In an effort to combat high early school dropout rates in Romania, the Fundația Regală Margareta a României (FRMR) created its Generations’ Centres program, which pairs children to retired volunteers in after-school programs. The centers are designed so that underprivileged students receive tutoring, mentorship, and companionship from retired volunteers. According to the FRMR website, the centers act as a tool to keep children from underprivileged backgrounds involved in productive activities within a safe and supportive environment (n.d.). At the moment, Generations’ Centres provide academic tutoring and various extracurricular activities. While these functions meet the goals of the centers and the basic needs of the children, their execution could be improved to enable a more exciting and collaborative learning experience. The FRMR seeks to integrate technology in order to aid the students in their academic pursuits. To assist them, our project designed a fun, safe, and technology based intergenerational learning center. This new design aims to help underprivileged children by giving them the resources needed to keep up with their classmates, while also giving the volunteers the opportunity to connect with their community. 

       The growth of technology has revolutionized many aspects of learning within educational institutions. The ability to instantly gather, assess, and distribute information opens pathways for different lesson plans and can contribute to a more experimental learning approach. Different types of technology can be utilized in many different ways. Items such as computers and tablets give students access to instant information as well as software that can enhance the educational experience. Other resources, such as projectors and smart boards, give instructors greater control in the dissemination of information (Muhanna & Nejem, 2013). They also provide significant advancements in the classroom, such as facilitating collaborative work, which allows students to learn from each other as well as their instructors.

       Unfortunately, the benefits of using technology in classrooms only reach those who remain in school. According to Eurostat data, in the year 2018, Romania had the fifth highest early school dropout rate in Europe at 16.4% (2019). The FRMR attributes these dropouts primarily to poverty, which  is extremely prevalent in Romania nowadays. According to UNICEF, half of the child population in Romania is currently at risk for childhood poverty and a quarter of the child population already experiences it (n.d.). As of 2017, 23.5% of the Romanian population lives below their national poverty line, with 5.7% living under the international poverty line, one of the highest percentages in Europe (The World Bank Group, 2019). Poverty has a large impact on a child’s education; income is “one of the most significant predictors...of their educational success” (Garcia, 2017, p. 1). Children affected by poverty often end up falling behind, despite starting at the same place academically (Porter, 2015). The FRMR hopes to encourage more students to stay in school by providing engaging learning experiences and increasing students’ chances for academic achievement.
Another goal of the FRMR’s Generations’ Centres is to provide the elderly population with an opportunity to become involved in their communities. As people age, they are faced with new sets of challenges to overcome. In addition to having complex housing and medical needs, older retirees also face many emotional hardships. It has been widely acknowledged that not meeting the emotional needs of the elderly has a large negative impact on their physical health (Malcolm, 2019). Oftentimes, unfulfilled emotional needs and social isolation affect health-related behaviors that ultimately play a large role in the overall well-being of the person. 514 elderly Romanian people were surveyed in a study done in 2015 by the FRMR. They were asked questions about their lives and their mental well-being, such as how bothered they are by things such as loneliness, having no one to talk to, or feeling as though others are avoiding them. 60% of respondents reported feeling some level of loneliness (Milos, Pasparuga, & Gogita, 2015). Intergenerational learning programs bring together children and retired individuals to boost a sense of community and the transfer of knowledge. 

       A major aspect of our project is to implement technology to improve the intercommunication and engagement between students and volunteers. But without proper training, this could be detrimental to the social balance of the center. Research shows that older adults may find it more difficult to navigate the implementation of new technology. This can be due to negative perceptions in learning how to use it, poor health, or the view that technology is useless (Wang, 2018). The fact that many older adults have not used newer technology before can also impact how quickly new skills can be learned. This specifically affects Romanians because, in general, Romania has one of the smallest rates of internet usage throughout the European Union (Cimpoieru, 2011). In a recent study, it was found that only 13% of the elderly population in Romania use the internet at least once a week (Cimpoieru, 2011). This lack of usage of the internet may cause a disparity in the ability for all Romanian age brackets to be able to use technology properly. Based on this, it is essential to also provide resources in how to best operate and utilize new technology. 

       Our team had three main goals for the redesign of the center: to improve student engagement and academic performance; to attract additional sponsors and volunteers; and to aid retired volunteers in reconnecting to their community in a way that is replicable in other centers. To reach these goals, we collected data by talking to FRMR staff and creating surveys to better understand the challenges that students and volunteers face. The data we collected provided ample information to refine our broad ideas about what elements of technology would create the greatest positive effect in improving intergenerational interactions and student engagement with respect to cost. We found specific products that correlated to the ideas we had and organized them into a sample budget and a comprehensive design. After finalizing the comprehensive design of product and software recommendations, we produced an online volunteer handbook for those suggestions to ensure the continuity of quality instruction, as well as facilitate the transfer of knowledge among centers. Finally, we created promotional videos as recruitment tools for the center, targeting new volunteers and sponsors. The videos showcase the impact the products could have on the center to inspire potential sponsors and volunteers to join the community.  

       The deliverables we gave to our collaborators for this project will assist them in building a great foundation upon which the FRMR can improve their center. We also left advice and considerations for the continued success of this project, and anticipate that future IQP teams will be able to further aid the FRMR with its goal of integrating technology into its intergenerational learning centers. Specifically, a post-implementation survey would provide future teams with a baseline of how successful our project work was and how they could work with the FRMR to improve. We also hope future teams will use our promotional videos as a tool to send to potential sponsors and as a way of recruiting new volunteers. This project is truly at the intersection of science, technology, and society, and with continued research into how technology can best be implemented, the FRMR’s centers will benefit for years to come.