The Challenges Of Adult Learning For Adult And Online Learning

As the world of knowledge and technology changes at rapid pace, adults have a choice to keep up with the changes by improving their knowledge and skills or to remain stagnate in their learning and become obsolete (Billington, 2007). Adult higher education students over the age of twenty-five account for 44 percent of the student body population (Altbach, Berdahl, & Gumport, 2005, p. 320). In other words, adult education has become a booming business. Adult students account for nearly half of today’s student body in higher education (Altbach et al., 2005).

Adult learning differs from that of children, as adults approach learning with prior life experience and combine old knowledge with new knowledge. Adults are self-directed learners, as opposed

In online learning, creating a comfortable electronic learning environment supportive of personal growth can be a particular challenge. Instructors meet this challenge by having learners get to know each other through introductions and brief descriptions of their experiences and interests (Kasworm, Rose, & Ross-Gordon, 2010). Digital online learning allows adults to learn via self-paced learning modules, multimedia case studies, simulations, video tutorials, and communications and assessment tools. As indicated by Kasworm (2010), adults are the largest age group to use online learning because of its convenience and flexibility. They are technologically proficient, self-confident, goal-oriented, and able to multitask, social, and good at working in groups (Kasworm et al., 2010, p. 29). Adult learning is cumulative, as we progress through life we attain more knowledge and dramatic life experiences often force us to stop and contemplate our thoughts about something (Merriam & Bierema, 2013, p.

In this method, children are not active in the lesson process. They merely absorb the lesson being taught without critically thinking about the material. Children do not decide the lessons taught, methods by which they learn, or the environment in which they learn as adults do. Pedagogical methods are not effective on adult learners, as adults typically a desire more active hands on learning approach. Adults are not passive sponges, instead they learn by doing, using self-motivation to achieve their