Designing elearning Material for Mature Employees: Blending Innovation in Business and Technology

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• Designing e-learning Material for Mature
  Employees Blending Innovation in Business and
  Technology

Aging by DesignBoston, MASeptember 28,
2004 Marian Stoltz-Loike, Ph.D.mstoltz-loike_at_seni
orthinking.com
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Overview

• Understanding the demographic shift
• Four generations in the workplace
• How the age wave impacts business
• How changing demographics can impact business
• A look at the interrelationship of business,
  mature workforce, and technology issues
• Designing e-learning for mature employees
• Research demonstrating that mature adults can
  learn from computer-based training

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Defining Generational Diversity
Pre-1945
Post-1982
1965-1981
1945-1964
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Convergence of MacroTrends
Lower birth rates
Graying of the U.S. workforce 76 million baby
boomers
Aging baby boomers Every seven seconds,
someone turns 50
Shrinking labor pools
Different expectations of work/life
Workforce 2004
Seniors living longer, more active lives
Reversal of retirement trends
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Impact of Age Wave on Business

• 76 million baby boomers, only 48 million Gen
  Xers, but 70 million Gen Yers
• First wave of Gen Y just entering the workplace
  4 million Gen Yers turn 21 every year
• By 2008, over 27 of the workforce will be over
  age 50
• One out of every six US workers is currently over
  55 by 2005, one out of every 2.5 workers will be
  over age 45 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001)
• In 2010, US economy will support 167 million
  jobs, but have only 158 million workers to fill
  them (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2003)

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Organizational Change The last 15 years

• Communication
• Face-to-face???? Video
  conference, e-mail
• Technology
• Paper ???? Digital libraries
  
• Typewriters ???? Computers
• Organizational Structure Hierarchy
  ? ??? Matrixed
• Teams Individual ???? Collaborative

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Interdependence of Business and Mature Employees

• Business needs mature employees
• Talent
• Experience
• Knowledge
• Numbers
• Mature employees need
• To be able to use technology competently and
  comprehensively
• Custom-designed technology products

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E-Learning the New Frontier

• Corporate expenditure expected to increase from
  3 billion to 10 billion by 2007
• Faster and more effective training
• More highly skilled work force
• Improves retention
• Easier customization to individual
• Less expensive
• Saves time and travel
• Flexibility of delivery-synchronous vs.
  asynchronous
• Available anywhere/anytimeon a global basis

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Normal adult learning styles and knowledge about
using technology include

• Navigating an e-learning course
• Using e-learning
• Familiarity with computer-based training
• Language no jargon and plain English
• Text comprehension

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And age-related changes including

• Working memory -- the ability to simultaneously
  store and process information
• Perceptual speed the speed at which you process
  information
• Processing text
• Vision

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Designing e-learning material for mature adults

• Choice of size and type of font are important
• Mix upper and lower case
• Use bold for emphasis
• Limit content on each line
• Use high contrast in text
• Include text-relevant pictures
• Summarize information

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• Goal of Our Studies (supported by an NIH-SBIR
  grant)
• To determine whether people over age 50 could
  comfortably use and learn from e-learning material

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BusinessThinkingTM

• Technology information
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Internet Search
• Career Development
• Career Management
• Pre-Retirement Planning
• The New Economy

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To help navigate an e-learning course
Easy-to-use index
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To help navigate an e-learning course
Easy to move backwards and forwards
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Easy-to-use e-learning courses
Easy to find courses
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Easy-to-use e-learning courses
Easy to find tips and tools
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Easy-to-use e-learning courses
Navigation features makes it easy to re-read or
review
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To address less familiarity with e-learning
material
Consistent placement of Index
Consistent placement reference information
Consistent placement navigation buttons
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To address less familiarity with e-learning
material
Text-relevant photos aid comprehension
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Use of easy-to-understand language
Content written in plain language
Minimal use of passive voice. No inferences.
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Clear overview helps in text comprehension
First page overviews course information
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Clear summary helps in text comprehension
Last page of course reviews what was learned
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Repetition helps in text comprehension
Video reinforces text
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To address changes inworking memory
Backward-forward navigation facilitates
re-reading.
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Repetition addresses changes in working memory
Video reinforces text.
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Repetition addresses changes in working memory
Roll-over features reinforce subject matter
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Repetition addresses changes in working memory
End of course overview to review what was learned
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To address changes in perceptual speed
Backward-forward navigation allows user to self
pace.
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To address changes in processing text
Content presented in short, chunked segments.
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To address changes in processing text
Ample white space-- focus on content and
navigational tools.
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To address vision changes
Large font
High contrast
Large buttons
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To address vision changes
Large font, selection of easy-to-read font
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Typical Page
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• Goal of Our Studies (supported by an NIH-SBIR
  grant)
• To determine whether people over age 50 could
  comfortably use and learn from e-learning material

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First Set of Studies

• Conducted Usability tests on the technology
  material to verify that participants could use
  the material
• Revised the technology material based on
  participant results
• Re-tested subset of technology material and
  career development material

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Results

• Participants
• Could effectively use the material
• Liked using the material

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Results (Contd)
( where 1 High Dissatisfaction, 5 High
Satisfaction)
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Second Set of Studies

• Using e-learning
• Evaluated whether participants could learn how to
  use a technology application (PowerPoint)
• Determined whether participants could learn about
  career-related information

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Results

• Participants showed dramatic improvement in
  business-related skills and knowledge
• Learning occurred after using BusinessThinking
  material for a few short hours
• People over age 50 can learn using computer-based
  training customized to them

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Results on Careers
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Results on PowerPoint
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Conclusions

• People over age 50 can learn using computer-based
  training
• Material should be customized to them
• NIA Guidelines---cognitive, perceptual, content,
  navigation
• Experiencefamiliarity with technology
• Usable e-learning material enables mature
  employees to remain
• Valuable organizational contributors
• Competitive

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• For more information
• Mstoltz-loike_at_seniorthinking.com
• Or 718-380-1252