With the fast pace of digitalisation, seniors may feel discouraged and disempowered. Current efforts to equip seniors with digital literacy skills are labour-intensive, often relying on 1-on-1 guidance. This compromises long-term sustainability and seniors’ desire for independence.
How can we equip at-risk seniors with the necessary digital literacy skills to improve their day-to-day lives?
Armchair Kakis aims to help vulnerable seniors integrate into a digitally advancing society, by developing a personalised digital companion and enhancing their learning experiences. The team’s first-of-its-kind digital learning companion will act as a Google-for-seniors offering real-time assistance that encompasses 5 tenets – personalisation, convenience, inclusivity, engagement & simplicity.
The team aims to provide a personalised and friendly end-to-end experience where elderly users can educate themselves on how to use certain technologies. Additionally, it will incorporate a seamless and intuitive UI/UX design, catering specially to their needs, with larger fonts and buttons, text-to-speech options, and voice search recognition.
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Not recognising text- language, might not be able to read text as they are long sighted, do not remember how to use technology if they are too complicated
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
They have have a enriched life, they can learn new things, they can train their mind to learn new things, it can protect them if they met with danger e.g can ask for help button.
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Voice Search Recognition
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Not recognising text- language, might not be able to read text as they are long sighted, do not remember how to use technology if they are too complicated
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
They have have a enriched life, they can learn new things, they can train their mind to learn new things, it can protect them if they met with danger e.g can ask for help button.
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Voice Search Recognition
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
only english but they don\'t understand english
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
neutral
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Multi-Language options
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
memory. they can\'t remember the next steps.
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
knowing that they can actually use the app to individually navigate and learn .
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Voice Search Recognition
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Fear of being scammed
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
If it can be used independently. Having to describe the app would make it redundant.
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Multi-Language options
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Fear of trying something new/unknown (learning new tech often requires some trial and error), fear of inconveniencing others/having to ask questions, not knowing how to tap on search engines to find out how to utilise new tech.
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
Ability to connect to other seniors/community via learning companion or if digital learning companion helps enhance their engagement with personal hobbies
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Text-to-speech
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Unwillingness to participate. Often times they’ll brush it off and ask for help and eventually not pick up the skill at all
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
Local content and references so that it’s relevant to seniors
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Multi-Language options
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Not in the dialect or language they are comfortable in
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
-
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Voice Search Recognition
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Difficulty in remembering steps, reluctancy to learn new and more complex functions
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
It has to be easy to use and reliable.
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Multi-Language options
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
They tend to get really confused with the multiple function buttons. They tend to forget it easily as well.
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
Simplicity and intuitive interface
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Voice Search Recognition
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Caretakers not patient
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
When the seniors i know are not able to live independently
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Text-to-speech
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
They don\'t understand how it works.
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
If I think this digital companion is user friendly enough for the elderly, can try.
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Voice Search Recognition
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Fear & apprehension & lost
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
Yes
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Voice Search Recognition
In response to "What are some concerns/struggles that you observed seniors having when learning new technologies?"
Unable to understand the terminology. Too confusing
In response to "What would make you recommend this digital learning companion to seniors you know?"
Ease of usage.
In response to "Which do you think is the most important feature (that promotes accessibility for seniors) to have and what would be most encouraging for the elderly to use our app?"
Multi-Language options
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Can have regular training initially on how to use the app. Promote elderly to use it often and once other elderly use it often, other friends will follow. New activities to be put in often and encourage more participation among elderly.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Can have regular training initially on how to use the app. Promote elderly to use it often and once other elderly use it often, other friends will follow. New activities to be put in often and encourage more participation among elderly.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
need to quickly expand scope of interests before seniors lose interest in the app as they cannot find most of the things they are interested in
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
help them when they forget. if they don\'t use it regularly they will forget how to do the next steps. plus someone that they can call for help if they are really stuck or at the start 1-1 small classes and they can progress to the app once they are more confident
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
This seems to be like a Duolingo for digital literacy skills. Which is a novel idea, though given that the platform itself is digital, it would need to ensure that there is \"no-step access\" and elderly can download and go.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Incentivizing the participants via more integration into their daily life activities - eg, learning companion helps them find ways to connect with their own or new “kakis”; helps them to gain more resources or access resources related to hobbies (e.g. connecting it to gardening or sewing); helping them to find good deals for groceries
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Dialect language can greatly help our ahgongs and ahmas understand better. Make references to the content they are consuming daily; channel 8 tv, lianhe zaobao etc.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I personally am heartened to see this project and think that it\'s a really great initiative. As my mother is a Digital Ambassador with the SG Digital Office under IMDA, she has told me countless stories about how many seniors are willing to learn new technological features and functions on digital devices, but have many concerns such as fear of asking too many questions and the inconvenience of having to head down to a SG Digital Community Hub for things that they might have already learnt but might still face issues with, though many digital ambassadors are helpful in teaching them. Hence, with this project that your team is taking on, I am hopeful that it will equip seniors with sufficient guidance and support in helping them to be proficient in digital skills, without feeling embarrassed to constantly ask and seek help from others, hence promoting independence which I am sure many of them hope to achieve in this area of digital literacy. I don\'t have much suggestions for the team but I really hope that you will be able to explore ways in encouraging seniors to use this device should it come to pass. All the best!
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
This is such a thoughtful initiative! You guys can also consider giving crash courses to them and motivate them with some incentives as well
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Clear speech recognition with blue tooth.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Will it be easy for the elderly to use, or what would be interesting of it for the elderly to want to try to use the application
