COVID-19 has called into question the delivery format of face-to-face courses in all educational levels: U3A are not an exception. Most U3A were forced to close its doors.  And unlike the universities graduating young students and professionals, that almost from one day to the other could pass to virtual education, U3A stopped activities. This fact proves that U3A s have not invested in the competences and capabilities of their staff and students to make a natural transition from face to face to virtual.
In my written paper I explain with more detail why this has happened: the differences of incentives and barriers that can be found among U3As and Universities to do this kind of investment; one of the most important barriers being the digital divide existing in senior population and the bigger importance of socializing in person
But those last months have completely altered the previous situation: COVID-19 crisis has transformed face to face interaction in big health risk for seniors, making virtual interaction the preferred –or at least the only legal or recommended way- to interact with friends and family . This relationship motivation –or new need- has decreased the digital divide of seniors in an amazing fast way. This is why they are now considering to study on line, and even to become more fluent in the use of TICs.
Most of seniors are now motivated to learn new topics and contents that can facilitate their lives in the COVID and post-COVID  times.
So every U3A face a great opportunity to adapt to this new environment!
 
To cope with this opportunity U3As have to answer 3 main Challenges:

1. The first one is to Create the virtual space to maintain its activities and offer to seniors the opportunities for socializing, learning and self development. Passing to invest in physical facilities to IT infraestructures requires new specialists and capabilities in all the stakeholders of U3As
2. The second, is the need to integrate new contents, related with the new emeging needs; also with the ability in using those technologies. And this is not only related with current or new senior students, but also with the instructors that should develop them.
3. Finally,there is a challenge to adaptat regular contents to a new virtual format: U3A’s teachers have hard-worked most of its courses in a face-to-face format. Virtual environment will require an individual adaptation.

Success to fulfill those challenges will make accesible the U3A activities to more and more senior (imagine the possibilities opened to agricultural areas far from urban centers in which most of U3A have their headquaters), it would break the digital divide of senior population (creating a more inclusive and connected society, and decreasing the isolation in which many elders pass their last years of life), and make their lives easier and more connected even in isolation times. New goals and more ambitious ones would be achieved, and I am sure that for many of U3A leaders, and also for governmental leaders, those goals are already important ones.

 However, many U3A leaders feel also the incertitude of this situation because:

• It is difficult to evaluate the needed investment to cope with this challenge
• We don’t know if it is a temporary situacion or it would last over time
• So we don’t know really how difficult  it can become to finance the efforts to be done

 
We would like to share with you all, some ideas and possible recommendations for reducing this incertitude and overcome the many doubts that this virtual world generates in organizations based in face-to-face relations:
 
 1st Recommendation: Select the Virtual Platform Features that could help to reduce the needed investments for the different stakeholders involved. The Platform that would succeed would be:

• Easy to use for students and instructors: Creating contents and courses should not be troubling and they should be follow with commun tools
• General/Customized use: Different user roles (students, teachers, administrators) should be customized and able to interact seamlessly.
• Accessible costs: Implementation should not be a barrier to adapt to the current reality. That means using commun tools but integrating them in a sound way

2nd recommendation: The New Contents -and the instructors that could generate them- probably would be shared among many U3As even if some specificities could be identified locally. Some of the proposals that many experts are claiming as releva tones can be seen in this slide. Contents related with using TIC to Virtual Buying and Paying, e-Finance and Security, E-health; Active and Healthy Ageing: advances  in fitness, nutrition, health, farmacology, cosmetics, way of life; Virtual Senior Study Tours for developing skills and experience (Augmented Reality and Networking); Housing in evolution: domotics, robotics, and Artificial Intelligences for ageing well; New communication systems, Social Networks, Collaborative and Circular Economy and Society, Intergenerational opportunities etc.
 
The possibility of selecting some world-class instructors to develop those new contents emerge as a real alternatve considering the huge market that virtual programs could adress without limitations of physical infraestructures.
 
3rd recommendation: This bigger market that can be adressed also opens the possibility of imaginig a diverse format of activities that perhaps the presencial format makes not posible. We can see in this slide the different kind of activities that can be organized and shared among U3As, form Talks, Seminar, Courses or Virtual Tours.
 
 
These 3 main recommendations can be developped of course by a single University itself; but this individual strategic approach would not be posible for everyone. Some requisites of size and previous capabilities will apply, creating inequalities.
 
There is a second model that in our opinión would be more fruitful: a cooperation strategy among U3As. A cooperation with the main goal of creating a Global Virtual Platform to be spread in U3As all over the world.
 
Can you imagine creating  a Global Virtual Platform that can cover 80% of the needs of every U3A and also flexible enough to adapt to regional-local features?
 We have studied that question, and the answer is yes.
 
Next slide presents an example of this possibility, example that can be adapted and improved locally with a regional and local approach.
 
The best new is that U3As have already the organizational tool and environment to start this collaboration: AIUTA, that can facilitate the dialogue and conditions for the creation of a global virtual plafform with:
 

1. Robustness and quality: The U3As will gain in robustness and quality, since they can be adapted to the technological environment.
2. MOOC format: The digital medium will allow the U3As to explore other types of courses that are massive (MOOCs - Massive Open Online Courses), in contrast to face-to-face courses.
3. Increased prestige: The fact of being able to count on a significant number of students will attract and participate in speakers and professors of the highest level of prestige and authority in their areas of knowledge and experience.
4. Global network effect: The opening and sharing of the technological structure of the virtual University to other U3As will also facilitate the sharing of courses, the expansion of the offer to international students, and the launch of shared programs between different U3As.

Conversation among the network: Additionally, a platform like this can generate forums and conversation spaces between U3A students within each course.