Empowering Digital Immigrants: eLearning Solutions for Employees Aged 50+

Focussed digital immigrant completes e-learning on a laptop

Quicklinks

The role of older workers
Challenges faced by digital immigrants
eLearning Strategies for the Success of Digital Immigrants
Effectively implementing eLearning for employees aged 50+
The bottom line.

More than 75% of EU businesses struggle to find employees with the necessary skills, the EU Commission reported in 2023. There are labor shortages across the board, and this problem will likely grow in the coming years. As the workforce ages and fewer younger people apply for jobs, HR departments need to make the best possible use of their existing employees.

If your business is also feeling the pinch, you may have already considered upskilling older employees (aged 50+) to help fill the gaps and keep things running smoothly. But upskilling means training — often digital training using eLearning platforms. And that can be a challenge for older employees. As “digital immigrants,” they may not have the same digital fluency as their younger counterparts, which can make digital learning a struggle.

Fortunately, this problem is not insurmountable. With the right approach, older employees can also succeed with eLearning solutions. In this article, we will show you how to structure your training programs to meet the needs of senior learners so your company can benefit from their decades of practical experience.

Demographic change, the talent shortage, and the role of older workers:

By 2035, approximately 26% of the EU population will be 65 or over — an increase from 17% in 2005. That means that an increasing number of employees are approaching retirement. This problem is compounded by the fact that fewer young people are joining vocational training programs, which would help fill the gaps left by retirees. To adapt, many businesses are rethinking their recruitment processes and hiring candidates who require additional training to perform the job successfully.

Given the current talent shortage, employees in the 50+ demographic are more valuable than ever. They offer a wealth of life and professional experience and have usually proven themselves to be dedicated employees. But if a vacant position requires a new skill set, they’ll need additional training to fill it successfully. While younger “digital native” employees can easily complete this type of training using eLearning programs, it can be challenging for some older employees. However, by investing a bit of effort into tailoring the eLearning environment, you can create a corporate training program that fosters lifelong learning. That will not only help to address current talent shortages but those in the future as well.

The challenges faced by digital immigrants in eLearning

In our younger years, we all learn how to learn. And digital immigrants learned the process differently than millennials and members of Gen Y and Z. That’s why older employees often prefer different learning formats than younger generations and may have trouble adapting to digital learning tools. Here are some of the challenges digital immigrants face with eLearning programs:

Lack of structure

While younger learners often prefer to go through training programs at their own pace and skip around between modules, Gen X and baby boomers typically prefer a more structured, step-by-step approach. They may experience more flexible training programs as “unstructured” and frustrating.

Distracting format

Having grown up with text-based learning, multimedia formats with clickable links, sidebars, or too many options may feel distracting to senior learners. Depending on how it is implemented, too much gamification in a learning context might also be offputting.

Unfamiliar technology

Younger learners instinctively know how to navigate most digital learning environments. The same is not true of senior learners, who might need additional training to familiarize themselves with the eLearning platform.

Lack of contact person

As digital immigrants, senior learners are less likely to turn to the internet or online FAQs to answer their questions. They may struggle if they need help and don’t know who to ask.

Once you’re familiar with these learning preferences, they are easy enough to work around. With some simple adjustments, you’ll be able to create a learning environment that meets the needs of learners of all ages.

Strategies to help digital immigrants succeed with eLearning

As you’re developing your company’s senior learning program, you’ll want to keep the unique learning preferences of your older employees in mind. Here are some strategies that can help make your corporate training program accessible to all your employees:

Adapt the content for different learning styles

Younger generations expect more flexible, interactive content, while older learners need a more structured step-by-step approach. You’ll want to meet both of those needs in a single program.

Design your content to cater to everyone by offering text alongside your video training. For example, you could provide a video-based course with downloadable PDF transcripts for those who learn better by reading. This strategy also improves accessibility for anyone in your company with a hearing impairment or other disability, so it can be considered a best practice in general.

You should also ensure that your course offers the core content in a step-by-step sequence. If desired, you could provide additional information and content in a separate area of the page or within an extra module. That ensures that older learners have the structure they need to succeed while giving younger learners (and adventurous seniors) the chance to personalize their learning and deepen their knowledge.

User-friendly platform design

As digital immigrants, older employees often find it more difficult to navigate digital course platforms than their younger colleagues. Ensure that your eLearning platform is simple to navigate and that the overall look is clean and streamlined. You should also consider text contrast and size to improve accessibility for anyone with visual impairment. These steps will make it easier for all your employees to use the platform — regardless of their age.

Supportive measures and resources

In the beginning, eLearning formats can be challenging for older employees. Consider offering extra resources to help them adjust. For example, you could create an introductory “How to succeed with eLearning” course that lets digital immigrants practice using the new technology. You might also consider providing a point of contact who they can speak with if they have questions about the course content or learning software. That would help them feel supported and also ensure that they get help when it is needed.

How to effectively implement eLearning programs for employees ages 50+

To ensure that your senior learning program is successful, you’ll want to break down the implementation process into three key stages: Planning & Development, Execution & Feedback, and Analysis & Adjustments. Here are some best practices to help your company effectively train learners of all ages

Planning & Development

Before you dive in, you’ll want to make a detailed plan. How accessible is your current eLearning offering to older learners? What changes do you want to make? Will you need to create new courses or adapt existing content? Is your current eLearning platform user-friendly enough? How could you improve it? Once you know what needs to be done, you’ll want to estimate the number of working hours required to make the changes. Then allocate the appropriate resources towards completing the project.

Execution & Feedback

Once you’ve finished adapting your eLearning programs, it’s time to test them out. Let your initial cohort of older learners know that you’ve recently changed the learning format and would love to get their feedback. Pay attention to course completion rates and consider adding additional strategies to keep learners motivated and engaged, if necessary. Collect employee feedback and use that in the next step to see how things can be improved further.

Analysis & Adjustments

Define the KPIs you want to analyze, then analyze the user feedback to see how successful your initial changes were. Make any adjustments you feel would be helpful, then repeat the process. You’ll want to continue asking for periodic feedback, as user needs will change over the years.

The bottomline.

In the modern workplace, older employees aged 50+ can be valuable assets. They have a host of professional experience and life experience and, with the proper training, can fill vacant roles and help mitigate the current talent shortage. However, digital immigrants may find eLearning challenging, which makes it more difficult to get them upskilled.

Your company can help older employees succeed with eLearning by adapting your courses to meet their needs as learners. By providing a clearly structured, streamlined learning environment and offering support to those who need it, you can help employees of all ages benefit from eLearning. Be sure to plan the redesign carefully, ask for feedback, and iterate as you go forward.

If the thought of redesigning your curriculum feels overwhelming, Knowledgeworker can offer expert guidance and consultations through every part of the process. We also offer a full range of tools to create effective, engaging, and accessible eLearning courses for your team.