Game-playing as an effective learning resource for elderly people: encouraging experiential adoption of touchscreen technologies

Abstract

Elderly people often struggle to keep up with digital advancements, particularly given the fast pace of such developments and the increasing need to interact with novel devices in everyday life. To include elderly people in ongoing socio-technological developments, we aim to overcome the barriers to learning and adoption such older adults may face. In this contribution, we set the methodological stage for an interactive game-playing approach using touchscreen tablets. By using games in learning settings, we encourage elderly people in digital adoption and skill development. In a first study, a video analysis of game-playing sessions and active learning support were performed. Although approaches that combine game-playing with learning could encourage elderly people to become an integral part of a technologically advancing society, the facilitation of interaction processes in individual and collective gaming seems to be crucial. We report on the performed field study and provide methodological suggestions for investigating digital media adoption.

Factors promoting the use of virtual worlds in educational settings

“…Participants with CGE reported fewer technical difficulties and expressed greater intention to use virtual technologies in the future. The finding has been supported by numerous studies examining participants of all ages (Baek et al ., 2020; McColgan et al ., 2018; Oppl & Stary, 2018). Practical experience in any skill raises self‐efficacy in that skill, leading to improved performance.…”

“…Furthermore, Akcaoglu and Kale (2016) reported a case study of a teacher who, following a game‐design workshop, reported high comfort with technology combined with rapid acquisition of the relevant technological abilities. Another recent study indicated that playing digital games can assist the elderly to acquire digital abilities (Oppl & Stary, 2018). Experiences with computers in general and computer games in particular are associated with high self‐efficacy in computer use (Hatlevik, Throndsen, & Gudmundsdottir, 2018).…”

Digital Competence, New Perspectives for Teaching in Contexts of Social Isolation [Competencia digital, nuevas perspectivas para la docencia en contextos de aislamiento social]

“…This means, collaborative work is needed in the teaching and learning networks, teachers must learn from their students, and vice versa, thus becoming another student, the principle of digital academic retribution is exercised. Much of the current evidence affirms that digital competences allow professional development, although some studies have shown this, achieving that a small percentage of the population acquires these possibilities if these skills are in a formative gap (Guizado et al, 2019;Pozos & Tejada, 2018;Oppl & Stary, 2018). Therefore, we can affirm that digital competences are inherent competences in 122 the social development that is sought today, since technologies, virtual media and artificial intelligence become necessary elements to achieve that students immerse themselves in digital communities, but above all, empower yourself to captivate others in these environments.…”

An analysis of social interaction between novice older adults when learning gesture-based skills through simple digital games

“…The study is an international collaborative effort between researchers in UK, Austria, North Macedonia, and Slovenia, each having slightly different priorities in the needs and context of both learners and the availability of mentors to support the learning development. We based our objectives on previous research within the project [5], where the participants were single users, only smaller touch-based devices were used, the monitoring was performed remotely, and reporting was only on error behaviour.…”