Published by International Association of Technology, Education and Development (IATED)

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3 Published by International Association of Technology, Education and Development (IATED) INTED2012 Proceedings 6th International Technology, Education and Development Conference March 5th-7th, 2012 Valencia, Spain Edited by L. Gómez Chova, A. López Martínez, I. Candel Torres International Association of Technology, Education and Development IATED ISBN: Depósito Legal: V Book cover designed by J.L. Bernat All rights reserved.

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8 SEVENTI: NEW APPROACH FOR TEACHING SENIORS BASIC SKILLS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA C. Meiler-Rodríguez 1, D. Freire-Obregón 2, E. Rubio-Royo 3 1 Ayuntamiento de la Villa de Ingenio (SPAIN) 2 Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (SPAIN) 3 Innovation Center for Information Society C.I.C.E.I. (SPAIN) ceciliameiler@gmail.com, dfreire@siani.es, rubio@cicei.com Abstract In the literature there is a lot of documentation about how to teach seniors the use of new technologies. However, there is a lot of "digital immigrants" that could be defined as "digital shipwrecked". The situation could be more complicated when this group of people also lack basic skills such reading or writing in a proper way. This paper aims to describe how the use of appropriate social networks can help not only to develop technological skills but also improve reading and writing skills. For our purpose, we have developed our own social network (Seventi) with some features which have served as motivation and inspiration to the group of seniors. Seventi has a number of features that can be shared with any other social network: a wall, a buddy list, groups, chat, private messages, etc. The difference between this project and others in the area is highlighted by two key factors: the personal characteristics of the experimental subjects and pedagogical approach applied and wellsupported by Seventi. Keywords: Innovation, Technology, Social Network, Social Media, elderly. 1 INTRODUCTION Online social networks are becoming a true growth point of the Internet. As individuals constantly desire to interact with each other both in business and in personal contacts, the ability for the Internet to deliver this networking capability grows in a strong way. In education, distance education as a primary means of instruction is expanding significantly at the college and university level. Simultaneously, the growth of social networking sites including Facebook [1], LinkedIn [2], and MySpace [3] is also rising among today s college students. An increasing number of higher education instructors are beginning to combine distance education delivery with social networking sites. However, there is currently little research detailing the educational benefits associated with the use of social networking sites when we apply this kind of technologies in Senior s education. Among different age groups, the elderly are the last to be engaged with the Internet. They did not have the opportunity to develop their own digital identity in the same way they do our young graduates. That is why this paper presents a new approach to new technologies applied to the field of aging. 1.1 The elderly in Spain The opening of our country to the Europe and the development created the welfare state. As a consequence, different social and cultural phenomena emerged and that situation imposed family and social organization changes, and therefore the need for an adequate answer. These phenomena refer to the work and family life reconciliation. The women incorporation into the labour market, the decrease in birth rate, the delay in youth integration into the workforce and the Spanish people ageing influenced into the creation of a new family model. This situation required the formation of services and resources that cannot be completely undertake by the family as a primary social agent. At this time of economic and social globalization, it becomes increasingly necessary to fix the situation of disparity contexts and social disadvantages such as situations of dependency. This scenario encouraged the creation of the Law 39/2006 for the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for dependents, which came into force in Spain in January 2007, ensuring the rights of persons in situations of dependency. Proceedings of INTED2012 Conference. 5th-7th March 2012, Valencia, Spain ISBN:

