Digital Participation Among People Aged 50+ in Switzerland:

Insights to Course Offers and Training Experiences

Sarah Speck

, Lilo Ruther

and Sabina Misoch

Institute for Ageing Research, University of Applied Sciences Eastern Switzerland,

Rosenbergstrasse 59, St.Gallen, Switzerland

Keywords: Baby Boomer Generation, Digital Divide, Digital Participation, Digital Skills, Older Adults, Social Inclusion,

Training Needs.

Abstract: Digital skills in everyday life are inescapable, particularly if one wants to stay socially engaged in later life.

With ageing societies, it must be ensured that all, also older adults, are not behind. The digital divide has been

long dealt with, however, in this debate the heterogeneity of adults aged 50+ are largely neglected. This

research article is part of a mixed-methods study. It assesses the digital training courses currently provided

and the experiences and needs of people aged 50+ who participated in such courses. A program analysis and

individual qualitative interviews were used to extract the views and experiences of older adults, retired, or

still working, in Switzerland. The wide range of training offers, and the results of our interviews indicate that

digital participation is a relevant aspect of everyday life, so be and stay socially engaged and fosters well-

being and self-esteem. We relate the concept of digital competences and digital participation to our empirical

findings.

1 INTRODUCTION

Today, society is being transformed by digitalization

(Tskekeris, 2018). Digitalization changes society and

the lives of individuals fundamentally. The Covid-19

pandemic showed us how important digital skills are

today, even if it is only to stay in touch and be

connected to our loved ones. Especially, the

pandemic has excluded older adults from personal

contact in society whereas the young benefited from

opportunities of modern information and

communication technologies using their smartphones

or tablets. The current Covid-19 pandemic

accelerated the process of digitalization recently

(Seifert and Charness, 2022). Despite digital

development and improvement, it must be ensured

that all citizens can develop skills necessary to

participate in daily public and social life and to access

services provided, e.g., health or banking services.

Since population ageing is on the rise, it must be

ensured that older adults are able to apply, maintain

and acquire skills with the constant digital progress.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9076-4121

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1474-1171

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0791-4991

Digital skills and competences are inescapable and

essential (European Commission, 2018; Ferrari et al.,

2013). Ferrari (2012) provides a comprehensive

definition of digital competences as

“…the set of knowledge, skills, attitudes (thus

including abilities, strategies, values and

awareness) that are required when using ICT

and digital media to perform tasks; solve

problems; communicate; manage information;

collaborate; create and share content; and build

knowledge effectively, efficiently,

appropriately, critically, creatively,

autonomously, flexibly, ethically, reflectively

for work, leisure, participation, learning,

socialising, consuming, and empowerment” (p.

3-4).

Regardless of today’s progress of digitalization,

there are still vulnerable populations who have either

limited digital competences or access to various

devices. Older adults tend to have fewer digital

competences as they opt to not use the internet

compared to than younger generations who grew up

Speck, S., Ruther, L. and Misoch, S.

Digital Participation Among People Aged 50+ in Switzerland: Insights to Course Offers and Training Experiences.

DOI: 10.5220/0011851900003476

In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (ICT4AWE 2023), pages 48-58

ISBN: 978-989-758-645-3; ISSN: 2184-4984

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

with the digital world. This observation of a digital

gap between the generations is called the digital

divide (Friemel, 2016), which was highly criticized

and discussed in detail of being dichotomous, not

including or considering other aspects. One key

criticism is that there is a high risk to overlooking the

group of people who – in a continuum of digital skills

– are not at one end but somewhere in the middle

(Hämmerle et al., 2022). In recent years hence,

discourses shifted to more inclusive views, i.e., rather

than to focus on what is missing or who is missing out

in debates of digitalisation, it is increasingly relevant

to fill the gaps and ask how to address the divide and

seek to broaden the understanding if a digital

inclusion and approaches how to alleviate so-called

existing divides, gaps and inequalities relating to

digitalization (Reisdorf and Rhinesmith, 2020).

By talking of excluded populations within the

digitalized world, the social group older adults were

major area of interest. However, up to now, far too

little attention has been paid to people aged between

50 and 70 with only moderate digital skills have

received far less attention than the population aged

65+ who are retired and in their third part of life. Part

of this younger old group is often referred to as Baby

Boomer generation, Baby boomers or just boomers

(Oertel 2014). Now, by considering typical cohort

effects and incorporating the concept of digital

divide, we assume that the proportion of the group

with moderate digital skills is especially high among

people 50+, as most of these people have gained their

digital skills more at work than in schools or at home

(Van Dijk & Hacker, 2003; Reiner et al., 2020).

