This study analyses how teenaged instructors paired with older learners make use of scaffolding. Video data were categorised according to 15 types of direct scaffolding tactics, indirect scaffolding, and unused scaffolding opportunities. The results show that a teenager who is unprepared for the role of an instructor of Internet skills for older person uses scaffolding tactics, but does so inconsistently, and the gradual appearance of fading of non-scaffolding tactics is relatively modest. Some possible reasons why scaffolding is not used, as well as the implications of spontaneous scaffolding are discussed.

Younger people, i.e. teenagers without any pedagogical training and work experience play an important role in teaching computer skills to older adults. The present study is based on 14 cases in which a teenager teaches an older adult to use a computer on a topic of the latter's own choice. Both interactive as well as non-interactive techniques used by the teenagers will be analysed, as well as their dependence on the whether the tutor is a user of the chosen website, whether he/she has made preparations for the tutoring session, and the combination of these two attributes. As a result, we saw that any kind of previous experience the tutor had with the content taught (as an everyday user or by independent exploration prior to the tutoring session) decreased interactivity of tutoring process. At the same time, the risk of over-demonstration emerged in such cases. For further research, some hypotheses to test the idea of a reciprocal learning model in which an older learner would be a resource person for the young tutor on interactive tutoring techniques are proposed.

Osoby starsze uczące się w grupie zróżnicowanej wiekowo zdobywające nowe umiejętności zawodowe Summary. In the study carried out by using qualitative methods, a research instrument for measuring the applicability of principles recommended for the elderly learning in an age-heterogeneous group was created based on geragogy reference sources. The action research of one group showed that most of the principles of geragogy were applied in the study process, although the respective training course was not specifically designed for the elderly. In this combined-age learning group, elderly learners experienced some problems, and recommendations are proposed to solve them.

Older men’s participation in learning initiatives is low in Estonia (SHARE, 2015). The national plans for active ageing (Welfare Development Plan 2016–2023, 2016) indicate that activities related to inclusion and development are vital to improving older individuals’ quality of life in the context of the ‘longevity revolution’. There is little discussion about the ways in which older people themselves affect the success of these plans, and about the potential roles and opportunities for all members of the community to foster the inclusion of older people. Two qualitative studies conducted in Estonia in 2012 and 2017 expand upon the involvement of older men in different contexts. A content and thematic analysis revealed latent factors that may hinder older men’s learning, such as loneliness, expectations about masculinity inherited from the cultural background, a restrictive domestic comfort zone, and a lack of demand for older men’s experience. The main finding from the analysis is that older rural men in Estonia do not feel responsible for their own social health. As older men’s personal initiative to create their own learning opportunities tends to be low, the community needs to provide more support for the reduction of men’s indirect barriers.

This qualitative study was carried out among older men in the rural municipality of Tartu, Estonia. The data was gathered with the intention of exploring the obstacles encountered and motivational aspects employed when trying to convince older men to share their knowledge. The study revealed the existence of untapped potential in the involvement of older men in the exchange of knowledge. It also highlights didactic solutions for challenges encountered in the processes of older men's learning and knowledge-sharing. The study revealed older men's preferences for practical learning and knowledge-sharing. Men are willing to share their professional skills: that which they have acquired either at work in the household. Older men also demonstrated a lack of flexibility when the correctness of their views was challenged, which may present an obstacle to informal knowledge sharing between generations. The Estonian educational system for the elderly is based on the participants' own initiative and active involvement, but unfortunately this is just what men in the municipality of Tartu lacked.