A Study on Product Interface Training for Older Adults

• Main Authors: Wang-Chin Tsai, 蔡旺晉
• Other Authors: Chang-Franw Lee
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/10790575774376515007

博士 === 國立雲林科技大學 === 設計學研究所博士班 === 101 === Many older adults are interested in learning how to use different technological products to communicate and gather information. This study was designed to better understand the process and the experience of older adults as they learn to use product interface via training. We conducted a series of research including several focus groups, interviews, questionnaire and experiments to understand their preferences regarding training, requirement of training materials and the type of training method that older adults experienced. The findings in this research showed that: (1)Older participants expressed an interest in receiving additional training, particularly for specific interface tasks. Participants also provided preferences for various characteristics of training, such as who should conduct the training and which training method preferred. One of the most frequently discussed preferences was for self-training using text materials, such as a product manual. (2)Older participants did use different products and their manuals from the sampled technological products. Their product and manual usage patterns reflect that the older adults would like to spend time using a product and learning about a product from a manual. Nearly all older adults read all or a portion of product manuals when interacting with new products for the first time. Purposes behind reading product manuals included better understanding of the products, recalling forgotten functions, or preventing mistakes. The older adults also improvised various strategies toward product manuals, such as making quick reference cards, marking sections and shorthand formatting, to compensate for the deficiencies of product manuals. Results of this research provide guidance to manual designers or technical writers to better meet older adults’ needs and preferences. (3)With a series of interface training programs to investigate the effects on the performance of working memory level, interface task mode and training method. These findings reveal that the training method has main effects on the interface task mode operations for subjects of different working memory ability levels. Follow-up analyses of task time revealed that the benefit of the training method was not significant for older subjects of different working memory levels in the direct control mode task condition. Moreover, for the same working memory ability level group, the higher older adults were better able to perform tasks during declarative training when performing hierarchical interface mode tasks. Furthermore, the lower trainees also did better with the declarative training method. The results make clear the relative performance of declarative training method versus procedural training method for older adults of different working memory ability and suggest how researchers should incorporate these types of training into a training program