Our research project focuses therefore particularly

on persons in their second half of life who were

trained in digital skills and competencies on the job

(Prensky, 2001) and have not grown up in the world

of digitalisation. One goal of this study is to depict the

digital skills and training needs of the overlooked

social group of people aged 50+ who either are still in

professional life, close to retirement or retired. The

comparison of different cohorts shows that boomers

have different needs than older cohorts (aged ≥ 65).

We took this cut-off and research gap for our research

project about digital skills of adults aged 50+ living

in Switzerland (see Hämmerle et al. 2022). We focus

on their needs in the field of digital skills and their

experiences in digital trainings. The aim of the

research project is to a) outline an assessment of the

status quo of digital trainings, b) investigate the needs

and wishes of course participants and hereafter, c) to

provide best practice recommendations for action.

Further, this study seeks to raising awareness to the

unfortunate general assumption and assignation of

people of a certain age (or generation) to a completely

homogenous category of “older adults” or even “older

people” (see also Schumacher & Misoch 2017).

Our assumptions on digital participation of people

aged 50+ in Switzerland are based on previous studies

(cf. Stallmann 2012; Höpflinger 2015; Pauli &

Misoch, 2018; Schumacher Dimech & Misoch,

2017). We particularly focus on the issue of enabling

digital participation among people aged 50+. The

starting point of this project are two important

developments: (1) The Baby Boomer generation has

higher digital skills than older generations

(Hämmerle et al., 2022: 278) and (2) Progressive

digitalization (which was given another boost by the

Covid-19 pandemic) leads to different prerequisites

and needs for digital training and education. In

general, it can be observed that the group with hardly

any digital knowledge is increasingly shrinking. This

makes it as well more difficult to reach out to this

specific group. The transformation from having no

clue and no digital skills at all is shifting to more basic

digital knowledge mostly acquired on the job. Hence,

this development changes the needs for digital

training which need to be adjusted and enhanced for

the group with basic or little digital skills.

The research paper at hand outlines preliminary

results and focuses in two data sets from the overall

study: assessment of the current course offers

available in Switzerland and interviews with

individuals who have experience in digital course

trainings. We firstly aim at crystallizing if course

providers are adequately addressing their target group

and what digital skills and competences are offered

therein. While breaking down and illustrating

different digital competence areas of people aged

50+, we firstly map out what digital competences

currently are offered and what needs, or changes are

required for existing offered courses to meet the

needs of participants.

Secondly, we are interested in the course

experience of participants and asked about their

opinions, needs, and wishes for future courses and

their motivation linked to course participation. We

outline what motivates participants to attend digital

skill courses whether retired or still working. In doing

so, we then explore under what circumstances courses

on digital skills offered can contribute to both, digital

and social participation.

The paper closes with a discussion and

exploration on how digital participation might

support avoiding digital and social exclusion in later

life.

Digital Participation Among People Aged 50+ in Switzerland: Insights to Course Offers and Training Experiences

2 RESEARCH DESIGN AND

APPLIED METHODS

Our study Digital Skills and Training Needs of 50+.

A Study Beyond the Digital Divide takes the

methodological approach of a mixed methodology

(Cresswell and Vicki, 2007; Kelle 2022) based on:

• a program analysis (N = 193; Käpplinger,

2008; Nolda, 2011; Schrader and Zentner,

2010; Mayring, 2012)

• a large-scale quantitative telephone survey

(CATI, N = 400; Howard, 2014),

• 20 qualitative semi-standardized follow-up

interviews (N = 20; Misoch, 2019), and

• an online platform containing a self-

assessment test to generate long-term data

during and beyond the project duration (see

Hämmerle et al., 2020).

For the paper at hand, focus lie on the qualitative part

of the study, hence program analysis and the 20

individual interviews.

2.1 Program Analysis of 193 Courses

Program analysis is a widely tested method in adult

education (Nolda, 2011) for analysing course

offerings in the continuing education sector. The

method is a continued development of the qualitative

content analysis after Mayring (2012, 2015). With the

help of this method an inventory of further training

courses for the expansion of digital skills can be

made. Inductive and deductive category formation go

hand in hand in program analysis (Gieseke and Opelt,

2003; Käpplinger, 2008; Nolda, 2011; Schrader and

Zentner, 2010; Mayring, 2012).

