DICT and Seniors: How Can Research Experience Help Us Map Digital Competencies?

Abstract

The development of digital competencies is progressive and influenced by use: the more digital resources are used; the more people develop digital competencies. Yet, when considering the elderly public and their specificities, learning to use DICT in Brazil has been driven by short training courses that teach how to use computers and smartphones. For those courses to be more effective and assertive, it is important to map the digital competencies that are already developed by the elderly. Therefore, the question is: how can experience research help in the mapping of digital competencies of elderly users? To answer this question, we carried out an inventory of experience research methods, seeking to identify which among them would be more suitable for mapping digital competencies of the elderly. Next, some data were collected using the identified methods, in order to understand how effective they could be for mapping the digital competencies of this audience. The results show that some methods used in Experience Research are useful for mapping digital competencies and can help researchers and teachers to better direct their research and courses to this specific audience. We expect this proposal to spark and broaden the discussion on the use of DICT by the elderly, user experience, experience research and digital competencies.