Transcript Deployment Health Clinical Center

Older Users & The Web
Technology and Older Adults:
Evolution, Myths, and Revolution
Roger W. Morrell, Ph.D.
Director of Research, GeroTech Corporation
Adjunct Faculty, School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University
Director, Aging & Technology Institute
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Outline
 Myths
 Evolution in Research
 Revolution in Use of Electronic
Technology by Older Adults
 Recent Projects Resulting from
the Research
 Briefly Back to Myths
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
The Myths
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
The Myths
 In the beginning, electronic products were
designed by young people to be used by
young people.
 Video games
 Computers introduced into schools
 Few advertising efforts were made to
interest older adults.
 Training opportunities were geared toward
younger people.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
The Myths
 1) Older adults are less interested in
learning how to use these technologies.
 2) Older adults simply cannot learn how
to use these technologies.
 3) Older adults are more anxious and
have poorer attitudes toward computer
use relative to younger adults which
ultimately leads to nonuse.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
The Evolution of Research
For a more detailed discussion of this research:
Older Adults and Information Technology: A
Compendium of Scientific Research and Web
Accessibility Guidelines
Morrell, Dailey, Feldman, Mayhorn, Echt, & Podany, 2003
Available through the National Institute on Aging
Checklist is also available
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 Initial research focused on older adults’
attitudes toward the use of electronic technology
and their level of anxiety toward the use of
electronic technology (primarily computers).
 The research began in 1984.
 Most researchers found no age differences in
attitudes.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 Most older adults have positive attitudes
toward the use of computers and other types of
electronic technology.
 Anxiety level did not seem to affect
performance.
 Older adults did not seem to be more anxious
than younger adults in learning how to use
electronic technology.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 We also found that attitudes could be
modified under certain circumstances.
 Longer training periods led to more positive
attitudes and better performance in the training
sessions led to more positive attitudes.
 But the effects were small.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 At the same time, research was focusing on
how older adults learn to use electronic
technology (computers) relative to younger
adults.
 Research began in 1985.
 Cognitive aging researchers and researchers
in Human Factors focused on how they learned
and how best to train them. (about 15 studies)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 We looked at their use of word processing
and spreadsheet software, Line Editors,
Bulletin Boards, interactive computer
programs, and how to acquire basic computer
skills.
 Our research question was: How do they
perform relative to younger adults?
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 We found that older adults made more
mistakes and took more time to learn how to
use these products than younger adults.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 We also searched to find the optimal training
method for teaching computer skills to older
adults.
 We looked at advanced organizers, modeling,
manual, and interactive techniques.
 We did not find an optimal training method.
However, self-pacing and peer interaction
seemed to help.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 We then went on to look to see if they could
learn and retain skills over time.
 They can! We showed that adults ranging in
age from 60 - 88 could be taught skills and return
1 - 2 weeks later and be able to perform these
skills.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 More recent research has shown that older
adults can acquire memory training techniques
and software skills, and also glean information
on career development, pre-retirement, and/or
health issues using CD-ROMS.
(Mahoney, Tarlow, & Jones, 2002; Stoltz-Loike, Morrell, &
Loike, 2004; Plude & Schwartz, 1996; Echt & Kressig, 2001).
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 As the Internet became more and more
popular, research focused on older adults’
ability to use the Internet.
 These studies began In 1995.
 Through systematic studies and usability
studies.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 Through systematic studies we again found
that older adults take more time and make more
mistakes when conducting searches.
 The more steps included in a search = more
mistakes
(the complexity hypothesis which says the more
difficult the task the greater the age differences
in performance).
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Evolution
 Through usability studies we found that
navigation on most web sites was a problem.
 The greater the depth of a web site
(the number of levels) the more trouble older
adults had in navigation. Scrolling was also a
problem.
 We also found that normal age-related
differences in vision, memory, comprehension,
and motor skills affected performance.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
The Revolution in Use of Electronic
Technologies
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Revolution
How are Older Adults Using Electronic
Technology?
 In general, it is still true that older adults
use electronic devices less than younger adults.
However, the fastest growing segment
of Internet users are people over the age of 60
relative to new users in other age groups.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Revolution
 In 1984, about 2.5% of individuals over 55
owned computers. In 1998, about 25% owned
them. And they are purchasing them with rapid
speed so this percentage is increasing.
(Department of Commerce, 1999, 2002)
 In a recent survey over 70% of elderly
computers owners reported that they have
Internet access and 80% said they have
accessed it in the past month
(SeniorNet, 1998; Adler, 2002)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Revolution
 It is predicted that Internet use by the elderly
will increase as much as 358% from 3.7 million
users in 2001 to 17.3 million in 2005.