We collected all relevant courses were through the

website berufsberatung.ch (ch.ch). The website

contains a course search tool. This official website for

vocational training in Switzerland lists training offers

from all cantons considering the different language

regions. The project team imported the relevant data

(course descriptions) then to ATLAS.ti.

The program analysis then finally consists of 193

documents of digital training offers. Low-threshold

course are not included in the sample. The 193 course

descriptions from 2020 include 118 courses from

German-speaking part, 19 from French speaking part

and 28 from Italian speaking part of Switzerland.

As the program analysis proceeds the project team

carried out a code schema and the search for anchor

D stands for document and shows the number in brackets

indicate the frequency of how many times the categories

were counted in ATLAS.ti.

examples. The coding scheme is based on the

literature of the method (Käpplinger, 2008; Schrader

and Zentner, 2010) and on categories and

subcategories that have emerged from the

development of the self-assessment questionnaire and

derived from the Digital Competence Framework.

With this analytic scheme we could make visible

which areas of competences are addressed in the

course programs and which occur rarely and are

totally neglected.

The coding scheme was built on the categories

“the degree of participation”, “the targets of the

course”, “the target group”, “the content of the

course”, “required precognition/previous

knowledge”, “the event format” “the understanding

of digitalization” and “the methods used in the

course”. Minimum and maximum contrast courses

with different target groups and course content were

selected as anchor example.

The coding plan was tested on the following

anchor examples “Android smartphone in everyday

life-

Beginner course for seniors and senior citizens”

(D4_001), “Smartphones in everyday life –

beginners” (D_46) “Deepening in the computer in

everyday life” and “Digital Marketing Specialist -

Certificate of the provider” (D_129).

It turned out that the deductive variables

“participation” and “understanding of digitalization”

as well as the teaching method could hardly be found

empirically in the course descriptions.

2.2 Individual Qualitative Interviews

We conducted in addition to the data of the program

analysis 20 qualitative semi-structured individual

interviews via telephone survey. The interviews were

conducted in cooperation with DemoSCOPE. Ten

interviewees were recruited form the quantitative

CATI study who expressed an interest in an in-depth

qualitative interview, ten were chosen out of a follow-

up recruitment. Interviewees were aged between 55

and 80 years, from almost all linguistic parts of

Switzerland (German, French, Italian), including in

total 11 male and nine female respondents.

For comprehensibility, the interview guide in

German was checked in a pre-test (n=2). Interview

data was transcribed into text data (German) which

thereafter was analysed after Mayring’s content

analysis (2012) with help of the qualitative data

analysis software ATLAS.ti. Here, we put emphasis

ICT4AWE 2023 - 9th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

intercoder reliability which was achieved through

Ruther and Speck from the project team coding the

text data independently according to Mayring (2015).

All relevant materials (interview guidelines,

leaflets, brochures, content for discussions and

workshops) were translated into French and Italian by

IAF staff members.

3 FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY

Conceptually, we refer to the European Digital

Competence Framework (Ferrari et al.2013;

Carretero et al., 2017; DigComp, 2020) that identifies

five key components in digital competences: (1)

Information and data literacy (2) Communication and

collaboration (3) Digital content creation (4) Safety

and (5) Problem solving. This competence framework

we extended to a total of seven areas of competences.