9 On the other hand, a lot of studies show that during the last decades the rate of population over 65 years has progressively increased. The 2008 Report: Older People in Spain published by the Ministry of Health and Social Policy shows more than 6% increase of the population over 65 years in 2007, compared to the population of the late 80's. Also this document identified the significant prolongation of life expectancy for people over 80 years which in the early twentieth century was around 0.6%, while the projection for 2040 is that this estimation rises to 9%. Fig. 1: Population Predictions NU (Revision 2002) and Eurostat population projections 2004 (Basic Scenario). Considering the data from the Collection of Senior Series Studies "Social Participation of Older Persons", the Spanish population over 65 has exceeded 6.6 million in 2007, representing the 14.7% of the total population. By age, the interval between 65 and 74 years is the largest, reaching 3.8 million people. The number of people aged 75 and over is now slightly more than 2.8 million people. This situation provides the need of adapting both; social policy and services offered to the population of these age ranges. These and other related data point into the same direction, which is the design of a legislative framework that includes this new reality, supported by the current population. For this reason the Law 39/2006 for the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for Dependent was introduced to seek into an international, regional, local and insular collaboration. Till now, attention to the dependence is under the Concerted Plan of Basic Social Services and under several Plans of Action for the Elderly and Disabled. However the State, supported by the System for Autonomy and Care Unit, is committed to ensure a stable framework of resources and services in this area of competence, where initiatives come together from different public authorities. The potential of the collective, and the importance of its active participation, are spelled out in Article 10 (issue 1) of the report of the Second World Assembly on Ageing [4], of the World Health Organization, held in Madrid in 2002, where refers to the "Active Participation in Society and Development" (points 19 and 20). Thus, article 10 points: The potential of older persons is a powerful basis for future development. This enables society to rely increasingly on the skills, experience and wisdom of older persons, not only to take the lead in their own betterment but also to participate actively in that of society as a whole. As we already mentioned it also gives us two recommendations for action for the active participation of older people: 19. A society for all ages encompasses the goal of providing older persons with the opportunity to continue contributing to society. To work towards this goal, it is necessary to remove whatever excludes or discriminates against them. The social and economic contribution of older persons reaches beyond their economic activities. They often play crucial roles in families and in the community. They make many valuable contributions that are not measured in economic terms: care for family members, productive subsistence work, household maintenance and voluntary activities in 3504

10 the community. Moreover, these roles contribute to the preparation of the future labour force. All these contributions, including those made through unpaid work in all sectors by persons of all ages, particularly women, should be recognized. 20. Participation in social, economic, cultural, sporting, recreational and volunteer activities also contribute to the growth and maintenance of personal well-being. Organizations of older persons are an important means of enabling participation through advocacy and promotion of multigenerational interactions. Moreover we cannot ignore a change in the society s model. With the integration of information technology, a new medium of communication, interaction and social organization is introduced. This new social model is defined by Castells, M. as "a society whose social structure is built around information networks from micro-structured information technology on the Internet, understanding the Internet as the medium that is the organizational form of our societies."[5]. This social model could generate a lot of new opportunities but also could generate a new sphere of inequality in the access to information technology and communication. This means that in the case of older people s access to this "new media", it creates a technology gap. This gap difficult access to a larger collective society increasingly dynamic and connected, fundamental variable to consider for promote the integration of our seniors in daily life today. Furthermore, it is essential to have initiatives to promote healthy aging, in order to promote health and integration of all people in society, defined by the World Health Organization as ( )the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. It applies to both individuals and population groups. Active ageing allows people to realize their potential for physical, social, and mental well-being throughout the life course and to participate in society, while providing them with adequate protection, security and care when they need. Ageing takes place within the context of friends, work associates, neighbours and family members. This is why interdependence as well as intergenerational solidarity is important tenets of active ageing [6]. 1.2 The elderly and the Social Networks The percentage of older Internet users has been increasing in recent years. According to statistics released in 2009 by the China Network Information Center (CNNIC), the percentage of Internet users aged over 60 in mainland China steadily rose from 0.3% in 1998 to 1.5% in 2008 [7]. By contrast, this percentage for people between 50 and 60 rose from 1.0% to 4.0%. Elsewhere, the European Union is also trying to reduce the gap in the use of the Internet between the elderly and the average of population. Figure 2 is a survey of Internet use by age and the average in European countries in 2007, in which we can find a considerable proportion of older Internet users. With the advent and development of online social networks, an increasing number of old people are beginning to explore these new technologies. Fig. 2: Internet use in EU countries in [8] However, young people, the pioneers of social networks, are still the mainstream. Services available and appropriate for older people are inadequate. In addition, in contrast to most young web users, the elderly face challenges when enjoying such services because their physical and mental states have 3505