 At present, it is estimated that about 22% of
older adults are surfing the Web.
(Scanlon, 2001; Pew Internet & Life Project, 2004)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Revolution
 This is not surprising because we knew
almost 2 decades ago that computers could be
introduced successfully into a variety of
environments with older adults.
(Morrell, in press; Morrell, Dailey, Feldman, Mayhorn,
Echt, & Podany, 2003)
 So, what are they doing on the Internet?
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Revolution
 They are spending more time online than other age
groups (approximately 8.3 hours per week).
 The are spending more money online than other age
groups.
 The most common items purchased are clothing,
music and compact discs, computer hardware, books,
and computer software (in that order)!
(e-Marketer, 2000, Greenfield Online, 2000, Willis, 2003)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Revolution
 A survey that my colleagues and I conducted revealed
that middle-aged adults (ages 40 - 59),
young-old adults (ages 60 - 74), and
old-old adults (ages 75+)
most wanted to learn how to do the same things on the
Internet, but they ranked their choices differently.
(Morrell, Mayhorn, & Bennett, 2000)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Use of Information Technology
Preferences
in Web
by Middle Aged,
Preferences
forUse
Web Use
by Age
Group
Young-Old,
and
Old-Old Adults
90
80
70
60
Email
Travel
Health
%
50
40
30
20
10
0
Middle-Aged
Young-Old
Age Groups
Old-Old
(Morrell, Mayhorn, & Bennett, 2000)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Revolution
 The reasons they were not accessing the
Internet were:
1) No access to a computer
2) No training opportunities or information
 But just as important:
3) They did not know what they could do on the
Internet or how to find what they wanted to know
suggesting there is a motivational issue here.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects as a Result
of the Research
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
The NIH Senior Health Project
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The NIH Senior Health Project was jointly
sponsored by the National Institute on Aging
and the National Library of Medicine.
 Other institutes at the National Institutes of
Health are will post components on the web
site in the future on other health issues
concerning older adults.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
The project had two goals in its inception.
 1. To identify the basic and applied research in
cognition and aging, perception and aging, and
human factors and aging that could be used to form
the basis of a set of guidelines to guide the
construction of a web site that met the needs of
older adults. (Guidelines can also be applied to other
electronic products)
 2. Apply the guidelines in the construction of an
actual web site that would be accessible for
older adults.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The NIH Senior Health Project employed scientific
findings from basic and applied systematic research
in cognition and aging and human factors and aging
to guide the design of the web site for use by older
adults.
 The web site was designed to serve as a model that
meets elderly accessibility requirements and also 508
accessibility standards, those recently mandated for
persons with disabilities
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Age-related changes in vision have implications on
how a web site is designed for older adults. In
particular they affect:
 the typeface, type size, and type
weight used;
 the amount of contrast between the type and
backgrounds;
 the spacing of the type and
justification; and
 and the use of color.
(Hartley, 1999; Morrell, et al., 2003)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Age-related changes in certain aspects of cognition
(verbal and spatial working memory, text
comprehension ability, and perceptual speed) may
affect how well an individual can perform web
navigation tasks.
(Craik & Salthouse, 2000; Salthouse, 1991)
 These changes are usually not dramatic but their
presence might interfere in the performance of
computer tasks.
(Morrell & Echt, 1996, 1997; Morrell, 1997, 2002;
Morrell et al. 2003)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Design Implications
 Writing the Text
Style
Phrasing
Complexity
Organization of the material
 Incorporating Other Media
Illustrations and Photographs
Animation, Video, and Audio
Text Alternatives
(Park, 1992; Holt, 2000; Morrell, et al., 2003)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
There are other aspects of web site construction that
should be taken into consideration to help older
adults navigate a web site.
 Consistent Layouts
 Navigation that is simple and straightforward
 Style and Size of Icons and Buttons
 Scrolling or the lack of scrolling
 Site Maps
 Allow for pages to be read again
(Holt & Morrell, 2002; Morrell, 2002;
Morrell, Mayhorn, & Bennett, 2002; Morrell, et al., 2003)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Unique Aspects and Features of the
www.NIHSeniorHealth.gov
Web Site
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 This is the “Talking Web”.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Type size can be immediately enlarged.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Page contrast can be changed.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Example of normal page.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Example of page using the Contrast Feature.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The navigation system is readily apparent
and consistent.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Large buttons are easy to click on.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The typeface and type size used are easy to read.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The videos are a popular feature.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The videos are easy to use.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The videos feature audio and open captioning.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Animations are used to illustrate textual concepts.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
BusinessThinking Products
Designed for Use by Mature Workers
SeniorThinking, LLC
Marian Stoltz-Loike, Ph.D.
