Several studies have found that elderly people have a difficulty in using social media platforms and smartphone apps due to a number of barriers that discourage them from engaging with technology. This study presents older women’s views regarding a two-month blended (synchronous and asynchronous) learning course on using apps and social media on smartphones in their daily life. The design of the educational course was based on older adult women’s needs. The findings of the qualitative research indicate that older people’s educational needs are better met when they participate in an asynchronous e-learning environment, where they are given the opportunity to proceed at their own pace. Moreover, the results suggest that designers and educators can incorporate video tutorials (narration and subtitles) in the learning programs as an effective educational mean and use Facebook as a learning platform so as to engage learners and facilitate communication between educators and learners.

Social media networks are becoming increasingly popular as a means for social interaction. A number of studies have found that elderly people have a difficulty in using social media platforms while exist a number of barriers that discourage them from using technology. This chapter investigates the educational needs of older people, who are members of two elderly care centers in Northern Greece, intending to attend an educational program on using smartphones as a communication tool to join social media networks. Research findings indicate that elderly women are more willing to attend an educational program than men and key areas of their interest include access to the internet (e.g., online payments), how to create and use an e-mail account, and how to join social media networks in order to feel less isolated by communicating with other individuals or groups with the same interests.

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Purpose -The paper seeks to provide personalized learning objects to adults' educators of special groups (AESG) in a technology-enhanced learning environment.Design/methodology/approach -The paper presents a definition of specific criteria by which personalization of learning objects is effected. An analysis under the scope of adult education and multicultural education is performed, resulting in the development of tools and a clear path leading to more efficient personalization of learning objects of AESG within an e-learning environment.Findings -Personalization of learning objects for AESG can be achieved to a much greater extent when the element of compatibility between educator and learner defines content, preceding and mapping with presentation factors.Research limitations/implications -As the research is focused on AESG, the key notion of compatibility may not be applicable to adult educators of the general public.Practical implications -The paper offers a path through which learning management systems can provide improved personalization of learning objects addressed to AESG.Originality/value -The introduction of compatibility between educator and learner as the key element of the educator's profile in order to provide personalized learning objects addressed to AESG opens up new territory. The paper is also useful to the developers of learning management systems addressed to any group with special attributes which strongly affect the learner's profile.

In the development of educational material for adults' educators of special groups within an e-learning environment it is important to follow the IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM) specifications in order to enhance the retrieval, interoperability, and reusability. One of the factors affecting directly the educational procedure is the compatibility between educator and learners. In order to provide the proper educational material to each educator, its important properties have to be linked with the existing IEEE LOM elements and a number of additional LOM elements have to be defined and proposed as extensions, vocabularies and ontologies. In this case the adults' educator of special groups is defined under "intended user role", the "educational objectives" are customized and the notion of the new term "compatibility" is accommodated under a new purpose in the classification category "special attributes". In this way, the proper Learning Object (LO) according to each educator's needs can be retrieved by using the Learning Object's Metadata.