11 changed. In fact, the designs of most social network websites are poorly suitable for the elderly. This fact often keeps the elderly away from existing services, no matter how popular and functional these services can be. Therefore, we developed our own social network adapted to the elderly capacities. 2 SEVENTI 2.1 Social Networks As computer scientists are quick to point out, most of the apparently new characteristics of social media existed long before the advent of Facebook [1]. Since the early 1970s, internet applications have allowed users to exchange messages with each other, maintain personal profiles, curate lists of friends and write blog-like journal entries. It is therefore important to remember from the outset that the web has always been social [9]. Unlike the web tools of even 10 years ago, contemporary social media are used by hundreds of millions of users. A social network can be defined as a topology architecture that brings individuals who share common interests or characteristics together to form a social community. Social communities in traditional social networks require physical presence of their members for communication. Typical examples of such communities are academic organizations, career associations, economic forum and so on. Fig. 3: Social Media Distribution. [10] According to general growth statistic report [10], Facebook has more than 500 million; MySpace has 110 million and Twitter has more than 140 million active users. Facebook general growth is average 3% per week as almost 250,000 new registrations recorded par day. And users get doubled after every 6 months. In past, Facebook and MySpace are two main social media competitors. They decided to have rank statistic process again for attaining number first spot. In result, MySpace got back its number first position again. Statistics for page views shows Facebook with 1.1 billion and MySpace with just 810 million. For our purpose of teaching basic digital skills to the elderly, we created our own social network. As we mentioned above, the services available in the existing social networks for older people are inadequate: the colors, the tools, the user interface, etc. Thus, we wanted to create an environment that allows our elderly to share and to learn in an easy way. The purpose of our network is not only to share new contents but also to encourage them to build new relations due to common interests. We understand that the development of education is a commitment for all levels present in a classroom. On the one hand the teacher is responsible for guiding the knowledge, on the other hand, the commitment among students to collaborate with the group in order to develop new knowledge. In this section we will point the advantages of the potential of social media tools in order to create a low-level collaborative knowledge. 3506

12 2.2 Social Networks vs. Course Management Systems The course management systems (CMS) are an ideal framework for learning any particular subject. A teacher has its own virtual area where to share knowledge with his students; it is some kind of "virtual classroom". The student has a role clearly defined and well differentiated from the role of the teacher. In such environments, teachers and students share contents and students absorb in a passive way. If students have any doubts, there are messaging systems and forums where they can discuss any concerns about the contents but they are passive in a way that they don t feel the confidence to create new content or to discuss the existing contents. The reason of this is that, in the CMS, the student s own digital identity is not associated with the environment that is using for learning. All the users have de same interface, same colors, no way to feel identified with it. Also, the communication mechanism is asynchronous with a frequency that depends on the number of connections that can support the teacher per day. Probably the main advantage of using a social network compared to CMS is that, in the social network, knowledge is distributed among people that belong to the network. There is no horizontal hierarchy between teacher and student. Knowledge flows between different groups in the social network created and is always in continuous renewal. In other words, knowledge is alive, is continuous subject of debate and refinement. In this case, the communication mechanism can be synchronous (chat) or asynchronous. Asynchrony of social networks differs from the asynchrony of CMS asynchronous frequency that does not depend on one person but all members share a common interest. Table 1. Comparison between Social Network Sites (SNS) and CMS Tool. [17] Thus, in contrast to social networking sites, course management systems (CMS), such as Blackboard [11] and Moodle [12], tend to be very focused and lack the personal touch and networking capacity that social networking sites offer. For example, instructors using CMS may pose a question in an online discussion board and each student posts a response. However, these student posts are really not interactions at all, but merely question and answer sessions. 2.3 Our Social Network: SEVENTI We have been using our own social network site (SEVENTI) [13], built upon the open source platform Elgg, to communicate, coordinate, discuss and share information. Elgg has been in development since 2004, and release 1.0 was made in Elgg [14] can be run as a fully featured social network site, and can be extended through the development of plug-ins. Elgg is also heavily customizable, and it is possible to build alternative social network sites upon what is called the Elgg Engine. Also Elgg provides us the chance to: 3507

