Designing Mobile First Courses for Senior Citizens in Grenada

Abstract

As health standards improve and life expectancy continues to grow , some senior citizens may foc us on online courses as a means of personal fulfillment and an opportunity to engage with their peers. However, online courses that may be considered releva nt to the Grenadian context were not designed with senior citizens as the target participant s. A s such, t he i ntent of th is proposed study is to find out if mobile first online courses are viable options for senior citizens in Grenada, to enable upsk illing and possib ly prolong contributions to the work force after age 60, to decrease the dependenc y ratio. Further more, it has been noted that some senior citizens require more guidance when accessing cluttered content from desktop computers, however, t hese same users c an competently and independently navigate similar content via their mobile phones. Thus, the study w ill consider the technological and general challenges (e.g. decreasing vision and dexterity) faced by the elderly, and the importance of de signing inclusive online courses to suit the needs and interests of senior citizens in Grenada. A pilot group will be invited to trial the questionnaire that will inform the study. Thereafter, the research will involve interviews and the completion of the e dited question nai re by approximately 85 members of the Grenada Association of Retired Persons (G ARP), to find out their interests, technological competence, preferences and needs associated with mobile first intuitive online courses, which use a Personalized Teaching an d L earning (PeTAL) a pproach for senior citizens. // Paper ID 113