CEO and President
Email: [email protected]
www.seniorthinking.com
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The BusinessThinking products are elearning courses on the use of software such as
PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and also about how to
use the Internet for people over the age of 50.
 Other courses include Career Development,
Job Finding, and Pre-Retirement Planning.
 Additional courses are in the development
stage on other issues of importance to older
adults.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 All products are designed in CD-ROM format
and can engineered to be accessed through
corporate/government intranets as well as on
the SeniorThinking.com web site.
 The products are designed to be used to
alleviate the high costs of personnel training in
traditional formats.
 The design of all of the products is based on
the guidelines for elder-accessibility developed
by the National Institute on Aging.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 An explanation is presented immediately on
how to use BusinessThinking products.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 All products begin with an Index.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 All courses are carefully organized.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Illustrations and animations are used.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 All procedures are presented in a step-by-step
manner.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Design is consistent throughout all products.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
The Research Component of BusinessThinking
 Initial development was funded by the
National Institute on Aging through an SBIR
grant.
 Usability tests were conducted on all
products with mature adults (ages 50 – 69),
individuals representative of older people still in
the workforce.
 Knowledge assessments were also
conducted to determine if mature adults
can learn from the products.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
What we have found:
 Application of the NIA guidelines have
resulted in almost errorless performance of
usability tasks.
 In some instances, certain subcategories of
information were hard to fine (this information
was not crucial to navigation).
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 Improvement in knowledge acquisition
improved 23% on information about career
development when the CD-ROM was used
alone.
 We tested taking the CD-ROM home and
using it for one week, adding an instructor-led
Web-based component (via Webex), and adding
a peer2peer component.
 All methods resulted in 50%+ improvement
in performance of tasks after only about 3-4
hours of instruction.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 These results suggest that mature adults
can learn from e-learning products whether they
use the products by themselves alone, use
them with two or more people in a small group,
or use them via the Web in a classroom
situtation.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
Web Accessibility Tool Box
Annie Becker
Professor of Computer Information Systems
School of Management
Florida Institute of Technology
Email: [email protected]
www.cba.nau.edu/becker-a/Accessibilty/main.html
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 This series of products can be used to
evaluate features of web sites for
elder-accessibility.
 Research was funded by the National
Science Foundation
 Dottie is similar to Bobbie which is used to
determine how well web sites meet the 508
standards.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The Dottie Tool evaluates a Web Page for
compliance with the NIA guidelines by
generating
a report on
usability
barriers.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The Readme Tool evaluates Web page
content.
 The Readme Tool generates statistics on
reading grade level, syllables, word count,
sentence counts, and average sentence length
for a specified Web page.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The Readme Tool generates a printout.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The Aging Simulator tool demonstrates how
darkening and yellowing of an image is seen by
a 60 or 75
year old.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 The Graphic Analyzer uses neural net
technology to transform an image (gif file) onto
one that is seen by a person with color
deficiency.
 The Usability Enforcer transforms a Web
Page by enforcing usability rules associated
with a user profile and computing environment.
 The primary focus is on making a Web page
usable for older adults.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Projects
 In other work by Annie Becker, a usability
study was conducted on 125 government,
commercial, and nonprofit Web sites designed
to provide health information.
 The NIA guidelines and other factors were
used as gauges to test the elder-accessibility of
the sites.
 Approximately 93% of the sites did not meet
the requirements for elder accessibility.
(Becker, in press)
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Back to the Myths
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Back to the Myths
 1) Older adults are interested in learning how
to use these technologies.
 2) Older adults can learn how to use these
technologies and retain these skills.
 3) Older adults are not more anxious and do
not have poorer attitudes toward computer use
relative to younger adults.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Back to the myths
 Electronic products can and should be
designed for the older user.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Reality Challenges
 “If you build it, will they come?”
 Probably not.
 Lack of current use of government sites and
lack of revisits to other sites.
 This is a motivational issue.
 This is a marketing issue.
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Reality Challenges
 There are substantial numbers of current
Baby Boomers who do not use computers and
have no intention of using the Web.
 Use in diverse populations. Use by people
with low computer, verbal, and health literacy.
 Pilot and demonstration projects that
disappear due to lack of funding. Research
land is riddled with the ghosts of what could
have been…
Connecting Technology and Older Adults
Thank you.
GeroTech Corporation
2120 Greenwatch Way, Suite 200
Reston, VA 20191
703.915.6046
[email protected]
www.gerotech.com
Connecting Technology and Older Adults