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Effects of age and instructions on teaching older adults to use ELDERCOMM, an electronic bulletin board system
Author(s)Roger W Morrell, Denise C Park, Christopher B Mayhorn
Journal titleEducational Gerontology, vol 26, no 3, April-May 2000
Pagespp 221-236
KeywordsInformation technology ; Adult Education ; United States of America.
AnnotationThe study focused on how to train older people to perform computer procedures. Young-old (age 60-74) and old-old (75 and over) adults were instructed on how to use ELDERCOMM, an electronic bulletin board using one of two types of text-based instructions. The first set of directions consisted of illustrated, step-by-step instructions (single condition). The second set of directions included the step-by-step instructions as in the first set, but explanatory information about how the bulletin board worked was added before the instructions for each of the procedures (expanded condition). Participants were tested on how well they learned to perform the computer tasks immediately after training and one week later. Study results revealed the following: the young-old outperformed the old-old in their ability to acquire and retain computer skills; simple instructions facilitated computer skill acquisition in both age groups relative to expanded instructions; and measures of underlying cognitive mechanisms were predictive of performance depending on how participants were trained. (RH).
Accession NumberCPA-001017203 A
ClassmarkUVB: GP: 7T

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