Guided participation in ICT-education for seniors: Motivation and social support

The Seniors' Club (SC) is a computer club for elderly, aged 60-80 years. This paper describes the experience gained from starting, and development of the club in Eastern Finland from late 2005. The findings are supported by thematic interviews conducted with the participants in April 2009. The goal of the undertaking was to teach useful ICT-skills to the elderly, and to empower them to contribute to user-centered design. A guidance model based on guided participation and ideas of shared cognition has been applied to socially, motivationally and cognitively support our elderly participants. For the development of SC-concept, the grounding research methodology has been action research, supported by observation of the participants at work, questionnaires and group interviews. The results show that the elderly are capable of and enthusiastic in acquiring ICT-skills and of gaining knowledge. They are motivated by the younger generation in their circle of acquaintances, by the novelty of things and by staying the pace of development. They prefer things/skills, which are practical and applicable in real life, and they appreciate the social mode of learning, like peer-tutoring. In addition our seniors are willing to contribute to research, design, and development activities with students in our department.

[1]  Robert M. Davison,et al.  Principles of canonical action research , 2004, Inf. Syst. J..

[2]  Bo Xie.  Information Technology Education for Older Adults as a Continuing Peer-Learning Process: A Chinese Case Study , 2007 .

[3]  T. Fulmer,et al.  Successful aging. , 2002, The American journal of nursing.

[4]  D. G. Bouwhuis.  Not care but leisure , 2006 .

[5]  G. Dewsbury,et al.  Designing computer technologies with older people , 2006 .

[6]  Johan F. Hoorn,et al.  Distributed cognition , 2005, Cognition, Technology & Work.

[7]  Sharan B. Merriam,et al.  Handbook of adult and continuing education , 1989 .

[8]  Alan Cooper,et al.  The Inmates are Running the Asylum , 1999, Software-Ergonomie.

[9]  Brian D. Carpenter,et al.  Computer use among older adults in a naturally occurring retirement community , 2007, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[10]  J. Rowe,et al.  Successful aging. , 1998, Aging.

[11]  Sharan B. Merriam,et al.  MOTIVATIONS FOR LEARNING AMONG OLDER ADULTS IN A LEARNING IN RETIREMENT INSTITUTE , 2004 .

[12]  Salvatore T. March,et al.  Design and natural science research on information technology , 1995, Decis. Support Syst..

[13]  Frank Glendenning,et al.  Education for older adults , 2001 .

[14]  D. Hawthorn.  Enhancing the contributions of older people to interface design , 2006 .

[15]  Markku Tukiainen,et al.  K-60 - Access to ICT granted but not taken for granted , 2008 .

[16]  Mark Perry,et al.  CHAPTER 8 – Distributed Cognition , 2003 .

[17]  M. Prensky.  Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1 , 2001 .

[18]  Anne Morris,et al.  E-literacy and the grey digital divide: a review with recommendations , 2007 .

[19]  Alan R. Hevner,et al.  Design Science in Information Systems Research , 2004, MIS Q..

[20]  Barbara Rogoff,et al.  Social interaction as apprenticeship in thinking: Guided participation in spatial planning , 1991, Perspectives on socially shared cognition.

[21]  A. D. Fisk,et al.  Cognitive support for elders through technology , 2006 .

[22]  Sandeep Purao,et al.  Being Proactive: Where Action Research Meets Design Research , 2005, ICIS.

[23]  Richard Baskerville,et al.  Diversity in information systems action research methods , 1998 .

[24]  C. Ng,et al.  Motivation Among Older Adults in Learning Computing Technologies: A Grounded Model , 2007 .

[25]  Markku Tukiainen,et al.  Practices in Old Age ICT Education , 2010 .

[26]  A. Withnall,et al.  Education for Older Adults , 1989 .

[27]  Markku Tukiainen,et al.  GUIDING THE ELDERLY INTO THE USE OF COMPUTERS AND INTERNET – LESSONS TAUGHT AND LEARNT , 2009 .

[28]  Sara J. Czaja,et al.  The impact of aging on access to technology , 2005, ASAC.

[29]  Markku Tukiainen,et al.  SENIORS' CLUB - LEARNING AND BLOGGING TOGETHER , 2007 .

[30]  David R. Kaufman,et al.  Increasing access to online information about health: A program for inner-city elders in community-based organizations , 2006 .

[31]  Andrew F. Monk,et al.  Using familiar technologies in unfamiliar ways and learning from the old about the new , 2004, Universal Access in the Information Society.

[32]  Peter Laslett,et al.  A Fresh Map of Life: The Emergence of the Third Age , 1991 .

[33]  D. Hawthorn,et al.  Interface design and engagement with older people , 2007, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[34]  Joy Goodman-Deane,et al.  Internet use and non-use: views of older users , 2007, Universal Access in the Information Society.