Wearable Enhanced Learning for Healthy Ageing: Conceptual Framework and Architecture of the “Fitness MOOC”

Physical activity is one of the key factors of ageing healthy and at the same time one of the key motivational challenges for the elderly. Supporting healthy ageing through physical fitness requires interventions that promote healthy levels of physical activity as part of the daily routine. Although wearable devices, such as activity trackers or smart wristbands, have been used by younger adopters to optimize physical fitness, little is known so far about how such emerging technologies may be used to improve well-being and overall health of senior users. In this paper we present the conceptual framework and the architecture of wearable-technology enhanced learning for healthy ageing as part of an R&D project called “Fitness MOOC interaction of seniors with wearable fitness trackers in the fitness MOOC (fMOOC)”, founded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The fMOOC project is a cooperation between Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin and the Geriatrics Research Group, Charité one of the largest medical universities in Europe. The project aims at developing a wearable-technology enhanced learning solution combining the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) approach with embodied and creative learning experience with support of activity trackers. fMOOC integrates an LMS backend with wearable fitness trackers, mobile user interface, gamification and analytics to promote healthy ageing through learning and interacting with senior users.