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Coming of Age: The Adult Learner

© Julie Spears

This is the first of what I hope will be a continuing discussion of adult education using Internet communication protocols. The Internet has stimulated amazing growth in the numbers of adults from diverse backgrounds that are actively involved in learning through formal and informal content delivery methods ranging from online discussions, to interactive tutorials and two-way teleconferencing. The area of adult learning has two primary areas of focus: adult literacy and lifelong learning. The focus of this article is on continuing education and lifelong learning for adults.

The communities of adult learners include those that are pursuing a formal education, networks of broad or specialized groups of learners, and the adults that join an online forum to solve a wide range of problems. Individual learners are those adults that find an online tutorial in a subject that interests them and the casual surfer that follows links to expand their knowledge on any subject in the universe of knowledge published on the Internet.

Learning increases the self-efficacy of senior citizens. Communities of older learners, such as SeniorNet has renewed the learning interests of older adults as well as increasing their quality of life. This resource also provides a venue for the wisdom of age and experience to be shared with others.

Adult learners re-entering educational facilities have increased significantly. The average age of students enrolled in American universities has increased, as well as the numbers of students that have a part or full-time job that are pursuing an education at the same time.

The increased interest in learning has prompted many adults to investigate new areas that are hot topics in public education today, such as how to use learning styles to maximize their educational experiences. Accelerated Learning points out that on the average, adults will change careers, not just jobs, five to six times in their lifetime.

Online courses give working adults as well as those that live in rural environments the flexibility of completing a professional degree without the constriction of location that a fixed facility demands. One such institution is Kaplan Educational Center’s Concord University School of Law, the first major institution offering a juris doctorate degree earned entirely online. Admissions will be conducted on a rolling basis and students can begin their course of study any time beginning October 6, 1998.

The infatuation with learning is a global phenomenon. One of the many resources on the World Wide Web for learning is the World Lecture Hall, a database created by faculty around the world with a variety of courses and course materials such as lecture notes, syllabi, and links to related materials. A link to Alta Vista’s translator, capable of translating English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish documents.

The copyright of the article Coming of Age: The Adult Learner in Adult Education is owned by Julie Spears. Permission to republish Coming of Age: The Adult Learner in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.