How can you teach digital literacy to older adults?

Upon exploring their needs I believe that they should FEEL the benefit of whatever tool they are going to use They should be emotionally comfortable feeling that they are at ease having someone caring about their needs and understanding their troubles with technology That is why I prefer that any communication with them should be physical with interaction as person to person

First of all, I would stop stereotyping older adults as having any more anxiety about transitioning into a digital work environment than other groups. Studies have demonstrated that apprehension for a digital transition crosses demographics. Often the anxiety is more about how a digital transition is going to affect an individual's job and routine than it is about learning the technology. Assess the needs first and build the program from there. It may require a tiered strategy for the training based on what a participant understands about the technology going into the program.

I think the first thing you have to do is to drop the word teach. For many, whether 21 or 81, knowing someone plans to teach you something creates apprehension about what you’re going to teach, how you’re going to teach and how you will react if they “just don’t get it” or they “do something wrong”. If you instead approach from a standpoint of “look at this” or “have you seen what this can do”, you can often spark that sense of curiosity. When that occurs you are no longer teaching, instead you are sharing a learning experience driven by curiosity.

This is good. Keep it simple. One thing I have found is that there’s a distinct difference between older people who are retired and maybe even in independent living facility, and those who continue to work. Those continuing to work they have more robust needs and wants. For those retired keeping it to one or two things that they’re very interested in will be lifestyle enhancement for them.

One thing I would find extremely useful is to structure the program to address the focused needs of the elders in using the digital medium. Anything more or for that matter less will lead to incomplete learning/ confusion. So the KISS formula- Keep It Simple Stupid ..works best.

Teaching older adults digital literacy can be a whole of work to do but here are some few tips I'll suggest - Understand their area of interest related to Technology - Start with the basics - Use visuals to explain and demonstrate - Relate technology to way of living - Encourage practice and exploration - Foster teamwork and collaboration - Be patient with them

I mean why not start at the basics? Install a remote access tool on all the devices of the digitally illiteral elders that sometimes seek help from you - it just shortens the time you need to help them so much. Act and think as a service provider :-)

I agree with the general theory given here. It would be helpful to ensure examples are provided to contextualize how the user is to operate or to enhance learning

Provide positive encouragement. Celebrate their successes, no matter how small, and emphasize the progress they are making. Positive feedback helps boost confidence and motivation.

Conversations with older adults almost always start with feelings of frustration. Combating that self-deprecation with words of encouragement and offers for practice can make a meaningful change. It can be as simple as reminding them they aren't alone in learning - we all need help sometimes. Being open to learning a new skill often comes from an "analog" need. We had a member recently that was frustrated she had a craving for soup but her family wouldn't pick it up for her.. The perfect opportunity to teach her about delivery services. She had no idea there were services out there that could meet her needs so specifically. Sometimes couching tech w/in the need helps them build the confidence to open up to even more learnings!

Keep it simple. For those comfortable with tech, they can fall into the trap of explaining too deeply. Keep it focused on the usability of tech, the context of "why" it is worth learning, and the "how" to do it. Documentation is always helpful as a future reference tool.. And practice is key. Once you've determined where someone is at with their comfort with technology, you can start to build lily pads for progress. Don't forget to celebrate milestones of achievement and encourage them to look back at their progress. Often they will be amazed at what they accomplish - and we've heard repeatedly from those we work with that their anxiety around technology has lessened as their confidence has grown.

Based on my recent experience 2 aspects come to mind: - the providers need to make more efforts in standardisation of UI. Example: disconnect button: the visual is clear but this is often either at the top or at the bottom, embedded behind settings, … It makes it hard. - we learn best when we have a need. Do not teach digital skills for the sake of it but identify use cases for the learner, sure enough the motivation will be there to learn Last comment: we deployed a couple of years back a new ERP. With proper training and support structure (buddy, ….) I would say that no age population lagged behind in the ability to perform their jobs. Maybe we should reflect on the unconscious bias we have: ‘older people have poor digital skills’ ….

Keep it simple and smart and celebrate their progress even if it is a bit Encouragement is a key and gradually it will go smoothly

Scaffolding is the best way to teach new concepts to young learners and can also be used to teach older learners. However, older learners may already have learned things from their varied past experiences which may interfere and impede with the new learning. It is imperative for the teacher to help the older learner unlearn the old concepts if they see that as impeding the progress.

I agree with this blurb. Only part I would add is if you are able to test your materials with the demographic at hand, then you can really hone in on areas that are great and areas that still maybe be sticky for the user.

I agree, in the curriculum design, it must focus on peer learning and should reflect a lot of group activities. The teaching method should be project based. Elderly people get tired easily and also get distracted due to different life responsibilities. It is important that the design of lesson delivery should involve constant engagement and of course the rule of bloom's taxonomy should be follow strictly.

Teaching digital literacy is a continuous process while technology is constantly evolving. Be patient and supportive. Celebrate their progress along the way and encourage them to stay curious and updated with new developments.

Three words to help encourage curiosity for older learners: Play, Play, Play! There is still a misperception that we’re going to “break the system” or that something is going to blow up if we “hit the wrong key”, etc., but that prevents people from playing with new tech. With practice comes experience, and with experience comes wisdom. Encouraging older learners to explore and play with technology helps bridge the digital divide.

I strongly believe that for this segment of the extent of digital literacy should be on a desire/ need to know basis. Focus on the essentials and the critical non-essentials, period.

What I enjoy most about working with older groups is the diversity of life experience people bring to the discussion - you never know the direction the conversation will go in, and you as a trainer often learn as much as the group itself.

Digital literacy for older adults isn’t as big a deal as we may presume because I have observed that they start using it effortlessly with some support and guidance. The key is to simplify technology so that it doesn’t become overwhelming for them. Start with demonstration of the tool showing how it can solve one of their problems, e.g. payment to a vendor via UPI, or video calling someone dear, or, learning something on platforms like You Tube. Equally important is to drive home the importance of how to stay safe and not fall prey to cyber crime while doing all of this. Understanding everyday needs and demonstrating how technology can solve them will be helpful in motivating older adults to learn with greater enthusiasm.

Keep them informed of certain technology/AI/security risks. The truth is with the development of technology, it seems that the teaching/learning process for the elderly become much easier. My mother could never learn to text on a pressed-button-based phone before no matter how hard we tried to teach her, but she can easily get it done with the help of a smartphone. While I agree with all of the above suggestions, part of teaching about digital literacy is to make sure that the mentees know how to play it safe, such as telling them to always double-check with you in advance if there are requests asking for personal information/payment; how to set up privacy setting on Social Media or what type of data is considered sensitive.

In my experience, it is important when teaching anyone anything to help the learner understand the new technology within the context of something they are already familiar with. For example, thinking of a search engine as a digital encyclopedia. That way you don't get caught up in the "how it works" side of things and the emphasis can be on "how it is useful". Once people understand the context of why something can be helpful to them, a lot of the natural barriers of resistance to new and different things are removed, they are more open and receptive, and learning becomes easier.

Older Adults are as capable as anyone else in adopting technology - sometimes they just need a nudge and support. With a little patience, lots of humor and a desire to help. They will take care of the rest, leading you down the path *they want* to travel in getting comfortable with tech. My favorite thing to remind older adults when working with tech.. they started the innovation - we just built on it!

It beats me why we think this in confined to older people. The coaching approaches are similar for other ages who may have particular support needs - eg they may be great at gaming but out of their comfort zone with other applications.