Getting to grips with computer-based tasks

The increasing importance of technology and the ever-growing number of workers aged 45 and over in the workplace has become a challenging phenomenon at the start of a new century.

A keen awareness of the need for continual on-the-job training and access to retraining programmes for older workers have led to a concentrated focus on the importance of computer-skills training. In an economy defined by rapid technological change, older workers must learn state-of-the-art computer skills or be left behind.

There are specific factors that may place older workers at a disadvantage when learning communication and information technology proficiencies.

One important point is that, quite frequently, it is the older workers themselves who fear change and feel uncomfortable with new technology, making them more resistant to using technology than younger people.

This belief often places them at a disadvantage because designers fail to consider older people as a potential user group when designing technology, both software and hardware.

There are both physical and psychological factors to consider when discussing computer-based training for older trainees. One misconception is that the elderly are unable to learn new skills.

A study of aging and cognitive abilities concluded that decreases in intelligence are modest until people reach their eighties. Even at the age of 80, fewer than half of the individuals showed measurable decreases (Holt, 1998).

Indeed, even despite declining cognitive abilities, such as intelligence, logical thinking, memory and creativity, with proper instruction older workers learn how to use new technology - in particular, computers - just as accurately as young people, the research shows.

The barriers and problems related to computer-based tasks do not seem to be an inability to learn how to use the technology, but more often than not it is a question of lack of access and proper instruction.

Older trainees may feel less comfortable using the computer and this is what may inhibit their desire to learn more about it. For this reason, instructional format is critical to teaching older people how to use technology.

Roger Morell, a research associate with the University of Michigan's Centre for Applied Cognitive Research on Aging, insists that older people should receive simple, concrete and active instructions that exclude extraneous background information.

"Older adults have more trouble disregarding irrelevant information", he states. "And because they have reduced working memory capacity, providing more information may interfere with their ability to process the critical information" (Morell, 1998).

Thus, most of the difficulties encountered by older users of technology seem to be directly related to memory limitations. Furthermore, as users age, their ability to make movements slows, and becomes less reliable. This may cause them to type and mouse slower.

Other results of studies that have analysed adult performance in computer training indicate that older workers may notwithstanding adjust well to computer-based tasks but they take longer to learn and need more assistance while learning.

It appears that with adequate and persistent support, older trainees are able to acquire the same skills as their younger counterparts. According to the Office of Technology Assessment report in the US, "the attitudes of management at work are the greatest hurdle older workers face" in terms of training in new technologies.

Many companies fear the return on investment for older employees and this results in a reluctance to train them. Unfortunately, older adults themselves become influenced by these issues, causing both interest and participation in training to decrease with age.

Many older people do not have a basic familiarity with computers, and might well find the task of learning these skills quite daunting. A good percentage of them accept the negative stereotypes about their ability to learn new technological skills and, as a result, lose much of their initial motivation and enthusiasm.

Anxiety and task unfamiliarity are variables that increase older adults' cautious behaviour. Anxiety about working on a computer task is an example of a "generational" cause of cautiousness. This results in less confidence about their ability to use computers.

Older adults encounter problems in computer-based tasks due to their increasing physical limitations. The most common problem of aging is the natural deterioration of eyesight.

By age 65, most people have lost at least some of their ability to focus, resolve images, distinguish colours and adapt to light changes. Yellowing of the eye lens causes images to appear to an older person as if he or she is looking through a yellow veil. This may cause considerable discomfort when staring at the computer monitor for long stretches of time.

Elders with failing vision may also have problems to read on a computer screen if the font size is too small. It appears that large areas of white space and small blocks of text increase readability for seniors, making pages cleaner looking and easier to navigate.

Animation, or any quickly flashing or blinking elements are highly distracting to peripheral vision, especially for people with glaucoma or cataracts.

With longevity, people often experience other degenerative effects as well, such as difficulty with small motor coordination, often due to arthritis or stiffening of joints. Simply using a traditional mouse can provide a formidable challenge. Scrolling may also prove difficult for some.

As regards organisation of learning about computer-based tasks, elderly people may experience difficulties if the design of the lesson is not clear enough for them.

Cues and hints could be used to assist recall, tasks could be divided into subtasks and advance organisation, such as overviews and outcomes, could give clues of what is to come.

Language is another factor that affects the success of learning technological tasks with seniors. If it is too technical, they may have problems to understand what is being communicated to them; the simpler the language for computer-based tasks, the more comprehensible and understandable they will become.

All in all it appears that age per se may not be linked to poorer outcomes in computer-based learning, but the difficulty of having to adapt to a perceived greater workload by investing greater effort. This compensatory activity creates awareness that the several factors outlined above should be viewed in combination rather than singly.

For example, learning motivation and cognitive ability have a joint influence in technological learning situations (high motivation can influence low ability), and their impact can also depend on the nature of the learning task (its degree of structure).

Finally, because it takes older adults longer to learn new tasks, it may be more effective if older adults and younger workers are trained separately.

Anecdotal evidence concludes that older people become frustrated and distracted if younger colleagues are picking up on a task faster. According to Florida State University's Neil Charness, who studies cognitive aging, "you can teach old dogs new tricks; it just takes a little longer to do it".

Ms Camilleri is currently reading for an MSc in psychology of work from the University of Leicester, UK