Anton Trstenjak Institute of Gerontology Slovenia. The pilot testing took place in Zdravilišče (spa resport) Dobrna, during the traditional 3-days workshop for seniors – volunteers, on 23 and 24 January 2025. There were 17 participants – seniors, eager to learn something new. The testing was carried out by Ana Ramovš, experienced in this method.
First ITOSA project was presented, its goals, objectives and activities.
Then “the rules of the game” were described and participants were divided into smaller groups; they tested the method according to the instructions, following the steps from the learning program.
The group was quite heterogeneous: some of them knew the Word café method and had used it already and some of them had no idea about it. Therefore, it took them longer to understand how it works and what was the point of the method. For example, why did they have to move from one table to another. But altogether they cooperated and in the end they were satisfied.
A lively discussion followed, some seniors pointed out that they like such “new” participatory methods, however some of them said that they prefer being passive, just listening to others and that they do not like to be questioned or to have an opinion for everything.
…” I still do not understand why this was called “world café”, but anyway, it was interesting and fun” … Some seniors who are active in their local communities might use this method for their own activities, or if they are involved in similar activity in the future, they will know what they are expected to do.