Training Older Adults to Use Public Information System: Effects of Medium and Instruction Type on Training Efficacy

Abstract

Technology training design for older adults is important as well-designed training methods can greatly improve technology accessibility for them. While there exist general design guidelines, such as supporting self-paced and goal-oriented training and using step-by-step instructions, additional design knowledge needs to be developed and validated empirically to further improve technology training design for older users. In an effort to contribute to the current design knowledge base, this study investigated the medium and instruction type effects on the efficacy of training older adults to use a public information system (a public ticket machine). Four training methods, combinations of 2 medium types (paper, digital) and 2 instruction types (goals-only, goals-and-actions), were evaluated in a lab experiment. While the older participants’ task performance generally increased after training, the degree of improvement differed significantly between the training methods. The combination of digital medium and goals-only instructions showed the highest performance improvement resulting from training.