Needs Analysis
For our Needs Analysis, we followed Morrison’s 4 phases: planning, collecting data, analyzing the data, and compiling a final report. For the planning stage, we prepared to conduct surveys, interview our client and subject matter experts, and complete literature-based research to better understand the needs of instructing older adults on critical media literacy. Through our data collection phase, we were fortunate to be able to complete all our planned research to better inform our learning intervention. We have now analyzed our data and summarized the most prominent and useful research.
Scams
According to the 2020 Elder Fraud Report released by FBI, 105,301 adults over 60 years of age were victims of a variety of different digital scams. They were also targeted more than any other age group. The number of victims over 60 has had a trend of increasing in the past 5 years and has increased by around 60% from 2019. The total loss of money from victims over 60 years of age in 2020 was over $966 million US dollars, which is equivalent to about 17,172 families’ annual salary in the US. The increasing trend leads us to expect a higher loss in 2021 if no action is taken to prevent people, specifically older adults, from digital scams. Digital scamming has become such a large problem likely due to the rapid development of technology as well as the popularization of digital devices, such as smartphones and tablets, among older adults.
Misinformation
Vision
Besides scams, older adults are also victims of a variety of misinformation on social media. According to an article published by the Los Angeles Times, false information and news are 70% more likely to be shared than the truth, and Facebook users over the age of 65 years have shared approximately 7 times as many fake news articles as younger users during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Additionally, a recent survey “found that 75 percent of these searchers [people searching for health information online] do not pay heed to the quality of the information they find, and 25 percent reported becoming frustrated, confused or overwhelmed by what they find” (Hobbs, 2010, p. 11).
From the data that we have discussed and our interviews and survey, we concluded that many older adults have difficulty in deciding if a message or online activity is a scam as well as distinguishing true and false information and news online.
What are the gaps?
When considering the older adult population's overall ability to identify harmful or inaccurate information, it is possible that this difficulty could be a result of a gap in their knowledge (i.e., not knowing how to identify such information). If this is true, then we need to design effective instruction that closes this gap in older adults' knowledge (Brown & Green, 47). Based on these findings, our interviews, and our survey data, there is a clear need for education on harmful scams, misinformation, and conspiracy theories to help close this gap that currently exists for older adults. It is imperative that critical media literacy education be provided to older adults to help them make well-researched and informed decisions.
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Our survey
From our survey of older adults, aged 60 years and older, we discovered that a large majority of those we surveyed felt that there is a current issue of misinformation being spread on social media or the Internet, however, when we asked our participants if they would be interested in learning more about how to avoid misinformation, scams, and conspiracy theories, only 26% of those surveyed said that they were interested.
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This finding is important for our team to consider in the design, as many individuals may believe they have a strong understanding of identifying scams, misinformation, and conspiracy theories, however, that may not be the case. This false confidence may inhibit their motivation to learn critical digital literacy skills, despite the fact that it could be very helpful for them in the future.
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Where will this change need to take place?
Our client, Dr. Tara Cortes, and our subject matter expert, Dr. Donna McCabe, both recommended that this educational intervention be placed in public libraries, senior centers, and/or adult day centers. These locations were also supported by our literature review.
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In Rasi and Rivinen’s article Promoting Media Literacy Among Older People: A Systematic Review, they revealed in their review that seniors’ centers, public libraries, and other community-based settings are excellent sources of computer and Internet access and support for older persons.
What are the problems?
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Older adults are more likely to be scammed or targetted for misinformation than other populations.
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Older adults recognize the need for an educational intervention, however, a large majority of the older adults we surveyed did not feel they specifically wanted or needed any educational interventions.
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There are few interventions currently available for older adults to specifically develop critical media literacy skills.
References
Brown, Abbie H., and Timothy D. Green. The Essentials of Instructional Design : Connecting Fundamental Principles with Process and Practice, Third Edition, Routledge, 2015.
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Hobbs, R. (2010). (rep.). Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action. A White Paper on the Digital and Media Literacy Recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED523244.pdf.
Luke Barr. Senior citizens lost almost $1 billion in scams last year: FBI. ABC News. Published on June 18, 2021. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senior-citizens-lost-billion-scams-year-fbi/story?id=78356859
Nadia Brashier and Daniel Schacter, Op-Ed: Older people spread more fake news, a deadly habit in the COVID-19 pandemic. The Los Angeles Times. Published on August 7, 2020. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-08-07/fake-news-older-people-social-media
Rasi, P., Vuojärvi, H., & Rivinen, S. (2021). Promoting Media Literacy Among Older People: A Systematic Review. Adult Education Quarterly, 71(1), 37–54. https://doi-org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/10.1177/0741713620923755