Challenges Faced by Adult Learners in Online Distance Education: A Literature Review

Download

index.pdf

Date

2019-01-01

Author

KARA, MEHMET
Erdogdu, Fatih
Kokoc, Mehmet
Çağıltay, Kürşat

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

450
views

179
downloads

Although online distance education provides adult learners with an opportunity for life-long learning, there are still factors challenging them to engage in educational processes. The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges faced by adult learners in online distance education through the analysis of the relevant literature. The articles (N=36) published in the key journals in the fields of open and distance education, instructional technology, and adult education were reviewed and analyzed through constant comparative analysis in the current study. The findings reveal that adult learners have challenges related to internal, external, and program-related factors indicating the interrelated nature of these challenges. The findings also show that the challenges experienced by adult learners vary depending on their age, gender, knowledge and skills as well as the context in which they study. The findings of this study, which has an exploratory nature, have several implications for distance education stakeholders such as administrators, instructors, instructional designers, and policy makers.

Subject Keywords

Online distance education, Adult learners, Challenges

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/36534

Journal

OPEN PRAXIS

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.11.1.929

Collections

Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Article

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

Design of a problem-based online learning environment and evaluation of its effectiveness Gündüz, Abdullah Yasin; Alemdağ, Ecenaz; Yaşar, Sevil; Erdem, Mukaddes (2017-07-01) Problem-based learning approach present several advantages such as improving students’ engagement in learning and fostering their higher-order thinking skills. Although there is a plethora of research regarding implementation of problem-based learning in classrooms, its design and application process for web-based environments need further investigation because of independent nature of online settings. This study developed a problem-based online learning environment based on constructivist learning design m...
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES IN ONLINE LEARNING: THE CASE OF ENGLISH PREPARATORY SCHOOL Alpsoy, Zeynep Eda; Engin Demir, Cennet; Department of Curriculum and Instruction (2022-3) This study aims to investigate student experiences, satisfaction, and the relationship between these two dimensions during the online language learning process at a preparatory school. Student experiences are examined with a focus on instructor support, peer relations, technical support and course activities and materials. Additionally, learner characteristics, such as gender, employment status, language level, achievement, prior online learning experiences, issues experienced in online learning and their r...
TERTIARY LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTORS’ EXPERIENCES OF ONLINE EDUCATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THEIR SUGGESTIONS FOR IN-SERVICE AND PRE-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS Kıyan, Şebnem; Savaş, Perihan; Department of English Language Teaching (2022-9-14) This study aimed to investigate English language instructors’ experiences and suggestions on online education due to COVID-19 pandemic in their educational setting. Forty-seven English language instructors at an English-medium state university in Turkey participated in the study. For this convergent design mixed method study, an online survey was conducted. The quantitative data collected through a Likert scale survey was analyzed via descriptive statistics including mean scores and standard deviation while...
The development of distance education systems in Turkey Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia Olaf, Zawackirichter; Kondakçı, Yaşar; Svenja, Bedenlier; Utman, Alturki (2015-12-01) In many countries, open and distance education is perceived as a way to meet the growing need for higher education. This paper explores the development of online and distance education in three countries that are still a white spot on the landscape of international distance education research although they have implemented elaborated distance education systems: Turkey, Russia and Saudi-Arabia. In order to understand the current state of distance education systems in the three countries, their respective sys...
Perceptions of students and teachers about the use of e - learning / sharing portal in educational activities Işık, Azad; Özden, M. Yaşar; Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology (2009) This study examined the perceptions of the Students and the Teachers of METU Development Foundation Schools about the use of e-learning / sharing portal technology in their educational activities. Their perceptions were investigated in terms of three aspects: effects of the use of this technology on their perceived motivation, the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use of this technology. A central server was installed for setting up an e-learning / sharing portal environment. Microsoft SharePoi...

Citation Formats

M. KARA, F. Erdogdu, M. Kokoc, and K. Çağıltay, “Challenges Faced by Adult Learners in Online Distance Education: A Literature Review,” OPEN PRAXIS, pp. 5–22, 2019, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/36534.