Adult Learners, E-Learning, and Success

2010 ◽  
pp. 1400-1421
Author(s):  
Hsu Hsu ◽  
Karin Hamilton

Adult learners have a set of specific and unique needs, andare different from traditional college students. Possessing greater maturity, interest in learning, and also career andlife-oriented objectives, they have different expectations for their education, as well as different backgrounds andgoals. This chapter examines what adult learners are, theories of adult learning, and the applicability of onlinelearning to adult learners. Specific teaching methods andtechniques are discussed for online and hybrid distancelearning courses, as well as hybrid arrangements; encompassing teaching methods, types of exercises andactivities, intensive course structures, block scheduling, andthe use of modular course segments. Examples from anadult learner hybrid distance learning undergraduateprogram, Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Global Business Management, are also provided. Future trends and areas for further research conclude the chapter.

Author(s):  
Jeffrey Hsu ◽  
Karin Hamilton

Adult learners have a set of specific and unique needs, and are different from traditional college students. Possessing greater maturity, interest in learning, and also career and life-oriented objectives, they have different expectations for their education, as well as different backgrounds and goals. This chapter examines what adult learners are, theories of adult learning, and the applicability of online learning to adult learners. Specific teaching methods and techniques are discussed for online and hybrid distance learning courses, as well as hybrid arrangements; encompassing teaching methods, types of exercises and activities, intensive course structures, block scheduling, and the use of modular course segments. Examples from an adult learner hybrid distance learning undergraduate program, Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Global Business Management, are also provided. Future trends and areas for further research conclude the chapter.


Author(s):  
Pamela A. Lemoine ◽  
Christopher J. Garretson ◽  
Robert E. Waller ◽  
Evan G. Mense ◽  
Michael D. Richardson

The world of higher education is now global with online learning a driving force in much of the world. Globalization of higher education has created vast new opportunities for e-learning, particularly for adult students. However, adult learning online is different from online for traditionally aged students. Global universities are increasing their online programs to take advantage of economic considerations, particularly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for learning online. Using online learning for adult education is essential in the changing global world. Connotations of adult learning theory for professors using online learning are many and varied. Traditional pedagogical styles will not work effectively with adult learners who desire concrete, hands-on, practical information with learning activities characterized by active involvement, task-orientation, flexibility, and creativity. Online students often want opportunities to acquire skills directly applicable to job competencies for current employment or preparation for a future job.


Author(s):  
Laily Yahya

The article review of ‘The Impact of Fun and Enjoyment on Adult Learning’ (Lucardie, 2014) opens doors to the kaleidoscope of fun and enjoyment amongst adult learners. The essence of this review is an informative snapshot on the critical issues of how fun and joy have impacted adult learning through a qualitative research drawing upon traditions of phenomenology. It aims to explore the affective experiences of fun and enjoyment. This article review attempts to highlight an insightful assessment of the ideas and the arguments that are being discussed by the author. The different interpretation of this concept draws out contrasting elements between learners and teachers’ beliefs. A twist to this review is a reflective stance procured to address central issues emerging in the article related to the Malaysian context. It is through the lens of the reader, Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI):4R is proposed. This refers to the process of continuously improving the quality of teaching and learning of an educational programme. This review concludes with the framing of CQI:4R to illustrate reflect, revisit, realign and reconstruct processes that could possibly navigate the architectural landscape of the Malaysian Teacher Education.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147797142110031
Author(s):  
Togtokhmaa Zagir ◽  
Helga Dorner

Competent adult learning facilitators play a vital role in improving the quality of adult learning programmes. This article thus explores common and core competences of adult learning facilitators from the perspective of key stakeholders, such as facilitators, adult learners and administrators. By synthesising previous international studies, we developed a survey and collected data in Mongolia ( n = 227). We identified adult learning facilitators’ common and core competences focusing on their teaching role. As found, areas of adult learners’ needs assessment, communication and motivation should be integrated in professional development programmes in order to aim for a better completion rate and higher participation of target audiences in adult learning programmes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147490412110146
Author(s):  
Ellen Boeren

