Digital skills of the elderly: A focus on the construction of digital materials

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the digital skills necessary for the creation of digital materials by the elderly and their potential for improving the quality of life. In the current context, in addition to technological changes, there is the interest of some seniors in learning to create digital materials. The methodology used in this research was qualitative, in the field, with an interpretative approach. The target audience was elderly people with an average age of 72.4 years who participate in a digital inclusion course at a University and specialists with an average age of 36.8 years old. Two types of instruments were used for data collection: Online questionnaires and participant observation. Therefore, it was possible to map a general competence called Digital authorship and three specific ones: Creation of digital content; Sharing digital content and, finally, Security and digital privacy.Thus, this research identifiedas a prerequisite for the construction of digital content, the need for the elderly to be digitally fluent or, at least, to master basic technological knowledge about the authoring tool used.