AN ANALYSIS OF ADULT AND TRADITIONAL STUDENT SATISFACTION

IN ONLINE COURSES

Christina TrombleyDirector, Adult Degree Program

Steve VandenAvond, Ph.D.Associate Provost, Outreach and Adult Access

Adult Degree Program

CONTACT INFORMATION

Adult Degree Program

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Division of Outreach and Adult Access

2420 Nicolet Drive | Green Bay, WI 54311-7001

Telephone: 800-621-2313

Email: adultdegrees@uwgb.edu

Christina TrombleyDirector

Adult Degree Program

tromblec@uwgb.edu

Steve VandenAvond, Ph.D.Associate Provost

Division of Outreach and Adult Access

vandenas@uwgb.edu

OVERVIEW

• Overview of Integrative Leadership Studies major

• Impact of policy changes• Quantitative analysis of student evaluations• Andragogical framework• Qualitative analysis of instructor and student

experiences• Conclusions and next steps• Questions and discussion

Adult Degree Program

INTRODUCTION

• Integrative Leadership Studies major & ADP

• Policy changes• Impact of integration

– Faculty and instruction– Student evaluations

• Do all students positively respond to the same teaching strategies?

Adult Degree Program

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

• CCQ Study– Statistically significant (p<.05) differences between traditional and

adult students on almost all standard CCQ questions

• General Intellectual Development

• Instructor Contact (marginal)

• Instructor-Student Relationship

• Course Relevance

• Course Difficulty

• Time Commitment,

• Achieved Learning Outcomes

– In all cases, adult students gave higher average ratings

– Great diversity in responses in open-ended questions between traditional and post-traditional students Adult Degree Program

ANDRAGOGY

• Conceptual framework in adult learning theory (Knowles, 1984)– Self-concept– Experience– Readiness to learn– Orientation to learning– Motivation to learn

Adult Degree Program

SELF-CONCEPT

As people mature, self concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward

one of being a self-directed human being.

Learners are self-directed when they understand for themselves what they need to do in order to learn.

Adult Degree Program

SELF-CONCEPT

Teaching Strategies• Set clear, measurable learning objectives.• Match appropriate and various activities and resources to

learning objectives.• Encourage learners to think about what they are doing as

they complete tasks.• Offer a variety of options for students to demonstrate

what they have learned.• Give students opportunities to assess their own learning.• Use a variety of instructional resources and methods.• Use a variety of assessment methods.

Adult Degree Program

EXPERIENCE

As people mature, they accumulate a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for

learning.

Adults come to learning situations with years of experience and a wealth of knowledge. Adults also have established values, beliefs, and opinions. Adult Degree Program

EXPERIENCE

Teaching Strategies• Provide opportunities for dialogue among students.• Use open-ended questions to draw out student knowledge

and experience.• Acknowledge contributions students make to class.• Permit debate and challenging of ideas.• Treat questions and comments with respect.• Acknowledge that adults may be skeptical about new

information and may need to “try it out” before accepting it.• Accept that students may not always agree with your plan

for the course.Adult Degree Program

READINESS TO LEARN

As people mature, their readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the

developmental tasks of their social roles.

Adults are ready to learn what they need to know to deal with life situations.

Adult Degree Program

READINESS TO LEARN

Teaching Strategies• Focus on theories and concepts as they

apply to relevant issues.• Orient course toward direct application of

learning.

Adult Degree Program

ORIENTATION TO LEARNING

As people mature, time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and their orientation

toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem- centeredness.

Adults are task-centered and problem-focused in their approach to learning. They want to learn what will help them perform tasks or deal with problems they confront in everyday situations. Adult Degree Program

ORIENTATION TO LEARNING

Teaching Strategies• Present information as a resource.• Teach learners to use resources

(information) to complete tasks and solve problems.

Adult Degree Program

MOTIVATION TO LEARN

As a person matures the motivation to learn becomes internal.

Adults respond to some external motivators (e. g. promotion, bonus, higher salary), but, for the most part, adult learners are motivated from within.

Adult Degree Program

MOTIVATION TO LEARN

Teaching Strategies• State clear objectives for learning.• Use authentic assessment tasks.

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QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

Problem Statement

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand how andragogy, when applied to online classes, contributes to

satisfaction in adult students.

