRMR can update and improve the specific center we are collaborating with as well as their other centers throughout Romania.

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*Any citations used can be found on our Sources Page