The role of the staff is to provide a motivating, flexible learning environment that meets the needs of mature participants and a kind, empathetic approach.
Effective actions with seniors require building a close, friendly relationship with them.
The subject of development activities should be a pretext to present seniors and give them the opportunity to use new technologies. It should also be tailored to the individual interests and needs of the participants.
The digital issues discussed should be based on the life contexts that seniors come into contact with.
Meetings should be conducted in plain language, and technological issues should be explained without the use of incomprehensible IT terminology.
Face-to-face training is definitely better for seniors than online.
The pace of the classes should be adapted to the group. Repeating the content many times gives seniors the opportunity to understand, remember and consolidate skills.
Digital competences need to be actively applied and repeated many times in order to be consolidated.
A game-based approach is a good way to teach mature listeners.
Classes and materials must be designed specifically for mature learners, taking into account their specific needs. Here are some suggestions:
- digital materials should be accompanied by printed materials,
- learning materials must be simple and as visual as possible,
- it should be taken into account that some people lack the most basic digital skills,
- gradation of difficulty and repetition are important.
Activities aimed at acquiring basic competences and habits of internet and digital technology use should not be subject to formal assessment, competence measurement or certification.
A voluntary, soft form of evaluation can be carried out using quizzes and other gamification tools.
It is worth promoting, among mature listeners, awareness of the benefits of digital citizenship and lifelong learning, trying to engage them in safe discussion forums. Social digital learning can reduce the feeling of loneliness of seniors.
Research should be carried out that will indicate the current development areas in changing senior groups.