Online Learning for Seniors Barriers and Opportunities

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Online Learning for Seniors Barriers and
Opportunities

• Aging by Design, Bentley College, 24 October 2006
• Lesa Lorenzen Huber
• Mark Notess
• Indiana University

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Outline

• Senior internet usage
• Growth in online learning
• Barriers to uptake
• Opportunities

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Senior Internet Usage

• In 2001
• 65 million adults aged 25 to 49 (65) regular
  internet users.
• 28 million adults over 50 (37) regular
  internet users.
• Number of age 65 users could more than double
  by 2010

from Research Overview The Aging US Marketplace,
Praxi Group, 2004.
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Internet Usage by Age Group
(Data from Pew Internet American Life Project)
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Senior Internet Uses

• Of older people who are online, 34 spend 20
  hours a week or more online (SeniorNet, 2002)
• Main uses (gt50 of internet users 60) email,
  news, health information, product information,
  travel reservations (Pew, 2006)
• Less common uses online purchasing, searching
  government sites, online games, online photos
• What about online learning??

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Growth of Online Learning

• in 2000, 5 of US adults had taken an online
  class for credit
• in 2005, 1/5 of UK internet users had used the
  internet for distance learning
• 20-25 year-to-year growth in online offerings in
  higher education
• Michigan now requires all high school students to
  take at least one online course to graduate
• compliance training for regulations such as HIPAA
  or Sarbanes-Oxley continuing to drive e-learning
  growth in the business community

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Example Virginia Tech
chart from http//www.iddl.vt.edu/about/overview_i
ddl.pdf
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Online learning for Seniors

• Since older adults use health services more than
  other age groups they benefit the most from
  online health information which supplements
  information from their health care provider and
  increases health literacy
• AARP and the Medicare/Medicaid site provide
  opportunities for self-learning on issues
  important to older adults
• SeniorNet is a leader in face to face instruction
  on how to use computers with over 200 Learning
  Centers around the country as well as free online
  courses ranging from how to use eBay to Greek and
  Latin

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Online learning for Seniors
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Barriers to Uptake

• William Dutton (Oxford Internet Institute)
  identifies three potential explanations for
  slower uptake of the internet by seniors.

aging
slow uptake
cohort
stage of life
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Barriers Aging/Access

• basic age-related barriers are well-documented
• age related declines in vision, hearing,
  perception, memory, comprehension, information
  processing, working memory, and/or motor
  dexterity
• generic web-page guidelines address these, e.g,
• use a sans serif typeface
• double space all body text
• the organization of the website should be simple
  and straightforward
• (from Making Your Website Senior Friendly,
  National Institute on Aging and the National
  Library of Medicine, 2001)

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Barriers Aging/Performance
How do I get back to where I was?

• BUT the dynamism in the broader computing
  ecosystem receives little attention
• web interfaces are highly malleable, with rapidly
  evolving user interface technologies (HTML,
  DHTML, Flash, AJAX)
• inconsistencies in organization, terminology,
  navigation, and conventions between or even
  within sites, over time

What do I do next?
How do I see the rest of this?
What just happened?
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Barriers Aging/Youth Bias

• inclination of designers toward the new and cool
  creates a moving target of web-based interfaces
  requires constant relearning
• stereotype of seniors as technology-averse
• youth-bias in the technology ecosystem generally
• Crossing the digital divide is something that
  has to be done many times, not just once. (Ito,
  et al., 2001)

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Barriers Aging/Cognitive Load

• AND there is the cognitive load that goes along
  with the safe and effective use of any personal
  computer
• password management
• file system
• storing and backing up content or bookmarks
• attaching files or pasting file contents
• configuring network security
• safely installing and updating plugins
• assessing present and future hardware, software
  and connectivity needs
• assessing validity and reliability of online
  content source may be harder to identify

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Barriers Aging/Cognitive Load
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Barriers Stage of Life Cohort

• Stage of Life can relate to place in the
  retirement transition
• Those still in the work force have access to
  computers and on the job training
• Technology-challenged executives are increasingly
  hiring technology coaches, similar to life
  coaches
• Lower level workers may have work incentives to
  access technology and online learning

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Barriers Stage of Life Cohort

• There are limited opportunities for fully retired
  older people to learn how to use the computers
  and Internet
• SeniorNet, AARP, and CyberSeniors offer online
  training (which only helps those already online)
• Low income and rural seniors are on the other
  side of the digital divide for training and
  access to broadband or public computers.

