The purpose of this action research was to determine if motivation and perception of adult learners enrolled in a GED program at the Small Town Adult Education Center in South Carolina were affected by the use of communicative technologies and improved student-teacher relationships. This study focused on three overarching research questions. The…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are offered on diverse topics in an attempt to reach global audiences. MOOCs have helped address limitations to educational access, yet the dropout rates are notoriously high. Many argue that high attrition in MOOCs is because the instructional design often does not align with the needs of adult learners. Adult…

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have changed the way in which OER (Open Educational Resources) are bundled by teachers and consumed by learners. MOOCs represent an evolution towards the production and offering of structured quality OER. Many institutions that were initially reluctant to providing OER have, however, joined the MOOC wave.…

Students in higher education are being taught pedagogically. Moreover, pedagogy has long persisted as the basis for the entire educational system. Education is, however, discovering that adults learn differently than children learn even though they have been taught as children were taught. Students tend to behave dependently when they are in a…

The present study aimed to examine distance learners' goal profiles and their contrasting patterns of learning and achievements at three different points during an academic year, i.e. in the beginning of the course in relation to learners' general orientations to learning, at the middle of the course in relation to learners' completion of an…

The research reported in this study concerns older adults from Australia who voluntarily chose to learn the craft of woodturning. The paper examines the literature of adult learning under the themes of presage factors, the learning environment, instructional methods, and techniques for facilitators. The paper then reports on the analysis of two…

The purpose of this study is to expand understanding and discover knowledge about degree attainment among adult learners. This qualitative inquiry explores what recent non-traditional-age bachelor's degree recipients report contributes to attaining the degree. Professional research and expert material on demographics, motivation, challenges and…

A good lesson plan has an introduction, body, opportunity for questions, and summary. These components are bound together with time cues, media cues, practice and provide-help paragraphs, instructor's notes, and transitions. Motivational principles guiding lesson plan development are relevance, conceptual framework, learning outcome, method,…

This study explores the relationship between regional people's identities, their experiences of learning, and engagement with learning. Fifteen adult learners describe those experiences of education and the significant impact of their learning identity on their engagement with learning in the long term. The study was based in a regional area of…

Extends the literature on learning processes by identifying the motives and learning strategies of Master's- and Doctoral-level students. Finds that some graduate students seem more like undergraduate students in terms of their motives and learning strategies. Students' academic competency cannot be assumed simply as a result of their progression…

This paper presents an overview of research on adult learning and suggests strategies for helping adult students to learn. In the first section of the paper, learning and memory are discussed and factors needed for adults to learn the hows and whys of adult motivation are then discussed. The paper next covers the setting of adult learning and the…

More and more, adult learners are finding the convenience and flexibility of online learning a match for their learning goals and busy lifestyles. Online degree programs, courses, and virtual universities targeting adult learners have proliferated in the past decade. Although students can easily locate an online course or degree program that's…

This booklet addresses two of the competencies needed by part-time faculty who teach adults. The competencies are adult learning and the need for quality in preparation to assure quality in instruction. The booklet begins with a discussion of just who the adult learners are. The next topic is adult motivation to learn at the beginning, during, and…

Discusses the basic concepts of andragogy, or the teaching of adults. Topics include differences between children and adults; characteristics of adult learners, including time perspective, motivation, being self-directed, and experienced in life skills; and effective program design for adults. (LRW)

In a face-to-face classroom, the instructor can easily diagnose students' motivational status by observing their facial expressions and postures, but such cues are absent in an online classroom. Therefore, online instructors often estimate students' motivational level based on their online behavior such as the number of messages they post, and…