Instructional Technology Conference 2008

Title: Incorporating eLearning for Adult Learners

Name: Lucia Vanderpool

Audience Level: All

Audience:

Length: One hour

Abstract:
Institutions are finding that online programs have special appeal to working adults and are experiencing record enrollment numbers of adult learners. In order to answer the educational needs of these students, we need to consider the following: What motivates adult learners? What distinguishing attributes do they bring to class? How do the learning styles of adult students differ from learning styles of traditional students? These and related questions will be discussed in this presentation.

Description:
A post-secondary degree has become an important credential in today's professions and is required for advancement in many careers. Because of these higher standards, countless working adults find themselves in need of returning to college, either to initially enroll in or to complete a degree program.

In recent years, colleges and universities have met the working adults' needs for education by offering a variety of special programs outside the traditional educational environment. These programs have included evening and weekend classes, accelerated courses, and online degree programs. Online programs have special appeal to non-traditional students, those who are 25 years of age and older. This appeal is due, in large part, to flexible scheduling and the ability to attend class from home and at any time of the day as long as access to the Internet is available. It has been noted that there are nearly as many undergraduates over the age of 25 as there are traditional-aged college students. The 2007 Sloan Survey of Online Learning reported that online enrollment has increased at an average annual rate of 21.5 percent over the past five years compared with just 1.5 percent average annual growth for the overall higher education population.

With the influx of adult learners responding to online offerings, it is extremely important that teachers are able to understand and respond to any unique educational needs of these students. In order to do this, we need to consider the following: What motivates adult learners? What distinguishing attributes do they bring to class? How do the learning styles of adult students differ from learning styles of traditional students? These and related questions will be discussed in this presentation. If the answers to these questions can be determined, we will be better able to insure the success of these students.

Session Type: Lecture/Presentation

Contact information/affiliation:
Lucia Vanderpool, Associate Professor
Baptist College of Health Sciences
1003 Monroe Avenue
Memphis, Tennessee 38104
901-572-2512
lucia.vanderpool@bchs.edu

Equipment: Computer with PowerPoint 2003 installed, USB port, projector and screen.

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