This paper borrows insights from the literature on European welfare regimes to analyse the relationship between happiness and participation in adult education. The academic literature and policy discourses on adult education tend to claim that participation in learning is correlated with happiness despite the lack of strong European comparative empirical evidence on this topic. This paper uses data from the latest Wave of the European Social Survey to analyse the happiness perceptions of nearly 20,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 64 who live in 16 European countries (15 European Union countries and the United Kingdom). Results indicate that while adult learners on average tend to be happier than non-learners, this correlation weakens when controlling for determinants of participation and happiness and for the countries in which these adults live. Confirming the importance of welfare regimes, this study found that adults in Finland tend to be happier than those in other countries, regardless of their participation in adult education. Happiness scores were lowest in Bulgaria and Hungary, countries with low participation rates in adult education and with the biggest differences in happiness scores between learners and non-learners. It is argued that the presence of well-structured adult learning provision might be an important characteristic of welfare regimes but that happiness is determined by much more than being an adult learner.


e-mentor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-36
Author(s):  
Lidia Pokrzycka ◽  

In times of the coronavirus pandemic, distance learning has become mandatory for higher education. That requires using a variety of teaching methods, both synchronous and asynchronous, and their common feature is the use of ICT tools. The aim of the article is to present applications used for making the remote lectures more attractive and engaging for journalism students of graduate and doctoral studies and foreigners from the English-language Doctoral School of Social Sciences of UMCS. The author also reflects on students' appreciation of such solutions initially during blended learning and then e-learning classes. That is based on the survey conducted among 30 doctoral students who carried out their lectures using internet applications. The study confirmed that the applications motivate students to work systematically and additionally to use them during their apprenticeships or while working in various companies with marketing, advertising, or public relations profile. Students also appreciate asynchronous classes and the fact that the use of applications allows them to repeat the most important pieces of information in a stress-free mode. Graphical applications make even tricky topics easier to remember while enabling students to illustrate the theory with practical elements.


2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Cope

This study is based on interviews carried out with 13 adult learners of traditional fiddle playing. The average age of the learners was 56 and they had been learning to play for between 2 and 20 years. All of the interviewees had taken music at school but none of them had been stimulated to participate further in any significant sense. The aspiration to learn to play the fiddle had various sources. Learning usually took place through traditional workshops and through the medium of the tune rather than through scales and exercises. Only one of the participants took regular conventional individualised lessons. They tended to take a pragmatic stance with regard to technique, looking for technical advice when they came up against barriers to progress. The music they played was within an aural culture and most of them learned by ear although they tended to regard notation as a useful supplement. All of them played in some sort of social context and all of them described an immense sense of pleasure and achievement from their playing. It is suggested that this kind of informal learning may have implications for learning to play instruments at school.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyo-Jeong So ◽  
Hyeran Lee ◽  
Seak-Zoon Roh

Considering the increasing demand for microlearning in informal learning spaces, the main purpose of this research is to examine the design of microlearning perceived by adult learners and experts in Korea. The research questions include: (1) what modality and content length do adult learners perceive to be relevant for microlearning? (2) what content areas do adult learners perceive to be relevant for microlearning? and (3) what are the expected impacts and future directions of microlearning perceived by the experts? The participants include 11 e-learning experts and 326 adult learners working in the fields of science and technology. Data were collected from the learner survey, focus group interview, and expert survey. Overall, this study found that adult learners tend to have some conflicting opinions about the content areas perceived to be relevant for e-learning and microlearning. The design of content that takes the modality of video consumed within 3-5 minutes was considered to be the most relevant for microlearning. Experts perceived that microlearning is an efficient and effective direction for adult learners to enhance professional knowledge and to broaden informal learning opportunities. However, the experts were less positive about the potential of microlearning for increasing convergence research and learning transfer. There was a considerable gap between desirability and feasibility in the directions toward integrating microlearning with advanced technologies. Based on the key findings, we discuss some implications concerning the design of microlearning for adult learners’ informal learning. Cite as So, H-J., Lee, H., Roh, S-Z. (2020) Examining the Design of Microlearning for Korean Adult Learners. Computer-Based Learning in Context, 2(1), 40-53. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4057859


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