Abstract
Literature has widely explored the learning processes with information and communication technology (ICT) in later life, mostly focusing on the individual learner rather than materialities—such as smartphones, notepads, and handouts. The aim of this paper is to introduce a socio-material perspective by focusing on the question: What role do materialities play in digital learning processes in later life? This paper draws upon a situation analysis of data from a qualitative multi-perspective study. Researchers conducted participatory observations of five ICT courses for older adults in Austria and semi-structured interviews with seven trainers and nine older participants (61–81 years). By identifying three social worlds (digital devices, education, and participants’ everyday lives), the findings show how ICT-learning processes are embedded in the everyday lives of older adults and include not only digital, but also everyday materialities, such as pens, paper and books. These material convoys of digital learning in later life are vital in facilitating successful technology appropriation in later life.
Highlights
IntroductionWhile older adults are often seen as ‘laggards’ in their technology use and are seen as ‘outsiders’ of digitalization processes, recent studies, especially at the intersection of gerontology and science and technology studies [1], have challenged this thinking and instead framed demographic and technological change as two interrelated and co-constitutive phenomena that together shape the everyday life experiences of older adults in Europe and beyond
Educational gerontology, the scientific discipline concerned with learning in later years [2], has started to explore questions around digital learning in later life, asking how, when, and where older adults successfully learn to use digital technologies and how these processes can be supported through later-life learning
This paper introduced a socio-material perspective on the learning processes with digital technology by using a situation analysis to explore data from five information and communication technology (ICT) courses
Summary
While older adults are often seen as ‘laggards’ in their technology use and are seen as ‘outsiders’ of digitalization processes, recent studies, especially at the intersection of gerontology and science and technology studies [1], have challenged this thinking and instead framed demographic and technological change as two interrelated and co-constitutive phenomena that together shape the everyday life experiences of older adults in Europe and beyond. Educational gerontology, the scientific discipline concerned with learning in later years [2], has started to explore questions around digital learning in later life, asking how, when, and where older adults successfully learn to use digital technologies and how these processes can be supported through later-life learning. Literature focuses on motivational aspects, e.g., the role of social support on motivations to learn ICT, the role of self-efficacy, or experiences of successes, and the role of anxiety and frustrations or attitudes towards
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