E-learning and the third age

As a result of the general improvement in living conditions in industrialised Western countries, people aged over 60 years usually reach the 'third age' in good mental and physical condition. Contemporary society has thus had to endeavour to offer the 'new old' not only social services but also pastimes, leisure, social, cultural and educational activities. Among the range of opportunities being made available is that of acquiring skills in the use of information and communication technology (ICT), an area of ever-increasing prominence. This can be seen not only as an opportunity for individual cultural growth but also the basic condition for conceiving a range of practical network-based services and applications of great social significance for the elderly population. This article refers to one of these initiatives, developed in Liguria (one of the Italian regions with the oldest population), whose purpose was to train about 600 over-60s in the use of ICT. What we will analyse here in particular are the results of e-learning activities offered to a sample of participants and with reference to a segment of the entire training process envisaged by the regional initiative. The specific objectives of the activity were to verify the real possibility of proposing short, online learning modules on the use of Internet for older users; to survey users' attitudes/reactions to e-learning; and to analyse the follow-up of distance training activities.