Below is a comparison of the learning characteristics of adult learners and youth learners. Of course, these are generalizations with exceptions occurring in each group of learners, but you may want to keep these differences in mind as you consider the learner population you expect in your online course. The design of your course would be influenced by your expected student population.
Adult Learners | Youth Learners |
| Problem-centered; seek educational solutions to where they are compared to where they want to be in life | Subject-oriented; seek to successfully complete each course, regardless of how course relates to their own goals |
| Results-oriented; have specific results in mind for education - will drop out if education does not lead to those results because their participation is usually voluntary | Future-oriented; youth education is often a mandatory or an expected activity in a youth's life and designed for the youth's future |
| Self-directed; typically not dependent on others for direction | Often depend on adults for direction |
| Often skeptical about new information; prefer to try it out before accepting it | Likely to accept new information without trying it out or seriously questioning it |
| Seek education that relates or applies directly to their perceived needs, that is timely and appropriate for their current lives | Seek education that prepares them for an often unclear future; accept postponed application of what is being learned |
| Accept responsibility for their own learning if learning is perceived as timely and appropriate | Depend on others to design their learning; reluctant to accept responsibility for their own learning |
In summary, adult learners usually approach learning differently than younger learners:
This means that you may find certain teaching strategies more effective than others with your adult learners.
Adult Learner Characteristics | Teaching Strategies |
| Adults have years of experience and a wealth of knowledge | Use your adult students as resources for yourself and for other students; use open-ended questions to draw out students' knowledge and experiences; provide many opportunities for dialogue among students |
| Adults have established values, beliefs, and opinions | Take time to clarify student expecatations of the course; permit debate and the challenge of ideas; be careful to protect minority opinions within the class |
| Adults expect to be treated as adults | Treat questions and comments with respect; acknowledge contributions students make to the class; do not expect students to necessarily agree with your plan for the course |
| Adults need to feel self-directed | Engage students in designing the learning process; expect students to want more than one medium for learning and to want control over the learning pace and start/stop times |
| Adults often have a problem centered approach to learning | Show immediately how new knowledge or skills can be applied to current problems or situations; use participatory techniques such as case studies and problem-solving groups |
| Adults tend to be less interested in survey types of courses and more interested in straightforward how-to | Focus on theories and concepts within the context of their applications to relevant problems; orient the course content toward direct applications rather than toward theory |
| Adults have increased variation in learning styles (individual differences among people increase with age) | Use a variety of teaching materials and methods to take into account differences in style, time, types, and pace of learning |
We hope you see that instruction designed for adults tends to be more effective if it is learner-centered than if it is instructor-centered. The instructor must maintain a careful balance between the presentation of new material and its applications, discussion and participation among students, and the quarter's calendar. Actually the instructor must wrestle with the paradox of establishing control by risking giving it up! By giving up tendencies to feel good about expertly delivering information to the students and to feel threatened by student challenges to the course plan, the instructor gains the kind of facilitative control that is most effective for adult learners. The following chart gives some more explanation.
No one model of instruction will be the best for all situations. Two contrasting models are shown below; one or both or a combination could be used in online courses:
Instructor-centered | Learner-centered |
| The learning objective is usually the transfer of knowledge, information, or skills from the instructor to the students. The instructor more or less controls the material to be learned and the pace of learning while presenting the course content to the students. The purpose of learning is to acquire and memorize new knowledge or learn new skills. | The underlying philosophy is that students learn best not only by receiving knowledge but also by interpreting it, learning through discovery while also setting the pace of their own learning. Instructors coach and mentor students to facilitate their learning, designing experiences through which students acquire new knowledge and develop new skills. |
In general, student controlled learning (learner-centered) works best when the learners are relatively mature and possess significant related knowledge or where there is no particular sequencing of the material to be learned. Instructor control of the presentation of course materials (instructor-centered) is more appropriate when learners are less mature and lack necessary prior knowledge. Learners who are immature or lack necessary prior knowledge frequently make poor instructional choices if left on their own (e.g., they are unlikely to estimate correctly whether practice is needed, when sufficient mastery has been attained, etc.).
Here is a brief comparison of some different thinking styles of learners. Again, these are generalizations - some people use more than one style, but generally each person has a preferred style. Your online course will be most successful if you vary your style to meet the variety of thinking styles among your students.
Thinking Styles | Characteristics |
| Reflective Thinkers |
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| Creative Thinkers |
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| Practical Thinkers |
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| Conceptual Thinkers |
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Here are some of the main learning styles. Most people are predominantly one type of learner, but usually they can adapt to another style. Learners do tend to look for their preferred style in each learning situation because they associate that style with learning success. A online course that provides learning experiences for a variety of learning styles will increase the likelihood of learner success in the course.
Learning Styles | Characteristics | Teaching Strategies |
| Visual Learners | process new information best when it is visually illustrated or demonstrated |
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| Auditory Learners | process new information best when it is spoken |
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| Kinesthetic Learners | process new information best when it can be touched or manipulated |
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| Environmental Learners | process new information best when it is presented in surroundings that match learner preferences (room temperature, lighting, seating, etc.) |
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