Principles for Designing Older People's Media-literacy Education

Western societies are aging rapidly, even as life becomes more digitalized and harder for them to understand. Still, media education for older people is often solely focused on technical equipment training, with little attention paid to improving media-literacy. Our study addresses this oversight by creating, piloting, and assessing a study module, focused on older people’s media-literacy education. Utilizing design-based research, we have provided a model that sets out what media-literacy education for the older people should look like. Specifically, it should be diverse, arise from the trainee’s personal needs, and respect the different ways in which learners engage in media. The learning environment should be safe, support should be provided through the learning process, and representatives from various corners of the media landscape should take part. Our research is ongoing, but it has already opened a door to life-long and more equitable media education.