E-Pedagogy for the Digital Age

Adult learners have more options for enrolling in postsecondary education than ever before, and they are able to use their learning style preference in deciding which program best meets their needs. For some of these students, those programs are fully online, and for others, there is minimal use of technology. As technology grows and become more integrated into individual lives, the unique learning styles and preferences of adults need to learn to be incorporated into instructional design. Drawing on a regional sample of US colleges, 545 adult learners in a graduate programs were surveyed about how to effectively build community in their online classes. Results indicated some agreement with these instructional tools. Mature adult learners, however, were found to have stronger agreement with strategies that included work outside of the formal online class. These results suggest perhaps a greater comfort for adults in working in spaces where there is less likelihood of being judged or graded, and that they might value relational work with other students in different ways than younger adults.