Peer Tech Coaching

About Peer Tech Coaching

“Peers” is a term we use when talking about persons with shared experiences. “Tech Coaches” can also be referred to as “Digital Navigators” or “Digital Guides.” The research surrounding tech peer support with older adults is growing stronger every day. Click here to read what our friend, Dr. Karen Fortuna, and her colleagues have been researching and writing about.

When it comes to older people learning to use tech, we encourage the use of peers and matching based on shared experiences and/or identities. Here are some (but not all) shared dimensions you can consider when pairing participants:

Age
Vocation
Military Background
Hobbies
Gender
Neighborhood
Education
And other shared experiences!

How do we train peers?

When Kovir leads these trainings, we cover some of the following topics:

Everyday Digital Ageism
- Understanding your own implicit bias is important, especially with a high rate of internalized ageism and peers. We’ll also talk about how this program will benefit multiple areas of wellness for both the peer coach and student.
- Supplement: Implicit Bias Test
Aging and Accessibility
- Understand and apply solutions when a peer is experiencing issues in vision, hearing, dexterity, and cognition.
- Supplement: Apple’s Accessibility Suite
- Supplement: Andriod’s Accessibility Suite
Adult Learning Models
- This session teaches the effective methods for teaching adults new skills as well as how to discover what works best for the peer coach and peer student.
User Experience
- Being knowledgeable in the systems you, the peer coach, are using will be beneficial to the smoothness of the program and building the confidence of the peer student.
Tech Ethics and Scams
- We’ll discuss best practices and ethical dilemmas you may encounter as a peer coach. We’ll talk about the most frequent requests for help as well as the scams older adults experience at a disporpotional rate.
- Supplement: Scammer Payback

How do peer coaches train peer students?

This is a great question but will vary greatly depending on your needs and resources. Some sites have designed this to be case-by-case matches and sessions but others have designed formal programs with much more structure and software. We can work with you on that should you need it.

Let's Talk about Starting Your Program

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