Improving the digital skills of older adults in a COVID-19 pandemic environment

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global population, not only in terms of health, but also in the economic, psychosocial, and educational domains. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have been presented as the main currently available solution to reduce the effects of social isolation and for the maintenance of educational activities, as well as basic services like appointments, shopping, etc. However, the older adult population, one of the higher risk groups for COVID-19, is affected by low levels of digital skills, which makes it harder to adapt to the new paradigms imposed by the pandemic. This paper aims to discuss the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adult education, as well as how to develop digital skills in a pandemic scenario.

Acknowledgments

This work received financial support from the European Union under the European Commission’s Erasmus + Programme Key Action 2 Strategic Partnerships (Adult Education)/ICTskills4AllProject Grant Agreement no. 2018-1-PT01-KA204-047353; from FCT through a PhD scholarship SFRH/BD/137090/2018; from FCT/MCTES through national funds UIDB/04378/2020; and from the University of Brasilia through a PhD scholarship from the programme University of Envelhecer (UniSER/UnB).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).