Chapter One

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INTRODUCTION

Today is witness to an unprecedented ageing population; and this century will see a rapidly increasing ageing of the population unparalleled in human history (United Nations, 2002). Throughout the twentieth century, the percentage of older people (60 years plus) constantly grew, and over the next 25 years, the older population is estimated to carry on growing more quickly than other age cohort.  Growth of this scale requires far-reaching economic and social adjustment in most countries.  One of these adjustments will be in response to the fall in the potential support ratio.  This ratio is projected to fall to four working-age persons for each person aged 65 years plus by the mid-century (United Nations, 2005).

In light of these projections, the benefits to society of promoting learning throughout life are becoming increasingly apparent.  Lifelong learning has the power to reduce the chances of contacting diseases associated with cognitive decline and improve overall bodily functioning into the latter years of one’s life.  In addition, it can assist the older person to remain connected and thereby, reduce the tendency for age-related solitude. The knock on effects of a healthy elderly population would assist in reducing the national health-care and long-term care price tag (Shea, 2007). An exploration into the cognitive capacity decline linked to age found that cognitive decline is not irreversible, and is probably a result of disuse. Schaie & Willis (1986) discovered that an educational program has the potential to assist in reversing the negative effects ageing has on cognitive capacities (Schaie & Willis, 1986).  Lifelong learning can provide society with a more active elderly population who are intellectually responsive, energetic, and who participate more fully within their communities. The accumulated knowledge and wisdom gained throughout the life span of a person can contribute at both economical and social levels (Shea, 2007).

Technology is playing an increasingly significant role in teaching and learning (Reich & Scheuermann, 2007) and there is pervasive evidence of this throughout our educational institutions.  Presentational software, such as ‘Microsoft PowerPoint’ and learning management systems such as ‘Moodle’ are just two types within a range of technologies that are testimony of this. Learning technology may be described as the merger between the processes of learning and technology with the aim of providing innovative, effective and efficient education. Roblyer, (2004) explains that learning technologies include information and instructional technology, along with telecommunications tools, applications, and systems that support learning.  Recent developments in learning technologies include adaptive technologies, wikis, podcasts, electronic books, online learning platforms, online videos, RSS feeds,  interactive games and simulations (Roblyer,  2004).  Technology’s expanding role within the context of education and learning has implications for the provision of e-learning environments to engage the elderly.   There is a common consensus among technology enthusiasts within the sphere of government that the most advantageous way of exploiting the technological and social potential of the Internet is through inclusive policies.  If non-users are considered to be the principal problem, this indicates that the major problem group becomes the elderly (Gerd & Stregbauer, 2006).  

Moreover, increasingly our daily responsibilities and routine transactions are carried out through telecommunications and digital processes, as popularised by online banking, shopping and bookings etcetera.  Probably the most interesting social development in relation to technology is ensconced within sphere of social networking sites, such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘MySpace’.  These Web-based social platforms provide the younger generations with the mechanisms to construct virtual identities, to strike up online social relationships, to source entertainment and street knowledge. A survey carried out between 2006 and 2008 found that there is a substantially greater probability that teenagers and young adults indulge themselves in social network sites than do their older counterparts (Jones & Fox, 2009). The expansion of such platforms and the depth to which they can or will penetrate and impact on the social fabric of society has yet to be determined.  

Scialfa & Fernie (2006) claim that although technological development is instinctive in civilisation, elderly people commonly lag behind younger members of society in terms of computer usage of digital products produced for the general population. Moreover, Gerd & Stregbauer (2006) and Irizarry and Downing (1997) highlight a digital divide which is manifested by the polarisation between the elderly person’s relationship with digital technology and that of younger person’s.   In the recent past the divide was considered under the terms of extent of access to computers. However, the digital divide can also be looked at in terms of ‘digital native and digital immigrant’ (Prensky, 2001).  Digital natives were identified predominantly as the younger generations who had grown up in digital environments whereas, the digital immigrants were identified as the older generations whose youth was, perhaps, more connected with analogue technology.  Due to the explosion of the World Wide Web and digital technology, the digital immigrants found themselves lagging behind their younger counterparts in this new world  (Prensky, 2001).  Furthermore, Irizarry & Downing (1997) argue that the elderly generations are seen to be at risk of being excluded and they state that there are convincing arguments for ascertaining that they are not marginalised in a world of continuous technological innovations.

Relatively speaking, boundaries of distance and space do not pertain greatly to online learning provision. Therefore online Web technologies have an inherent capacity to provide learning opportunities to members of the public who, for whatever reason, cannot or do not avail of face to face ‘bricks and mortar’ learning. On the premise that Internet technologies possess the potential to bring those on the margins of learning and technology into the loop, designers of e-learning environments need to endeavour to maximise the engagement levels of elderly learners. Guralnick (2006) argues that interface design within e-learning environments need to be a central and integral focus of the whole e-learning product.  The design of interfaces should not only be guided by the way in which people learn, but also by the objectives of the learner and the way in which those objectives can be effectively achieved (Guralnick, 2006). This is of particular concern when designing activities for elderly learners owing to an age-related decline in sensory, physical and cognitive capacities and also as a result of the ageing person’s changing psychological and emotional interests (see Plude & Hoyer, 1985; Grahame et al., 2004; Birren & Schaie, 2006; Kattenstroth et al, 2010).

The percentage growth of elderly adults in society (see  United Nations, 2005; 2009) along with society’s growing dependence on of digital technologies  indicates a strong imperative for designers to be aware of the most important factors that need to be considered when designing e-learning environments to engage elderly learners. 

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