Community colleges play a critical role in serving adult learners. The unprecedented demand for online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a lasting shift toward online courses in community colleges across the country. Adult learners, many of whom work and have significant family responsibilities, enroll in online courses at a higher rate than they do in-person courses, as online courses are more convenient for them. However, the convenience of online learning may come at some cost for adult learners, whose success rates are low, largely due to attrition.
While adult learners continue to make up a significant portion of students enrolled in community colleges, declining enrollment trends spurred by the pandemic underscore the urgency with which community colleges must adapt to better meet the needs of these students. For faculty who have already made significant adjustments to bring courses online, the challenge of student success in online courses continues to require a deeper understanding of adult learners and ways to support them.
In this article, the authors provide information on online course enrollments and outcomes among adult students and review theoretical concepts about adult learning that may inform expanded teaching strategies to engage adult learners. They present two classroom interventions that offer models for community colleges to support adult students. The first is a framework to support students in building skills and developing a mindset for self-directed learning in online coursework. The second is an evidence-based embedded coaching model for online courses.
