Beyond the Digital Divide: Digital Skills and Training Needs of Persons 50+

Demographic change and digitalisation are two megatrends which change society and individual life fundamentally. Digital skills and their continuous development are increasingly central prerequisites for participation in private and public life, and it must be ensured that all citizens can develop the skills necessary to participate and to access services. However, these skills are not equally developed in all population groups, an unequal distribution of ICT use, digital skills, and its outcomes, the so-called "digital divide". However, using a binary classification of Internet use or skills overlooks the broad differences in people's level of skills. Due to the static and dichotomous theoretical conception, there is a high risk of overlooking the group of people who, in a continuum of digital skills, are not at either end but somewhere in the middle. Especially with persons in the second half of life, due to their biography as they did not grow up with digitalisation but acquired basic skills during their professional lives, a high percentage of people with intermediate digital skills can be assumed. This group is at risk of being overlooked in the context of digital skills courses, which often focus on building basic skills. Strategies and programs should be developed to support the further development of digital skills of this group during and especially beyond working life. Therefore, a mixed-method study, entitled "Digital Skills and Training Needs of 50+. A Study Beyond the Digital Divide", is conducted by the Institute for Ageing Research (IAF), OST - Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) within the program NRP 77 "Digital Transformation". The project will generate broad knowledge of actual and long-term digital competences of Swiss people 50 plus, their training experiences, as well as develop evidence-based recommendations for stakeholders wishing to design new training courses on digital competences for people 50 plus with different educational backgrounds and experiences. This project provides actual and long-term broad knowledge and practical application possibilities to ensure the participation of future generations in digitalisation in Switzerland. This paper presents in detail the project, its individual parts and the methodological approach.