13 To facilitate elderly reflections on the breadth of their learning, To promote independent learning, That's fairly easy to use, Has an elegant, non-cluttered look and feel that users can customize for themselves, Open source, ideally running under LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), so that we could host it ourselves. Fig. 4: Seventi s Home Screen. [13] One principle to design elderly-oriented online social networks is considering whether the elderly have the skills to use them. First and foremost, the elderly are undertaking inevitable and irreversible physical changes such as eyesight deterioration and decrease in movement precision [15]. Eyesight deterioration makes them more difficult to recognize small letters on keyboards. Lack of movement precision is a barrier for using a mouse to click buttons on the screen [16]. A well-designed user interface should considerately provide convenience for its older users. Some of these key features are the letter size, exposing just a few and key items in the main profile, pictures in order to facilitate the identification of other users, etc. Another major factor is the Internet use of the elderly. While young people can adapt to new technologies fairly fast, it takes a considerably long time for senior people to learn. Slow adaptation to new technologies may cause them to give up new technologies, no matter how many advantages they would bring. Consequently, they have less interest in getting access to the Internet. This indicates that when designing online social networks, the designer should bear in mind that endowing the elderly with the ability to use the Internet is the first step to guarantee the use of the Internet. Even for those elderly people who have the basic knowledge of how to use the Internet, it is comparatively difficult to adapt to new technologies. 3 PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH First, an instructor should not create an additional Seventi profile for professional use only. We must bear in mind that the purpose of this social network is to integrate the elderly to technologies. By creating two profiles (professional and personal), the elderly may feel confused. Of course, this profile should be entirely separate to their social/personal profile on other social networks, where privacy settings need to be implemented. The teacher s Seventi profile should contain contact information, specifically an address, office address, and phone number. The profile allows the elderly to learn about the instructor on a personal level, so it is important to include a few photos, post items or web links, or list favorite quotes. While these tidbits of personal information can lead to positive teacherelderly interactions, it is important to maintain a level of professionalism that does not cross the boundary of the teaching-elderly relationship. 3508

14 Fig.5 (a): A personal profile view. Fig.5 (b): Group s search engine. Teachers must keep their profile open to the public rather than private. This allows elderly to comfortably access an instructor s profile without asking the instructor to be their friend. Then, instructors can simply list the web link to their Seventi profile in their course syllabus, signatures or other course management software. In addition, instructors can simply display their Seventi profile during class, inviting elderly to look at their profile. About the levels of course integration, the following possibilities provides an overview of the different ways that Seventi is integrated into a course. The Profile page is the simplest option to implement, whereas the integration of Seventi plug-ins (in conjunction with the other methods) is the most comprehensive. 1) Profile Page: An instructor can chose to create a profile page for him/herself. The profile page can be used to communicate with students via private message, IM, or posting on the wall. In addition, relevant videos, images and websites can also be included. Perhaps the most relevant fact of having their profile page is the creation of a digital identity. The effect in elderly of creating this digital identity is a considerable dimensional jump in the self-concept for these people. And it is precisely the use of social media tools and the creation of this digital self-concept which has help many of these people to overcome the cognitive barriers for achieving new knowledge. 2) Creating a Group Pages: We must bear in mind that this social network is created specifically for a course. Now, they can create different group pages depending on their interests. Elderly can virtually find other classmates through this page, learn about their classmates, communicate with their classmates and professor, and post/discuss relevant class information. Professors can send an announcement to the entire group, set up and remind elderly about possible events for each topic. Additional considerations should be regarded such as keeping the social network as simple as possible, avoiding geek-tech vocabulary or adding their friends to their buddy-list so they can just pick from the list if written to them were necessary. 4 CONCLUSIONS The mental changes such as a decrease in learning ability are depriving senior people of a great amount of entertainment. In other words, the more developed high technology is, the more likely senior people are lagged behind. It is our conjecture that the benefits of Seventi s networking and social communication capabilities can benefit both the instructor and the elderly by tapping into a greater number of learning styles, providing an alternative to the traditional lecture format, creating an online classroom community, and increasing teacher-elderly and elderly-elderly interaction. Efforts should be made by instructors to expand their pedagogical portfolio, promote active learning through a learning community, and to test the effectiveness of on-line learning communities through social networks such as Seventi. On the other hand, Elgg makes it easy for our elderly to store their work online, in a secure environment, so they can get to files and folders from home or our learning center. Because of Elgg s social model of learning, Elgg encourages them to share their work with the rest of the community, with all the opportunities for collaborative learning, voice, and writing for an audience that this implies. To conclude this paper some important observable points during the lessons should be pointed: - Connecting. Using social networks to find old friends and colleagues is not one unique to any demographic. We are exporting the social network model to other municipalities in the area to connect the elderly from different regions. Many adults have been contacted by someone from their past 3509