The seven categories hence describe an approach to a

holistic range of digital competences. Further, we

think it is a useable tool for an overall description of

digital skills of individuals. The extended framework

of the competence areas of digital skills moreover

includes: (1) Basics and Access, (2) Search, Evaluate,

Manage and Store, (3) Communicate, Collaborate

and Participate, (4) Create and Design, (5) Protect and

Act safely, (6) Problem solving and Acting (7) and

Analyse and Reflect. We added the categories

“Basics and Access” and “Analyse and Reflect” and

differentiated the other areas by highlighting and

naming the activities that describe each section more

specifically by the skill content or competency (table

1). Increasingly, (public) services such as banking,

shopping, and buying tickets for public transport are

offered exclusively online. Using these services as an

offline service generates costs for the customer or

clients. Regarding older adults for instance, this is a

disadvantage. Older adults increasingly are left

behind when it comes to digital skills and use daily

life (Seifert and Rössel 2019: 4). To address and

discuss this issue at hand, we refer to Reisberg and

Rhinesmith’s call not to focus on what how the divide

or gaps are characterized but more on what is possible

rather than what is missing or who is missing out

(2020). This might provide a fresh approach moving

away from a deficit-based perspective to a more

asset-based perspective. This brings us one step

further to identifying potential solutions, and

alternatives to increase digital inclusion – and

regarding the current situation with the Covid-19

pandemic more social inclusion. Digital inclusion is

not merely about being online or having a device

connected but as well to build and maintain skills and

confidence (Ageing Better, 2021). In addition, Seifert

et al. (2021) likewise assert that digital participation

promotes social inclusion. We hope to point out from

our findings, how active participation in digital skill

courses, thus improvement of digital skills, may

lower risks of social exclusion in society, particularly

among older adults.

4 PRELIMINARY RESULTS

4.1 Findings from the Program

Analysis

The 193 documents of course descriptions provide a

wide range regarding topics and content of digital

training. All courses, once a participant registered for

it, are binding: Registration for the course is

necessary in advance and often basic digital

knowledge, i.e., access to a computer and an own

email address, are required for the participation in

digital training courses.

Box 1: Example of course description (cont.)

There are basic training courses that address a

specific target group and others with an unspecific

target group. The following is a typical example for a

D_002: Getting started with the computer for seniors

[Einstieg in den Computer-Alltag für Senioren]

Description of the offer:

- use mouse and keyboard correctly > digital device

-> Basics and Access

- create and design simple text documents

-> Create and Design.

- create a simple document repository

-> Search, evaluate, manage and storage

- save documents

-> Search, Evaluate, Manage and Storage

- print documents-

> Basics and Access

- use the internet for research etc.

> Search, Evaluate, Manage and Storage

- know important terms from everyday computer life

-> unspecific

Original: [Beschreibung des Angebots]:

- Maus und Tastatur korrekt einsetzen

- einfache Textdokumente erstellen und gestalten

- eine einfache Dokumentenablage anlegen,

- Dokumente speichern

- Dokumente ausdrucken

- das Internet für Recherchen etc. benutzen

- wichtige Begriffe aus dem Computeralltag kennen

Digital Participation Among People Aged 50+ in Switzerland: Insights to Course Offers and Training Experiences

beginner’s course: «Getting started with the

computer» [Einstieg in den Computeralltag]. The

adapted version for seniors reads as follows: «Getting

started with the computer for seniors» [Einstieg in

den Computeralltag für Senioren]. Some of the

courses offered mainly concentrate on just one device

at once, either smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Digital skills from the seven competence areas

included in this illustrative example are: (1) Basics

and Access (2) Search, Evaluate, Manage, and Store

and (4) Create and Design. A more detailed look at

one specific example illustrates what the course

contents consist of, and which digital competencies

are addressed therein (Box 1).

The last point from the description list “know

important terms from everyday computer life” is

rather unspecific. It can refer to basic concepts and

functions as well as to more complex terms. Also, it

is not clear if the last bullet point refers to an

application level or a level of reflection. The course

description of the example above then is completed

by the goals of the course as follows (Box 2):

Box 2: Example of course description (cont.)

Box 3: Example of course description (cont.)

Here, it is once again emphasized in clear terms

which skills the participants will have mastered by the

end of the course.

The sample of course descriptions include further

courses dealing with specific programs like video,

social media, and image processing. Others deal with

typical applications for traveling and other daily

businesses. Finally, job-specific continuing education

courses make up a large part of the sample. Of these,

several courses lie in digital marketing. In addition to

the target group of seniors, unemployed, migrants and

women and specific job groups are targeted.

The duration of the different courses is between a

one-day course and courses that last for several

months. The target groups of the courses vary a lot as

well and mainly address seniors as being rather on a

low level. Courses either address beginners or

advanced learners. The sample includes courses

which are only on demand. The description of these

is formulated flexible and open, adaptable to the

needs of the participants. It is striking that many

course descriptions are optional formulated and

express a flexibility of offers. This means that the

objectives of the courses are missing (8 times) or not

specifically mentioned (13 times), the level of

competence is not decidable (29 times), there is no

information about the content (16 times) or the

prerequisites are formulated flexibly (5 times).

Finally, courses for moderate training needs are

hardly to find, i.e., courses for potential participants

who have basic knowledge but are not advanced. We

can depict a high variation of courses in our sample.

