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Computers and Senior Citizens: Menu
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Cognative limitations
Physical Limitations
Perceptual Limitations
How to Teach Senior Citizens to Use a Computer
By eHow Relationships & Family Editor
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate
Step1
Understand that
senior citizens often learn differently than younger students, and require more
individualized attention. Try to anticipate questions because many seniors might
be too nervous to ask them.
Step2
Show seniors
respect and patience. Many seniors believe they cannot learn new things at their
age, and view the computer as intimidating. By encouraging them and talking to
them about their fears, you can help them to understand that they can learn this
new technology.
Step3
Repeat your
instructions often. Speak slowly and clearly. Show seniors how to accomplish a
particular task, and then guide them through the process of doing it themselves.
Step4
Consider teaching
seniors how to use Microsoft products. The Windows operating system and the
Office Suite are often available at local libraries and community centers where
senior citizens often use computers.
Step5
Help seniors
overcome the fear of the computer right away. Take apart an old computer and
point out the memory, processor and video cards. Explain the role of each. Show
them the mouse, the keyboard and the monitor and how each plugs into the
computer box.
Step6
Turn on a
computer and demonstrate how to use the mouse and keyboard. To get them started,
show the seniors how to play Solitaire or type some text in the word processing
program.
Step7
Teach basic
computer commands, such as how to use a keyboard shortcut, display a menu or
click on a button.
Step8
Demonstrate how
to use specific programs, such as Microsoft Word and Excel, and explain what
each is commonly used for. Try to give examples that are relevant to seniors.
For example, you might mention that the seniors can use Word to type letters to
friends and Excel to track their spending.
Step9
Show the senior
citizens how to access the Internet. Teach the concept of a search engine, and
then ask them to type in a search term to find information on a topic of
interest to them. If the senior citizen is having difficulty using the
computer's mouse, place your hand over his and gently guide the mouse in the
right direction.
Step10
Be aware of any
mobility or ergonomic issues the seniors might have. Make them comfortable in
front of the computer. Familiarize yourself with Microsoft's Accessibility
tools, which can enable you to make the text on the monitor appear larger and
more readable.
Step11
End the session
by telling the seniors that they should practice using a computer a few times a
week, so they can retain what they've learned and build new computer skills.
Create a list of common computer functions, menus, commands and buttons with
explanations on how to use each. Give it to the senior citizen so she can
practice using the computer when you're not around.
[1]
THE AGEING PROCESS
It is impossible to put together a simple
profile or to identify a
single stereotypical
elderly PC user
because there is a great deal
of diversity within the user group. Each
elderly individual is
unique and therefore requires different
specifications for different
applications and interfaces. A person’s ability
can vary widely
through time depending on factors like fatigue
and illness [10].
Dickinson et al. (2005) suggests that poorly
designed interfaces
are a fundamental obstacle to digital inclusion
and that elderly
adults find it more difficult than their younger
counterparts to use
standard interfaces [8]. By designing technology
to include the
elderly, they can remain living in their own homes
longer,
keeping in contact with the outside world
through, for example,
Internet banking, shopping and email, and thus
increase their
sense of well-being and security. Browne [3]
reports that short-
term memory does not decline much with age, but
working
Copyright is held by the
author/owner(s).
Supporting Human Memory with
Interactve Systems, workshop at the
HCI 2007 (British HCI conference
2007), September 4th, 2007,
Lancaster, UK
Workshop "Supporting Human Memory with
Interactive Systems", HCI Conference, September 4th, 2007,
Lancaster, UK
- 29 -
memory (the ability to make use of items in
short term memory),
does show impairment with increasing age [13].
Zajicek (2001)
has reported that exploratory learning is vital
for building
conceptual models of the operation of a PC
interface where the
user must remember a sequence of actions and
reason about them
[23]. However, Age Associated Memory Impairment
(AAMI) in
elderly people has a detrimental effect on exploratory
learning
where their ability to create a mental model of
the operation of an
interface is reduced [23]. Attention span,
hearing, vision, memory
and reasoning capability are also shown to
degrade naturally with
age [23]. Other research has shown that
elderly people have
difficulty remembering and navigating routes and
particularly
struggle to select the correct order of
landmarks on a route [22].
According to Zajicek (2001), the navigational
structure of
information on the Internet is quite similar to
the way in which
landmarks and special features of a physical
route are organised
[23]. Hence,
elderly people
encounter the same navigational
difficulties while using the Internet due to
their deficiency in
remembering routes [23]. Haimov (2006) reports
on studies
which have shown that the foremost impairment
which affects the
cognitive performance of an
elderly person is
deterioration in
memory [11].