Older People Becoming Successful ICT Learners Over Time: Challenges and Strategies Through an Ethnographical Lens

Abstract

A growing ageing population and an increasing reliance on information and communication technologies (ICT) to conduct activities associated with daily living means that addressing how older people learn to use ICT is timely and important. By drawing on a four-year ethnographical study with 420 older people in two different environments, this paper shows that they adopt three strategies to become successful ICT learners, while at the same time dealing with the effects of age-related changes in fluid memory: (a) linking learning to real-life needs, (b) learning collaboratively and informally, and (c) adopting appropriate memory aids. This paper also addresses the question of how valid these results will be when today's ICT-literate adult people grow older. The longitudinal aspect of the data gathered shows that older people become confident ICT learners over time, that the learning strategies and cognitive-related difficulties are mostly time-persistent, and that their life experience is always important in learning transfer. Implications for providing older people with a more integrated approach to ICT learning are discussed.

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to all our participants, who so kindly accepted to take part in our research. They allowed us to learn with and from them and to share their learning experiences with us. We also thank Graeme Coleman, David Sloan, Mireia Fernàndez, Valeria Righi, Andrea Rosales, and Patricia Santos for their feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript. We also acknowledge the support from the Commission for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, and the ESRC's New Dynamics of Ageing Programme (Grant Number RES-353-25- 0008).