However, the program analysis does not point out

whether all these listed courses took place or not.

Another interesting aspect to consider is the

requirement of previous knowledge, access, or ability

to get online and possessing the right hardware for the

course. Basic digital knowledge (access to a computer

and an own email address is a requirement for the

participation in the course offers (34 times). Problem

solving and Acting (6) and Analyse and Reflect (7)

have less occurrence in the course descriptions. The

chart (figure 1) shows the distribution of the

competences provided in the course contents and

which of the competences of the seven areas occur

together frequently.

Interestingly, low-threshold course offerings

offered at kursberatung.ch are more likely to be found

in the Italian- and French-language course

descriptions.

The most important result of the program analysis

is that courses for moderate offerings are hardly to be

found in Swiss adult education. The limitations of a

program analysis also become clear, as it can only

D_002: Getting started with the computer for seniors

[Einstieg in den Computer-Alltag für Senioren]

Targets:

Participants gain confidence and independence in

using the PC and can use the mouse and keyboard in a

targeted manner. The participants save their

documents and know where to find them. On the

Internet they quickly find the desired information.

Original: [Ziele]:

Die Teilnehmenden gewinnen Sicherheit und

Selbständigkeit im Umgang mit dem PC und können

Maus und Tastatur gezielt nutzen.

Die Teilnehmenden speichern ihre Dokumente und

wissen, wo sie diese wiederfinden im Internet finden

sie rasch die gewünschten Informationen.

D_028: Android Basis tablet course

[Android Tablet Basis Kurs]

Prerequisites are first experience in using the device

and an established Apple ID or Google account (mail

address and password). The course takes place with

your own device.

Original: Voraussetzung sind erste Erfahrungen in der

Bedienung des Gerätes und ein eingerichtetes Apple–

ID bzw. Google–Konto (Mail–Adresse und Passwort).

Der Kurs findet mit dem eigenen Gerät statt.

ICT4AWE 2023 - 9th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

capture the course descriptions but not the courses

actually held. However, the analysis of the course

descriptions offers important clues for the course

providers, which we can pass on to them so that they

can adapt their offers even better to the needs of

people 50+ in Switzerland.

Problem solving and

Acting

Communicate,

Collaborate and

Participate

Basics and access

Create and Design

Security

Search, Evaluate,

Manage and Store

Analyse and Reflect

Figure 1: Distribution of the 7 competences in the provided

course offers.

4.2 Findings from the Qualitative

Interviews: Experiences

The set of questions that guide the qualitative part of

the study aim at identifying the expectations, needs

and motivations linked to course participation and the

experiences participants have with attended courses.

Resulting from the 20 qualitative semi-structured

interviews, course experiences were both, positive

and negative, whereas expectations, motivations and

needs varied a lot. Variations are due to current living

situation such as age and gender, personal life

situation, interest and leisure activities and

professional background and education which

influence particularly the motives of course attendees

significantly. Why attend a digital skills course?

Personal motives and motivations among the sample

varied a lot depending on their life situation. Those in

working life were mainly suggested to attend a course

by their employers as it is necessary for work.

4.2.1 External and Intrinsic Motivations

Particularly the Covid-19 pandemic forced many

people to learn new modes and channels to teach or

hold meetings despite lockdowns and social

distancing. Thus, reasons for motivations are induced

oftentimes by external factors of work environment.

The aspect of necessity does not appear among those

who are already retired. Intrinsic motivations are

paramount here: Curiousness and independency.

Private commitments and voluntary engagements in a

club or association motivated interviewees to educate

oneself and take part in courses. A 55-year-old male

participant stated that, “As member of a choir where

I am responsible for the development of a webpage, I

recently educated myself in the field of web-design”

(Interview #52). Further, during lockdown, home

office requirements and quarantine in 2020 and 2021

people searched for activities at home, compatible

with the restrictions. A 53-year-old woman

mentioned, “I wanted to make use of my new free

time during the pandemic lockdown and associated

short-time work. In my case, I wanted to get to know

new programs as my employer does not support or

offer this, hence, I took matters into my own hands”

(Interview #83)

4.2.2 Expectations Towards Digital Courses

In terms of expectations of the course, half of the

interviewees mentioned that applicability

and realization of what they have learned is of high

relevance or as one interviewee stated, “(Important is)

that I can apply 100 percent of what I have learned”

(Interview #22). The qualitative investigation

revealed that most of the interviewees could apply

everything during the course. However, at home they

often found themselves helpless and wish some

guidance (through materials from the course, videos,

or a digital coach).

