Active Aging Learning through Virtual Platform among the Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Taiwan: A Preliminary Finding

Abstract

Background

The population of 65-years-old and above has exceeded 14% of the entire population in Taiwan by the end of March 2018, transforming Taiwan into an aged society. It was estimated by 2025, the population of 65-years-old and above will increase to more than 20% of the entire population, advancing Taiwan into an ultra-aged society. Given this rapid growth of the aging population, it is imperative that we develop a new perspective, attitude, and policies to accommodate the gradual change, such as from “long-term care” to “education” and “passive response” to “proactive action.”

Since 2008, the Taiwanese Minister of Education has promoted the Active Aging Learning Program (AALP). This program calls for the establishment of Active Aging Learning Centers (AALCs) in local areas, encouraging individuals age 55 and above to participate in continuing education to foster the mindset of “active aging” (also known as Le-Ling). As of now, Taiwan has 370 Centers with more than 3,000 learning spots. Among 370 Centers, 12 Centers were awarded as Model Centers, and 10 Centers were awarded as Centers of Excellence.

Our team is responsible for the implementation and research of AALP, and we have been providing consultation and training to the AALCs across Taiwan. The current AALP includes the following parts: 1) establishing the operational structure for Active Aging Learning Centers, 2) developing and training operational personnel, 3) developing and training volunteers, 4) developing and training instructors, 5) providing consultation to established Centers, 6) designing and publishing course curriculum, and 7) organizing and hosting annual active aging learning conferences. Since 2018, we have started investigating the quality of the services and curriculum provided by the AALCs, including learners’ perception, the effectiveness of the curriculum, and learning needs.

Since May 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person educational services have been halted. The government, however, encouraged schools and educational institutes to transition from in-person learning to virtual learning. AALCs also began their first virtual platform to continue Lei-Ling. Contrary to the stereotypical impression of older adults, this implementation has demonstrated that middle-aged and older adults are capable of virtual learning through technology.

Aims

The aims of the current study include:

1. Examining the perception of virtual learning among virtual learners (i.e., individuals of 55-year-old and above).
2. Examining the perception of virtual learning among those who participated in virtual learning and those who did not participate in virtual learning.
3. Examining the correlations between demographics (e.g., age, gender, education level, income level, health condition, and geographic locations) and perception of virtual learning.

Methods

This study utilized survey methodology, recruiting participants from 370 AALCs across Taiwan. We surveyed a total of 5,595 subjects and retrieved 5,064 valid questionnaires.

Results

We found that, among the participants of AALCs, 43.2% participated in virtual learning, and 52.7% did not participate in virtual learning. Compared to those who did not participate in virtual learning, virtual learning participants were more willing to utilize cell phones and computers to learn. Virtual learning participants also indicated that “virtual learning is an ideal learning method.” Our results also showed that, regardless of the preference for virtual or in-person learning, male participants were more willing to learn virtually than female participants; younger participants (aged 45-64) were more willing to learn virtually than older participants (aged 65 and above), and participants with higher education level were more willing to learn virtually than participants with lower education level.

Discussion

Closing the gap between gender differences among the middle-aged and older adult population has been a focus of AALP. Contrary to previous data that males participated less in the AALP curriculum than females (e.g., females were 2.5 times more to participate), our study found that males participated more than females when the courses were provided virtually. This preliminary finding is promising yet warrants further investigation. Virtual learning can be an effective means to provide education among middle-aged and older adults, promoting the notion of life-long learning (i.e., active aging, Le-Ling) and decreasing the gender gap.