elderly and contemplate aspects and themes to
improve their lives.
In this context, the problem is evident when the
elderly use online learning tools because they face
existing barriers in terms of accessibility, intention to
use, and the adoption of information and
communication technologies (ICT) (Luna, Mendoza,
& Álvarez, 2015). Thus, it is necessary to generate
technological learning spaces that allow the
generational digital gap to be reduced, so older people
acquire new knowledge through tools that allow them
to adapt and integrate into the digital society (Moral,
2015; Sunkel & Ullmann, 2019).
Thus, this paper presents the first step towards a
methodological approach in software engineering
with instructional considerations, that allows the
construction of learning capsules focused on older
people. This method allows designers to build
learning capsules under the concept of microlearning.
To show how the methodology works, a learning
capsule has been built, in the topic of measures of
prevention for COVID-19 for older adults.
This paper is structured as follows: Section 2
presents fundamentals and related work; Section 3
addresses the microlearning method and its activities
and tasks; Section 4 illustrates the implementation of
a learning capsule using the proposed method. Lastly,
the conclusions and further work are included in
Section 5.
2 BACKGROUND
Microlearning refers to a didactic approach that uses
digital means to deliver short-topics, coherent, and
autonomous educational content for learning
activities in a short time (Göschlberger & Bruck,
2017). Among the materials most used to implement
these capsules are educational videos, infographics,
educational packages and online courses, which allow
the transmission of knowledge in a reduced time
(Perrusquia, 2006). They consider andragogic
techniques (Knowles, 1980) and accessibility
characteristics focused on the elderly, which
intervene in: i) the brevity of the solution, ii) the
approach of the thematic and additional
characteristics of the learning capsules, and iii) the
availability of these capsules (Jahnke, Lee, Pham, He,
& Austin, 2019).
There are applications of technologies that were
created for education and learning fields, such as
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) or Learning
Management System (LMS). There are several
solutions proposed to create learning platforms for
older adults (Beltran, Cedillo, Rodriguez-Ch, &
Bermeo, 2018; Sanchez & Luján, 2013; Tutoky,
Babič, & Wagner, 2013). They are oriented to the
analysis of specific accessibility considerations when
using online courses for older adults; also have
created the need to have tools with usability and
accessibility options specific for this age range
(Sanchez & Luján, 2013). However, these solutions
are applied in online courses for older adults, but do
not address micro-content creation through learning
capsules. These capsules refer to media and/or tools
that are used to impart short-term academic content
on a specific topic (Ledo, Vialart, Sánchez2, &
González, 2019). Moreover, most research published
in microlearning has been done for an academic
environment and groups of users, mostly adolescents,
adults under 65, and the general public. Therefore, it
is needed to generate new research and microlearning
contributions focused on older adults (Baldauf,
Brandner, & Wimmer, 2017; Dearman & Truong,
2012; Horst & Dörner, 2019; Jahnke et al., 2019).
The difference of this research with previous
proposals is in the extension and the purpose;
characteristics that will allow the generation of
limited learning capsules, with a short theme and
duration. These capsules are aimed at older adults,
taking into consideration the specific characteristics
needed for reaching this population.
3 THE MICROLEARNIG
METHOD
To construct learning capsules oriented to older
people, it is necessary to present a guide that contains
the required steps to follow. According to Zelkovitz,
Shaw, & Gannon (1979), software engineering is "the
study of principles and methodologies for developing
and maintaining software systems." Also,
Sommerville (2011) defines software engineering as
"an engineering discipline that is interested in all
aspects of software production, from the initial stages
of the system to the maintenance of the system." This
study's purpose is to create software artifacts oriented
to learning techniques for older adults. Therefore, the
method proposed has been designed to consider the
mix of software engineering guidelines with
instructional aspects that can support older people's
learning process. According to Bruner (1969),
instructional design deals with planning, preparing,
and designing materials and environments needed to
carry out a learning process. There are several
instructional models, such as the Successive