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Barriers Stage of Life Cohort

• Stage of Life can also be perceived time left to
  live
• Perceived time left to live affects participation
  in only the most meaningful relationships and in
  beneficial health behaviors
• It is possible it also affects participation in
  internet use and online learning
• I dont need to learn how to do this is a
  common excuse

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Barriers Cohort Differences

• The Greatest Generation can afford new computers
  and internet access but may have cohort-based
  psychological barriers to access
• impostershipdo not have the skill or right to
  participate in online learning
• cultural suicidenew knowledge might exclude them
  from cultures that have defined and sustained
  them
• lost innocence-preference for absolute right and
  wrong, not shades of gray

from What is College Really Like for Adult
Students? By Stephen Brookfield, About Campus,
1999.
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Barriers Cohort Differences

• Current barriers to online learning for Boomers
  include employment, family, and caregiving roles
• Baby Boomers have rapidly adopted new
  technologies as they became available
• Baby Boomers didnt just use computersthey
  transformed technology (Ken Dychtwald, Age Wave)
• Baby Boomers, who are the best educated and
  healthiest cohort to ever grow old, are expected
  to continue to seek education or edutainment. The
  internet will undoubtedly provide opportunities
  to meet the demand

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Barriers Social Systems/Social Structures

• Social Theories of Aging-Disengagement theory
• The macro social system deals with the slowing
  down of older generations by institutionalizing
  mechanisms of disengagement or separation from
  society.
• Disengagement is viewed as adaptive behavior,
  benefiting both the individual and society
• While empirical research has not generally
  supported disengagement as necessarily adaptive
  for the individual or society, it may
  explain/predict the oldest-olds barriers to
  technology

From Hooyman, K., Kiyak, A. Social Gerontology
A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Allyn and Bacon,
2005.
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Barriers Social Systems/Social Structures

• Social Theories of AgingSocial Exchange theory
• Draws upon economic cost-benefit models of social
  participation
• Suggests that social interaction and activity
  decrease with age because elders offer fewer
  returns with their outmoded skills so society
  is less inclined to invest in them
• To balance the exchange equation, older adults
  withdraw.
• In the larger social picture, older adults
  compensate with non-material resources such as
  wisdom and volunteering, but social exchange
  theory offers an explanation for barriers to
  technology access.

From Hooyman, K., Kiyak, A. Social Gerontology
A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Allyn and Bacon,
2005.
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Opportunities

• Adults are motivated to learn when
• 1. They have a need for immediate application
• Example Medicare Part D
• 2. They can use life experiences
• Example Alzheimers Caregiving Support Groups
• 3. The content has personal meaning
• Example Genealogy Courses
• 4. They are self directed
• Example Search for health information on
  Health and Age
• (from Knowles, M. (1980). Modern practice of
  adult education From pedagogy to andragogy.
  Chicago, IL Follett)

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OpportunitiesSimplification

• Germany Siemens targets Seniors
• with Internet
• (Joint press release from BITel and Siemens
  Business Services
• Munich, Aug 28, 2006)
• You dont want to buy a PC but still want to surf
  the Internet? In Bielefeld this will soon be
  possible, thanks to Siemens Business Services and
  telecommunications provider BITel. The two
  companies have joined forces to start the first
  test of its kind in Germany and offer the general
  public a service that was previously only
  possible in business settings Access to the
  Internet, word processing, e-mail or electronic
  photo albums - all without having to buy a PC and
  worrying about software upgrades, virus
  infections or special IT knowledge.

from http//www.thematuremarket.com/SeniorStrat
egic/dossier.php?numtxt7656idrb5numi
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Opportunities Policy, Standards

• Policy needs? Senior doesnt mean disabled.
• Can collaborative standards work in place of
  policy?
• Areas for policy or collaborative standards
• concepts
• terminology
• layout
• navigation
• Tasks for standardization
• authentication
• form fill-in submittal
• discussion browsing and participation