Further, course participants expected the course

instructor to be competent in their respective areas

they taught. Talking about this issue a 68-yerar old

woman said, “My expectations lie in a varied design

of the course and good didactic skills of the course

instructor (…) The teacher should therefore have in-

depth "know-how", so that all questions can be

answered. The teacher must know what she or he is

talking about” (Interview 19). Another expectation or

rather wish for future courses was that course

participants should be on the same level and the

participants should fit together as a group, also

regarding the participant’s age. The composition of

the group of 68-year-old female interviewee was, “(..)

mixed in terms of age. This made it difficult to carry

Digital Participation Among People Aged 50+ in Switzerland: Insights to Course Offers and Training Experiences

out the course in general as young people always went

forward quickly. My age group was rather slow”

(Interview #16). A purposeful pre-selection of group

participants prior to the course starts or at time of

registration would be desirable, i.e., to determine the

level of knowledge of a participant to enable

homogeneous groups regarding the course level.

However, in one case, the participant thought that

mixed groups are better: “The group composition

should be mixed in terms of professional

backgrounds, gender and age in order to have exciting

interactions and to benefit from a diversity of

experiences”. While this interviewee benefited from

a mixed setting, others felt excluded, or cannot follow

the course in a faster tempo.

A general expectation for on-site courses was a

complete and working infrastructure, including good

acoustics, course spaces that are easy to find and

access, and nice environment for breaks (i.e.,

possibility to go outside).

4.2.3 Course Search: How Do I Find the

Suitable Course?

The majority of the interviewees found it easy to

search for courses. In many cases they were informed

by their personal network or read it in leaflets or

brochures that target older adults in society.

Interviewees aged under 65 years, those who are still

in working life, are mainly recommended to attend

digital skill courses by their employer. However, a

55-year-old woman found the search of courses

overwhelming as the number of provided services on

the internet are endless. She mentioned: «Simple is an

exaggeration. It is no fun. It [online search] is not

comparable to brochures. The online handling is not

intuitive, when you have to click on each and

everything. The overview is totally missing, an

overall view would be helpful and important”

(Interview #81). Overall interviewees mentioned a

confusing numbers of courses and providers and the

concomitant challenge of finding the right course

which suits their needs and at the same time is a

trustworthy and offer good-quality courses. The

woman who mentioned not being amused with online

course search added, that it particularly helped her

though to search specific websites, i.e., for digital

skill courses tailored for seniors. Often the search did

not stop on the individual online-search. Interviewees

often mentioned asking their friends, colleagues at

work or relatives for further information.

4.2.4 In Person or Remote?

The Covid-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on

how courses are taught, in presence or virtual. Three

thirds of the interviewees preferred traditional

classroom training and face-to-face learning.

Underlying reason are social exchange during breaks

and after the course, joint learning, good atmosphere

among the participants, and direct support from

course instructor. Active participation during the

course was rated higher than for the virtual courses.

Nonetheless, course participants were partially

intimidated or felt ashamed to ask Virtual courses

demand high concentration and prevent active

contribution to the course. Further, the interviewees

who attended both formats, tended to evaluate virtual

courses as poorer in quality than courses taught face-

to-face. Particularly, interviewees aged 60+ preferred

to attend the course in presence, whereas those still in

professional life preferred virtual courses, as it saves

time and costs questions in front of a group in

presence, especially when there were younger

participants around.

5 DISCUSSION: WHAT DO WE

KNOW SO FAR ABOUT

DIGITAL PARTICIPATION OF

PEOPLE AGED 50+?

The variety in both, course offers in the program

analysis as well as the most diverse experiences and

motivations of older adults aged 50+, show that the

social group of “older adults” are a heterogenous

group. With the preliminary results presented in this

paper, it can be suggested that course offers need to

be customized to the requirements and wishes of

potential participants and continuously adjusted.

We found in the program analysis that a broad

range of courses and topics are offered. However, it

is difficult to reach a conclusion based on the 193

course descriptions to what extent these courses

helped the participants to increased digital

participation. The course descriptions are at times

rather unspecific. This point was as well reflected in

the individual interviews.

Only a few descriptions of courses deal explicitly

with specific everyday issues such as buying a ticket

for public transport online, using Online Banking or

using online payment (e.g., Apple Pay).

