RSVP: Writing a New Digital Narrative for Seniors

Going cashless and turning to QR codes and apps to make payment may be easy for those who grew up using technology daily, but these are things that the older generation struggle with.

One obstacle they may face when picking up these essential digital skills is remembering what they have learned. 

Applied learning, an educational approach where one learns through the direct application of skills, can offer a solution. After all, by allowing seniors to acquire digital skills in a real-world context, applied learning can facilitate practice and improve the retention of information.

This is why volunteer organisation RSVP has focused on applied learning at its new digital skills training centre, the Majestic Smart Seniors Applied Learning Centre (MSSALC).

MSSALC is a project under the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) Digital for Life (DfL) initiative. It was developed by RSVP, with the support of Singapore Pools and CapitaLand Hope Foundation.

Encouraging seniors to stay active in their silver years

“We want to help seniors lead a smart lifestyle—one where they don’t just know about the technology that exists, but can also apply it well in their daily lives,” RSVP Chairman, Koh Juay Meng, explains.

RSVP is well-equipped to do this, as it has been supporting seniors since its founding in 1998.

Its initial goal was to help seniors stay active during their silver years with volunteering opportunities. In the early 2000s, when the digital wave began to pick up, the organisation started running computer camps to equip seniors with digital skills. To increase its reach across the island, it partnered with IMDA for the Silver IT Fest (previously known as Silver Infocomm Day). This is an annual event where Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and other community partners come together to engage seniors with the latest infocomm trends.

Today, RSVP is the largest Silver Infocomm Junction in the country, training an estimated 5,000 seniors a year. It also runs a Silver IT Care repair centre to help seniors troubleshoot their tech problems.

RSVP strives to ensure seniors are familiar with the most commonly used payment apps like digibank, PayLah! and PayNow
so they can stay connected in the digital-first world.

RSVP’s pool of over 100 seniors runs the training programmes and repair centres, allowing them to stay active and contribute to the community after retirement. 

As seniors can empathise with the challenges their peers may face when handling new technology, allowing seniors to train other seniors also ensures the training pace is more suitable, and synergy between trainer and trainee is stronger.

By allowing seniors to train seniors, RSVP helps the elderly remain active in their silver years and ensures the training pace
is suitable for the trainees.

Making seniors feel at home

MSSALC brings together RSVP’s experience with seniors. 

When Singapore Pools approached Juay Meng to turn the Majestic, an iconic building in Singapore’s history, into a senior activity centre, he was determined to ensure that the new centre would add value to the existing senior training ecosystem.

To do this, the RSVP team brainstormed to decide how they could integrate the lessons they had learned in the past into their new centre. They also held focus group discussions with the elderly and community stakeholders to understand the needs on the ground. 

These discussions led to the unique design details that visitors can find across MSSALC. 

For example, seniors start their journey in the social zone, an area decorated with items like old cinema seats and photographs of Chinatown in the past. These are things the seniors can connect with to feel more at home in the centre.

One unique feature of the social zone is a display of milo tins that the older generation used to store money in. When seniors look into these tins, they will find QR codes instead. It is a creative way for volunteers to engage seniors and start the conversation about the importance of going digital.

Experiencing technology and embracing experimentation

After visiting the social zone, seniors make their way to the learning zone where applied learning happens. Through a series of digitalised experiences, seniors interact with technology and understand how it can make a difference in their lives.

RSVP runs train-the-trainer sessions to ensure senior trainers are familiar with popular payment apps
like Google Pay and updated on any new features to earn rewards.

To keep the learning experience up to date, the centre considered the different areas of life that a senior may need to interact with technology and trends in the digital landscape.

In the first quarter of MSSALC’s launch, the centre focused on e-payments and taught seniors how to use apps for grocery and food delivery services. Plans are also in place to address e-health, e-commerce, cyber security and more.

A community-driven space for seniors to thrive

To maximise the impact, the learning content is developed in collaboration with industry partners. This type of partnership ensures seniors have access to technology that is relevant. It also provides partner organisations with a unique opportunity to showcase their technology and reach the senior population through MSSALC.

“MSSALC can be a proof-of-concept centre or sandbox for companies and corporates,” Juay Meng explains. He adds that RSVP welcomes all partners who have technology that can benefit seniors.

He believes that this partner-focused model may be the first of its kind in Singapore and the region. To date, RSVP has secured partnerships with DBS, Google, NTUC FairPrice and foodpanda Singapore. It also continues to have a constant stream of enquiries about partnerships.

Looking back at the journey RSVP has taken to bring MSSALC to fruition, one can see that the process has been community-driven and collaborative. Juay Meng shares that the goal is for the centre to continue this spirit of cooperation in the future, constantly evolving and improving to meet the community’s ever-changing needs.

“We believe this new centre can be a safe space for seniors to learn about the latest changes to digital technology. It will also be a place for them to build confidence, integrate and adapt their new skills into their daily lives,” Juay Meng concludes.

Koh Juay Meng, Chairman, RSVP