E-learning and elder people: Barriers and benefits

Abstract

In a transition to information society, a development of new methods of education, including e-learning, is emphasized, and equal access of all groups of society to information technologies is advocated. The number of elder people is growing rapidly all over the world, and for many countries they have been identified as a social group making only marginal use of IT. A survey was undertaken with 110 elder Russian computer literacy training students to identify their reasons for computers and Internet non-use or limited use as well as their desired activities online. The results suggest that, in correspondence to findings in other countries, senior users need support and social encouragement to overcome stereotypes of computerspsila complexity and inappropriateness. Formal computer literacy training courses were found to significantly increase computer (from 38 to 81%) and Internet (from 21 to 62%) usage for elder people.