15 through a social network. As people retire or change careers, social networks can be a way to stay in touch or get support. - Lack of Knowledge. We noted that Internet users with common interests are more likely to blog or participate in online discussions, and older folks are more likely to have these same interests. If we put those two factors together, we have got a strong argument for social networking as a way to find communities of people with similar experiences. - Bridging the Generation Gap. Older people use social networks to connect with their progeny, despite results that can sometimes be messy. AKCNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank Mr. Borja Rubio-Reyes for his advice, criticism and encouragement during the development of this Social Network. This social network has been hosted by the Innovation Center for Information Society (C.I.C.E.I.) from the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain). This project is also possible thanks to the cooperation agreement between the Ilustre Ayuntamiento de la Villa de Ingenio (Spain) and the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain). REFERENCES [1] Online Resource: Last Accessed: [2] Online Resource: Last Accessed: [3] Online Resource: Last Accessed: [4] International Plan of Action on Ageing Second World Assembly on ageing, Madrid, Spain 8-12 April [5] Castells, M. Internet y la sociedad en red. En Lección inaugural del programa de doctorado sobre la sociedad de la información y el conocimiento. Barcelona. (2001). [6] Online Resource: World Health Organization. What is "active ageing"?. Last Accessed [7] Zhou, W., Yasuda, T. and Yokoi, S. Internet for senior citizens in China: survey and proposal. In R. Mizoguchi, P. Dillenbourg, and Z. Zhu, editors, ICCE, volume 151 of Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications, pages IOS Press, [8] Being part of it. European Commission Directorate- General for the Information Society, 4th edition, [9] Halpin, H. and Tuffield, M. Social Web XG Wiki. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), [10] Online Resource: onlineprofiling.blog.com/2011/08/03/social-network-statistics. Last Accessed: [11] Online Resource: Last Accessed: [12] Online Resource: Last Accessed: [13] Online Resource: seventi.cicei.com. Last Accessed: [14] Online Resource: elgg.org. Last Accessed: [15] Wei Zhou and Yokoi, S. Using web usability to support senior s Internet learning. In 4th Symposium on Intelligent Media Integration for Social Information Infrastructure, volume 151, pages , December [16] Sørensen, L. and Skouby, K.E. Next generation social networks elicitation of user requirements. In IEEE 19th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications, pages 1 5, September [17] Brady, K. Holcomb, L. and Bethany, V. The use of Alternative Social Networking Sites in Higher Education Settings: A Case Study of the E-Learning Benefits of Ning in Education. Journal of Interactive Online Learning. Volume 9, Number 2,