ICT4AWE 2023 - 9th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

Table 1: Description of the categories and the associated skills that belong to each competence area.

Category Description course target

(1) Basics and Access Digital device:

- Putting into operation

- Dealing with input mode (with mouse, keyboard)

- Access digital content (e.g., Internet)

- Access various functionalities (e.g., programs, apps)

(2) Search, Evaluate,

Manage and Store

- Search for information and data in different digital environments (Google, Wikipedia,

daily newspapers online, etc.) (dealing with the Internet)

- Use and adapt search strategies

- Identify relevant sources (media literacy, being able to interpret seriousness)

- Evaluate, interpret & critically assess sources and information

- Store information & data securely, find them again

(3) Communicate,

Collaborate and

Participate

- Communicate with others using various digital capabilities (e.g., devices, programs, apps)

- Share digital content (e.g., files, links, images) with others

- Use digital tools for collaboration (e.g., to merge or collaborate on information/data)

- Actively engage and participate in society by using digital services (e.g., online services,

public transport tickets, tax declaration, sharing knowledge e.g., in social networks, online

communities)

- Recognize and apply rules of conduct (netiquette) in digital exchange and collaboration

(4) Create and Design

- Apply various formats and editing tools (e.g., word processing, image creation,

spreadsheet programs)

- Process information, content, and existing digital products (e.g., text, image, graphic

documents) and insert these into existing knowledge to create new contents

- Recognize meaning of copyright, right of use, and intellectual property, refer to sources,

and acquire rights in use

- Develop instructions for a computer system (e.g., programming)

(5) Protect and Act safely - Recognize risks and dangers in the digital environment (e.g., websites or e-mails with

fraudulent intentions (e.g., phishing mails)

- Protect content, personal data and privacy in the digital environment (e.g., do not disclose

private data online, use secure passwords and anti-virus programs)

- Set security settings and keep them up to date

- Recognize health risks and addiction risks when using digital technologies and protect

themselves and others (e.g., ergonomics, addiction risk).

(6) Problem solving and

Acting

- Solve technical problems in the operation of devices themselves

- Identify own needs and recognize the digital tools or technical solutions to problems for

this purpose

- Use different digital tools depending on the situation

- Recognize knowledge gaps in the use of digital tools and find, evaluate, and use digital

learning opportunities

- Recognize and understand functionalities and basic principles of the digital world (e.g.,

underlying algorithms)

(7) Analyse and Reflect - Recognize and critically question the design means of digital media and its effect.

- Recognize opportunities and risks of media use in different areas of life

- Recognize the importance of digital media and use them in a self-regulated manner

- Awareness that digital skills need to be regularly updated

- Assess the impact of technologies and technology use for the environment

Target group-oriented courses for seniors are

received very differently. Especially because of our

results that more and more seniors are still working

(as our interview results show), it is important to offer

specialized courses also for self-employed seniors

and not to withhold them only to individual

professional groups.

The 20 qualitative individual interviews gave

relevant insights into participants’ experiences

regarding digital skill training courses. Reasons and

Digital Participation Among People Aged 50+ in Switzerland: Insights to Course Offers and Training Experiences

motivations we found in our data for participation in

digital training are social contact and exchange and

engaging socially. These activities were not possible

during lockdowns, hence many mentioned they

enjoyed direct personal contact and that they

appreciated particularly on-site courses which are

face-to-face. Especially the breaks were mentioned to

be important as well for course participation, to even

only meet up socially with other people their age and

exchange views and experiences. This also accords

with earlier observations from Chopik (2016) who

notice the importance of the social aspect in digital

training. He emphasizes the benefits of using

technology for social connection between older

adults. The Covid-19 pandemic strengthened this

need of exchange and social contact. It seems that

participating in digital training helps older adults aged

50+ to generate contacts and social exchange. Our

preliminary findings in this research article are so far

in line with similar studies such as the

interdisciplinary multi-case study of Pihlainen et al.

(2022) which have shown that the majority of older

adults (50+) mentioned hobby, social contacts and

staying active in old age as main reasons for digital

participation and course taking.

