Engaging the 55 Learner in Online Education

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Engaging the 55 Learner in Online Education

• Presentation at OTES, San Diego, April 25, 2008

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Who are these older learners and why are they in
your class?

• Look quickThe demographics are changing

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Internet Demographics (Pew)
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Reasons for returning to school

• Job performance enhancement
• Career change
• Personal enrichment

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The Older Learner has challenges

• Physical (vision, hearing, mobility, dexterity)
• Cognitive
• Decrease in working memory
• Decrease in cognitive speed
• Harder to perform complex tasks
• Decrease in concentration
• Decrease ability to sort out irrelevant material
• Needs more time to practice and learn

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Not to mention technological challenges

• Computer anxiety
• Little experience or training with technology
• May not understand the benefits of use
• Afraid of breaking it

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Online offers opportunities

• Community of learners
• Increased time to process information
• Emphasis off memorization and on application
• Allows less mobile seniors to participate
• Allows learners to use several ways to learn

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Their challenge becomes our challenge
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So how to engage the 55 learner?
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Components to success
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Course Design

• CRAP
• Variety of delivery methods (2 or more senses)
• But minimize extraneous sounds information
• And font large and easily magnified
• Color with care, and no color to convey meaning,
  please
• Graphics to illustrate key points help
• Animations will make learning more lively
• Put headings next to pictures, text next to
  graphics to keep information coherent

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And more design

• Information in chunks is nice
• Variety of delivery methods (2 or more senses)
• Self paced instruction
• Self directed instruction
• Minimal technical skills
• Fun and successful will bring them back

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Content

• Less is more
• Relevant to daily lives
• Builds on existing knowledge and experiences
• Provides links to references to build
  prerequisite knowledge

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Live Classes

• Area most lacking in current online classes
• Organization of topics, follow schedule
• Delivered in interesting way, with visuals and
  learner interaction
• Include facts, applications
• Powerpoints effective
• Provide archives of live class
• Provide plenty of material to support live class
• Currently, live online class may be least
  effective way of instruction for older adult

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The Learning community

• Develop an interactive discussion board or forum,
  with intuitive function and interesting topics
• Allow for performance and action in a variety of
  other modes (chat, quizzes, blogs)
• Encourage sharing (photos, documents)
• Extensive use of e-mail for communication with
  class and instructor
• Encourage interactions during live class
• Group projects that encourage collaborative
  learning

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Assignments and projects

• Clearly defined and well structured
• Require a minimum of background knowledge, but
  also provides information needed
• Provides opportunity to practice with feedback
  before real thing is due
• Provides examples and non examples
• Provides references and templates as needed

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Class activities

• Use a variety of different types to target
  different ways of learning
• Activities should easily blend into course design
• Range from passive to active, from self paced to
  group, from facts to discovery learning

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And then some tips
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Interactive

• Older adults learn by doing Provide relevant
  problem solving activities
• Older adults learn better with goal free tasks
• Provide worked examples with immediate
  reinforcement
• Provide multiple opportunities to practice with
  different scenarios
• Passive to active

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Build on existing knowledge

• Where possible, tie in experiences that they may
  be familiar with
• Create ways for learner to infuse own experiences
  and interests into class
• Tie in course to learner, and how it will help
  them to meet individual needs objectives
• Provide plenty of examples, references and links
  in a variety of delivery modes

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Relevant

• Provide relevant facts and data which pertain to
  the current topic
• Irrelevant information, when provided, should be
  clearly identified as supplemental

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Conclusion
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A successful learning experience for all
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THANK YOU!

• Mary Burns Prine
• Associate Professor
• San Diego Community College District
• Continuing Education, Older Adults
• mprine_at_sdccd.edu