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METHODOLOGY

• Face-to-face interviews with two online instructors • Face-to-face interviews with two students in UW-

Green Bay’s Integrative Leadership Studies major• Observation of instruction of an online course.• Collection and examination of artifacts, including the

following:– Syllabi from classes from both interviewed instructors– Postings from Learning Management System (LMS) from

online class of one of the interview instructors– E-mail from students in one of the interviewed instructor’s

coursesAdult Degree Program

METHODOLOGY

What are faculty experiences with teaching returning adults in online classes?

Sub-questions include: • To what extent do faculty understand the difference

between andragogy and pedagogy? • What strategies do faculty use in teaching adults in

online classes? • What instructional resources, methods and assessments

do faculty use in online classes with adult learners? • What are student reactions to andragogical strategies in

their courses? Adult Degree Program

FINDINGS

• Online instructors believe that adult students want a full educational experience

• Instructors believe there are critical components for teaching adults online

• Andragogical concepts enhance adult learner satisfaction in online courses

Adult Degree Program

FINDINGSOnline instructors believe that adult students want a full

educational experience.

“But for the most part, adults appear to me to be more questioning, more active, more interested, more excited about sharing information with each other.”

“They’re not afraid of criticism. They want honest critique. They want it quickly, thoroughly, they’ll act on it. They like second chances, which I like. Very often a traditional student will get a paper -- they don’t like the grade. They put it away and that’s the end of it. An adult student will mull over it, make comments on it, ask if he or she can redo that part of it. It really is, it’s not school to them. It’s an entirely holistic learning experience and I like that about adults.” Adult Degree Program

FINDINGSOnline instructors believe that adult students want a full

educational experience.

“They (adults) can figure it out faster than a freshman regular student and part of that, I think, has to do with while not every adult is coming in just because they want a degree, there’s a higher proportion that want a degree for a reason and they’re really in the class to learn as much as they can as opposed to just checking off a box.”

Adult Degree Program

FINDINGSInstructors believe there are critical components for

teaching adults online

“Well, the other thing is that the way you just treat or work with the adults is a little bit different. I mean, I really take into account a lot of these people have families, they have jobs, this is not their number one thing. It’s like their two or three or four. They’re part-time students a lot of times and doing the best they can. Not an excuse or reason that you cut them any slack in terms of what their outcomes are, but maybe in terms of timing, a little more flexibility both in getting things to them maybe a little earlier or once in while, having to work out an alternate plan to get work in -- a little bit different than I would treat a daytime type student.”

Adult Degree Program

FINDINGSInstructors believe there are critical

components for teaching adults online

(regarding creating a learning community)

“It’s vital! Yes, if adults do not feel connected, they will not persevere. So they need to feel connected to the course, to the instructor, to their peers and to the University, and so if they don’t feel that connection, that’s the biggest red flag for online learning. If there is not connection, then there is no persistence.”

Adult Degree Program

FINDINGSAndragogical concepts enhance adult learner

satisfaction in online courses

“Well, with adults, I’m finding that they need a reason for what they are doing. So I preface every assignment,; we’re reading this because…you’re going to do this because. The portfolio is interesting. They’re calling me to be walked through it on the phone. And everyone I talk to for even 15 minutes says so that’s what’s all about, that’s great. They just thought it was an exercise and I explained to them that it’s picking out a work sample to prove to me that they’ve learned what they said they learned. I said I know that you know you learned it, but prove it to me. And it works very well. That reason for doing is very important.” Adult Degree Program

FINDINGSAndragogical concepts enhance adult learner satisfaction

in online courses

“I think that there is a faction of students in the Adult Degree courses that are willing to go beyond the minimum, so I notice especially, both in the homework that they do and in the discussions, that a number of people have done additional research beyond just taking a look at the PowerPoint or just taking a look at the book. It’s just like they went and searched out information on the web or talked to people, talked to employees or colleagues or friends to learn more about whatever the subject is. That’s not as common, in fact, it’s pretty rare for regular student to go and do that.” Adult Degree Program

CONCLUSION• Themes are a base for how we teach adults• Findings support the perceptions of faculty that

adults approach learning differently• For Integrative Leadership Studies majors (and

adult programs in general), concern regarding a decline in satisfaction from adult students with integration of traditional

• Integration also change how faculty now organize their online classes– Example: Adding participation grade to discussion

boardsAdult Degree Program

NEXT STEPS• Broaden scope of research with mixed

methods approach– Limited data from evaluations– Program outcomes are challenging to assess

• Current research of multiple sections of online course with forced student groups (traditional, integrated, post-traditional)

• Build indices of student satisfaction

Adult Degree Program

DISCUSSION

Adult Degree Program