Of course, some of the participants attended the

courses for other reasons: To learn something new to

stay independent in the foreseeable future and not

burden their adult children. However, important

reasons and intrinsic motivation were for instance, to

improve digital skills to apply these to improve club

activities. Being able to contribute actively to

something that is important for them, their hobby,

improves self-esteem and life quality. This finding is

consistent to Benvenuti et al. (2020) who found that

technology is beneficial for the quality of life and

well-being of older adults. It is encouraging to

compare our results of intrinsic motivation of

participants with those of Pihlainen et al. (2022) who

found that many are motivated by own interest to

learn something, to stay active and independent.

Therefore, digital participation per se and course

attendance is linked also to curiosity and pleasure. In

our sample we especially also found voices stating

that they wanted to use their new free time during

lockdowns meaningful.

Interviewees also mentioned that they want to stay

up to date regarding the use of digital devices but as

well society or external factors would pressure them

to engage digitally. Pihlainen et al. (2022) as well

demonstrate out of their data, that older adults feel

socially pressured to deal with modern technology or

a certain device (p. 10). Notwithstanding, the Covid-

19 pandemic forced work and school to go digital as

16 working participants in our sample mentioned they

attended digital training because of their employer

and due to Covid-19 restrictions for work and school.

In terms of expectations and experiences course

participants made our results support the idea of

adjusting course descriptions to more detailed and

explicit descriptions. It would be desirable to have

course descriptions that address target groups better,

hence group composition would as well be better. A

further wish of the interviewees was that the courses

should be easier accessible, i.e., not only advertised

online but as well printed in leaflets or newsletters or

similar. Or, how Reuter et. al (2021) claim, to include

older adults actively in the process of creating digital

contents and offers. This step would as well facilitate

the inclusion and support of older adults in digital

participation. In many ways digital participation or

knowledge and digital skills enrich social life. For

example, being able to create a website for the choir

club is an active contribution which flashes over to

self-esteem, being an important part of a social group,

and well-being in everyday life.

6 CONCLUDING REMARKS AND

OUTLOOK

This study set out to assess offers of digital training

courses across Switzerland and the experiences of

course participants with regards to their needs. So far,

based on the data from the qualitative part of this

study (program analysis and interviews), we can point

out on the diversity of the group of older adults which

is stated in the manifoldness of course offers as well

as in the individual experiences made. The study has

shown that digital participation or digital skills

transition into private life, i.e., hobbies, hence also

participation or inclusion in social life.

The research paper at hand is limited to the fact

that we focused mainly on the qualitative data for this

paper as the study is still ongoing. Further, while the

qualitative results may not be representable for entire

Switzerland, it offers valuable insights of individuals

who participated in digital training and stated their

one-to-one experiences.

What we could show here is that in general

heterogeneity must be acknowledged for both, the

target group of older adults and the topics of course

trainings. Participants can only benefit from digital

training if the courses are tailored to their needs and

wishes. An “one-size-fits all” approach is also not in

favour of Pihlainen et al. (2022) who executed their

ICT4AWE 2023 - 9th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

study for the neighbouring countries Germany,

Austria, and Finland.

Nonetheless, the investigation of course offers

showed generally that these are unfortunately not

explicitly tailored to the target groups and should be

adjusted. The preliminary data presented here

suggests that the majority of course providers need to

adjust their course offers and descriptions. For

example, not addressing the right target group limits

the opportunity of possible participants. Few course

offers were explicitly for “older adults” or retirees,

but middle-aged adults close to around 50 years are

not addressed at all. Hence, from the data already

available and the results presented here, we suggest

that course providers should

- adjust their course descriptions to more clear

and explicit descriptions;

- address the target group better to ensure

better group composition (size of group and

age mix);

- make information about courses more

accessible, i.e., not only advertised online

but as well printed on leaflets;

- offer more courses for people with moderate

training needs;

- invest in recruitment strategies for people

with little or no digital skills at all;

- offer individual training besides other course

formats;

- adjust the training offers to the latest

technical developments;

- provide material (videos, instructions) for

follow-up to the course participants.

The aim of the study Digital Skills and Training

Needs of 50+. A Study Beyond the Digital Divide is

to provide best practice recommendations for

Practitioners working with older adults and to add to

this list of suggestions in a further step. This paper

shows preliminary results towards an elaborated

recommendations product.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank the Advisory Board for useful inputs during

workshops of this research project. We thank the SNF

for funding this research project under the NRP77

“Digital Transformation”. Further, we want to thank

Lorella Civale and Mélodie Näf for diverse

translation work into Italian and French. Thanks also

go to Damian Hedinger, member of the IAF research

team and NFP project, for countercheck.

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