Supporting Older Adults in the Use of Smart Devices for Personal Health Management

A rapid proliferation of specialized consumer tech gadgets (e.g., Fitbits) demands attention to the challenges that individuals face in learning to use them. Help Kiosk (HK) was initially conceived to support older adults in independently learning to use a smartphone, but it was only ever examined for this one context. Its design also required users to divide their attention between different areas of an augmented display and their smartphone. We introduce HK 2.0, which leverages a 40" tabletop display to integrate support into one visual space, while also supporting older adults in learning how to use multiple smart devices that must be configured to work together (e.g., a smartwatch synched to a tablet). Our new system also builds on the self-directed learning environment of the initial HK by introducing a collaborative learning feature to provide remote support by family and friends. We share the design of HK 2.0, including design requirements, features, and learning topics.