Getting Online - Retiree uses humor to help older folks cope with modern world of computers

PIEDMONT PROFILE: A DIFFERENT TYPE OF MINISTRY

"In my honor, I do solemnly promise that I will play on a computer for one hour each day through the duration of this class, so help me Bill Gates."

The tension in the class is noticeable as students stand to recite the oath that begins the Shepherd's Center class on basic computer skills. But as they recite the final words, they laugh. The tension is broken and a new class of older adults is ready to be initiated into the world of computers.

For 15 years, David Riffe has been guiding people, particularly those 60 years and older, into the world of computers. Riffe, a retired Methodist minister, presides over classes with quiet confidence and flashes of humor.

"Be not afraid," he tells students.

He emphasizes that the only way to learn how to use a computer is to actually sit down in front of a computer and use it.

The classes are free and are offered at three skill levels. Each class usually takes one and a half hours over two weeks. The Shepherd's Center of Greater Winston-Salem has been holding the classes in the computer lab at the Central Library since about 2001. The Center is an interfaith ministry that promotes and provides volunteer, lifelong-learning and support programs for older adults.

Some older people are often motivated to learn computer skills by the desire to e-mail their grandchildren or send and receive photos.

Many of his students come to classes unwillingly, Riffe said. Often his students' children or grandchildren have given them a computer that is gathering dust at home, and they feel guilty about the waste.

"I think they feel the world is passing them by, and this is a way to get caught up," he said.

He has taught people as old as 90, with a variety of disabilities, he said.

He has just given his first instruction, when a voice from the back of the room says, "I have no idea what we're doing."

Several classroom monitors stand by to help the 16 students in the class at the first sign of confusion.

Classrooms are a natural environment to Riffe, who retired as a campus minister in 1998, having worked at Wake Forest University, Salem College and UNC School of the Arts. During his years as a campus minister in Winston-Salem, he also served for a time at Winston-Salem State University, he said.

Riffe got interested in computers in the late 1980s when he used them in his work and to keep in touch with his three children. He began teaching Shepherd's Center classes 15 years ago because he thinks that it is important for older people to learn those skills.

Computer skills are good for everyone, Riffe said, but particularly for the homebound and disabled.

"People who lack some mobility can get on a computer and go around the world," he said.

Sam Matthews, the executive director of the Shepherd's Center, said that Riffe is the right person for the job.

"As an older adult himself, he recognizes the learning style," Matthews said. "He's very patient with answering questions, and if things are bogging down, he's not agenda-driven."

Riffe has helped to write the curriculum for some of the classes, Matthews said, and he's been good at identifying volunteers who would make good teachers.

Ann M. Peiffer, a post-doctoral fellow in brain science at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said that seniors come to such classes as Riffe's with a lot of life knowledge.

But the cognitive ability known as "fluid intelligence" sometimes declines as a result of aging. Fluid intelligence is the ability to process information quickly, to move easily from one task to another, and to perform several tasks at the same time. As a result, older people initially often have a hard time picking up new skills and leaning may take longer, she said, but the result is the same.

There are a number of myths that could discourage older people from trying to learn new skills, she said. People used to think that the brain loses cells with age. That's not true. The cells are still there, but they can shrink as people age. Doing new things pumps up those cells.

Riffe said that many seniors have trouble inlearning to work a mouse, but that the main challenge for older people is getting past thinking that they can't operate a computer.

Frances Wilson, a student in one of Riffe's recent classes, came to class recently with no idea of how to work a computer.

"I've put it off for years," she said. "I'm almost 80 years old, and I real­ly want to keep current."

Wilson said that she is active in her church and various clubs. She realized recently that she is the only one in those groups who doesn't have an e-mail address.

She does not own a computer, but she plans to buy one, Wilson said.

She approached the class as if she were learning Greek so that she wouldn't be frustrated with the new vocabulary and material.

"It was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it," Wilson said. "I didn't want it to end."

mgiunca@wsjournal.com
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