“How do I get back to myHomescreen?”: Education onTablet Usage for Senior Citizens

Zahra AshktorabCollege of Information StudiesUniversity of Maryland, CollegeParkparnia@umd.edu

Anne BowserCollege of Information StudiesUniversity of Maryland, CollegeParkabowser1@umd.edu

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AbstractIn this position paper, we describe the lesson plans andfeedback we recieved after conducting a set of threecourses on iPad use at the Holiday Park Senior Centerlocated in Silver Spring, Maryland. Through the feedbackwe recieved from the adult learners in these courses, wedemonstrate that there is a dearth in HCI education forpopulations with special needs like the elderly. We outlinethe importance of courses within communities that teachthe elderly how to interact with their iPads, and theincapability of new modes of teaching like Massive OpenOnline Courses (MOOCs) to fulfill the conditions requiredin order to effectively teach individuals with special needsabout interaction with technology and computers.

Author KeywordsHCI education, accessibility

ACM Classification KeywordsH.5.m [Information interfaces and presentation (e.g.,HCI)]: Miscellaneous.

IntroductionLast year, we were informed that a local senior center wasin need of instructors for introductory iPad Courses.Thinking the task to be simple, we, three graduatestudents in Human Computer Interaction, decided to give

back to the community through our knowledge of HCI.We were told that we would be teaching three courses tosenior citizens about how to interact with their iPads. Inthe United States, people are living longer [3]. Seniorcitizens who are living longer are embracing newtechnologies [4]. Studies show that tablets are usable toSenior Citizens [5]. New technologies and especially newinterfaces bring new, diverse audiences with varied needs.The venues which people can get educated about thesenew technologies are limited. Beyond institutionalizededucation, users must seek help within the communitiesthat they live to understand iPads better.

Class Format and SyllabusAs a team, we initially brainstormed on the types of tasksthat the Senior Center senior citizens would be interestedin accomplishing on their iPads. We had severalcorrespondences with the administrators at the center whoreiterated that the several people from the Apple storehad attempted to teach a class at the senior center and itwas a ”complete disaster” because they were throwingaround technological terms that the students did notunderstand. Given this information, we decided to startour courses with the very basics of the iPad. We dividedour three classes into three groups: The PhysicalComponents of a Tablet, Essential Applications, andNon-Essential Applications. Furthermore, we based thisdecision on the findings from a case study on teachingadult learners information literacy by Gust [2]. Thefindings of this study reveal that we should focus on“keeping it simple”, provide engaging class exersizes, andteach in a slow-paced environment.

Class 1: The Physical Components of a TabletIn this first class, we covered the various physicalcomponents of the iPad: the “home” button, the volume

button on the sides, the headphone jack. We decided tofollow the recommendations based on the findings by Gustet al. by keeping it simple, but in the first few minutes ofclass we forgot to maintain a slow-paced environment,when someone yelled from among the students, “You aretalking way too fast. You need to slow down”. We alsodid some hands on exersizes by instructing students toclick on the icons. Several times, some students yelledout, “How do I get back to the home screen!?”. We theninstructed the students to click the button on the front inorder to navigate back to the home screen.

Class 2: Essential ApplicationsWe define “essential applications” on the iPad asapplications that serve to facilitate communication. Theseinclude: Email, Messaging, Facetime, and Skype. Onecommon problem that we came across while teaching thisparticular course, was that alot of the students hadforgotten their passwords. They did not know where theyhad recorded their password. In some cases, we were notable to recover their old accounts and had to help thestudents create new passwords.

Class 3: Non-Essential ApplicationsIn this class, we covered “non-essential” applications,applications that were meant for entertainment purposes.These applications include: Photos, Kindle, and Facebook.The most touching moment of this experience was anexchange we had with a senior woman at the center. Sheasked if we could help her setup the ”Facebook software”on her iPad. Since, this was a unique request, we helpedher do so after class. After class, we helped setup herFacebook account and helped her send friend requests toher family members. She asked how to post a status andwe guided her through the different options available onthe ipad Facebook application. We asked her what her

first post would be on her Facebook and she held backtears as she began to tell us that her husband had passedaway recently and she wanted to share the obituary withher grand children on Facebook.

MOOCs: The End to Traditional EducationSystems?There have been many advocates of Massive Open OnlineCourses (MOOCs) in the education area [1]. MOOCswere even hailed as ”the right extreme limit of theevolution of the open education, which have resulted in arupture with the traditional educational system, evencould make disappear in a mid term the brick-and-mortarinstitutions as how are actually known [1]. However, onemust pose the question, are MOOCs really capable ofreplacing the “ brick-and-mortar institutions”? Thestudent who required me to slow down in my introductionof the physical aspects of the course could not make thesame request of an online video giving similar instructions.It would be difficult for an online isntructor todemonstrate physically to the student who did not knowhow to navigate back to the homescreen how to do so.Furthermore, a MOOC would be unable to help thestudent who was frustrated because she could notremember her password. And lastly, the elder woman whowanted to set up her facebook and send friend requests toall of her family, so that she could share her husband’sobituary would be unable to seek help in a MOOC. TheseiPad courses were a testament to the necessity of ”brickand mortar institutions” in providing accessible education.

ConclusionThe three courses that we taught at the Holiday ParkSenior Center and the resulting feedback informed ourteaching methods. In order to effectively teach studentsfrom diverse backgrounds with varying capabilities, we

stress the importance of a “living HCI curriculum”.Courses that aim to teach students about how to interactwith technology must be diverse in resource and not relyoverly on the promise of transitioning education to anonline space.

AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank our students at the Holiday ParkSenior Center for teaching us to speak slowly when weaddress audiences and the necessity that HCI educationbe accessible to all individuals.

References[1] Clow, D. Moocs and the funnel of participation. In

Proceedings of the Third International Conference onLearning Analytics and Knowledge, ACM (2013),185–189.

[2] Gust, K. J. Teaching with¡ it¿ tiffany’s¡/it¿: Ago-lightly approach to information literacy instructionfor adult and senior learners. Reference services review34, 4 (2006), 557–569.

[3] Rice, D. P., and Feldman, J. J. Living longer in theunited states: Demographic changes and health needsof the elderly. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly.Health and Society (1983), 362–396.

[4] Smith, N. I. Teaching computer skills to seniorcitizens: A library assistants learning experience.Georgia Library Quarterly 49, 1 (2012), 9.

[5] Werner, F., Werner, K., and Oberzaucher, J. Tabletsfor seniors–an evaluation of a current model (ipad). InAmbient Assisted Living. Springer, 2012, 177–184.