Twenty-five-year-old inner-city students acquiring their high school diploma via an online forum experience stress. The research question is: How do faculty develop effective strategies to help online adult students mitigate stressors (from curriculum or technology)? The conceptual framework used in this research aligns with both the wellness…

Adult learners, including those who are employed at least part-time, have children or other family responsibilities, and are older than 25 years can benefit from the flexibility and convenience of online courses. In community colleges, adult learners enroll in online courses at a higher rate than in-person courses, but their success rates are low,…

Establishing an online class community that promotes belonging through open, honest communication and collaboration can alleviate doctoral student Imposter Syndrome. [For the full proceedings, see ED631897.]

This quantitative study investigates the impact of four types of discussion activities on adult learners' asynchronous online interactions. Specifically, this study aims to understand how different discussion activities incorporated into online discussion boards motivate adult learners' online participation. The four discussion activities are…

Adult learning facilitators in any setting (ALFAS) seek to facilitate learning that is lifelong and meaningful. The purpose of this interpretive research study was to explore how instructional designers (IDs) construct knowledge when preparing graduate faculty to develop and teach courses online. The study involved five IDs and their perceptions…

This paper describes a half semester long curricular and instructional design project focusing on the design and implementation of a collaborative strategy into a fully online graduate class in adult education. The purposeful group assignment and team building strategy, collectively called the collaborative strategy, represents an instructional…

Institutions of higher education have a primary concern regarding the success and attrition rates of the students. When these items begin to decline, it becomes necessary to ask why. This study looks at one identified element which is the increased role of adjunct faculty. The study specifically addresses the adjunct faculty training and…

Over the past 5 years, teaching staff at the School of Continuing Education, VIA University College, Denmark, has been designing digitally supported teaching within diploma programmes and tailor-made courses in the fields of health, education, social sciences and management. More and more of these programmes and courses are designed as blended…

Distance Education, nowadays defined more as Open and Distance Learning, dates back to 1800s. Once considered as using non-traditional approaches and delivery methods compared to conventional campus-based education, distance education now has become a mainstream form of education increasing its popularity and use in the 21st century. Distance…

Trends in higher education include accelerated online learning and an increase in adult learners. The retention of these learners is essential for universities. This study used an exploratory case study methodology to examine factors facilitating the retention of women in an accelerated, online teacher education program. Using the Priorities…

Online education cannot continue to grow at the current pace while ignoring a crucial component of campus support, wellness for adult online learners. This paper brings awareness to the concept of wellness as an important student support service in adult online education. It includes a summarized review of relevant literature and identifies…

In order to promote high quality clinical experiences for teacher candidates, one of the recent changes to educator preparation accreditation standards specifically targeted clinical faculty qualifications. Qualified mentor teachers are critical clinical faculty because they serve as the model for training practices for teacher candidates, the…

Distance learning programs in higher education are evolving into the preferred model for how we educate learners in the 21st century. The traditional role of an instructor was focused on creating an effective learning environment based in a physical classroom setting. In this decade, institutions are educating and training online instructors to a…

Teaching philosophy is much more than just teaching style, or a framework for a course. It can be defined as one's beliefs about life that are carried out in his/her teaching practice, which serve as a foundation for his/her educational philosophies. The majority of literature addressing philosophies in adult education practice focus on how…

Within the overall framework of design-based research, this paper reports on a study that focused on evaluating an online training course for online instructors. This intervention was designed as a possible solution to the problem facing some higher education institutions of how to provide quality, accessible training for mostly part-time…