Surviving Distance Learning as an Adult Learner in Higher Education

In the wake of rising uncertainty, anxiety, and safety concerns related to COVID-19, many higher education institutions (mine included) adopted distance education as the sole mode of instruction. Also referred to as distance learning, this mode includes the domain of teacher–learner relationships that exists when both parties—teacher and learner—are separated by space and/or time (Moore, 1997). Simply put, distance learning includes any formal teaching/learning experience outside of the traditional face-to-face classroom. For me, distance learning in an academic setting presented a new experience. I was glad to safely continue my studies and not overly concerned by the new delivery mode. But that soon changed, as I quickly realized distance learning poses unique challenges. In this reflection, I will share my experience overcoming distance learning challenges. Through this window into my experience, I will provide helpful information to adult learners for survival and insights to adult educators for effective design of distance learning modules and programs. Here is my story . . .

As a result of the pandemic and resulting school directives, my instructors informed students how they intended to get us through the rest of the semester. One instructor scheduled Zoom meetings as class sessions. Although apart, I almost felt like I was in a physical classroom, for I could see and hear my instructor and classmates. At the start of my next course, however, things changed. This new instructor sent out an email with this excerpt: “There will be NO face-to-face class meetings. Everything will be online, self-paced.” Not having a face-to-face class did not bother me at first, and I was initially ecstatic about fully online and self-paced lessons. I felt like I had been given a little (and welcome) break from classes, especially because my instructor gave us a long time to complete the course. I could choose when to work, and I had a lot of time to finish the work. I even had fun, until beginning the course with loads of text to read and a correspondingly large number of assignments to complete. Suddenly, I began to struggle. The deadline that seemed so far off started to draw hauntingly closer. With every new module, I had to work harder but felt less and less confident in my learning experience and work. I considered withdrawing from the online course, but lacking certainty the course format would change, I (barely) kept hanging in there.

A chance incident at work provided a helpful perspective about my struggle. I work with my school’s residence life department and as part of our commitment to support our resident student community even though they were now off campus because of the pandemic, I was tasked with making wellness checks—I called students to hear how they were doing. On one call, I happened to ask, “How are you finding the distance learning experience?” A student majoring in math responded, “Awful!” I further probed, and he shared that his online course consisted of PDF files to read and related questions to answer. He added, “I’m a visual learner, and I also enjoy face-to-face interactions. This is so hard.” On subsequent calls, I often asked students the same question and received similar responses. As you can imagine, this provided me with some relief—the struggle with the distance and online classes was not just a me thing. But these responses begged two questions: Why were we finding online classes difficult? And most importantly, what could be done to help? To answer these questions, I asked myself what was different about this course. I did not struggle with my first distance learning course, so why was I struggling with this one? Two challenges stood out.

As the first challenge, the online, self-paced course was devoid of interactions between the instructor and students as well as among classmates. Connecting with instructors and classmates is important to me—creating opportunities for us to share knowledge and get to know each other. With my in-person classes (pre-COVID), opportunities to connect naturally occurred in my small class cohort; discussions, group activities, and question/answer sessions provided easy avenues for us to build a strong learning community. As Iloh (2019) and Schullo et al. (2007) suggested, interacting with my fellow learners not only strengthened my sense of community but also helped me stay motivated. Similarly, interacting with my instructors face to face built rapport and gave them a chance to provide me with real-time assistance when needed. Not having an avenue to connect with my new instructor made the course difficult. According to Moore (1997), communication gaps between the instructor and learner in distance learning diminish the extent to which learners understand themselves and consequently negatively affects the learning experience. Overcoming such communication gaps depends on the creation of opportunities for regular interactions. Focused less on frequency and more on quality of these interactions, instructors can address learning problems and provide timely feedback.

As the second challenge faced in the online, self-paced course, I had no way of knowing if I was understanding the material or doing well. For that information, I had to wait until I got my assignment grades back and, because that did not happen until I turned in all assignments, I had no way of knowing if I was doing okay. In my previous courses, feedback was steady, in class and for submitted assignments, and I was not expected to turn all assignments in at once. Instructors usually returned graded assignments within a couple of days—not just with the grade but with annotations providing clear indicators of where I did well and where I needed to improve. Hattie and Timperley (2007) found academic feedback strongly affects academic achievement. In my experience, timely grading and feedback provided guidance, supported learning, and improved overall performance. The online, self-paced course, however, excluded timely feedback and such guidance and learning.

Armed with knowledge about my two distance learning challenges, the fix proved simple: I created opportunities for regular communication and interactions with my instructor and classmates as well as found ways to get feedback about how I was doing. I started with my instructor, sending him emails with questions/concerns and joined his office hours on Zoom to discuss my concerns. Although I did not get feedback on my work until the end of the course, he explained parts of the text I found difficult to understand, and our communication helped me better understand the assignments. Similarly, I reached out to my course mates, using the group’s online chat room and, in a few cases, scheduled calls with some of them. We discussed the course material and assignments and shared ideas and resources. Interacting with my fellow students and bonding over the learning process, rather than being alone, made a tremendous difference in how I felt about the course and helped me stay the course to completion.

As an adult learner and educator, I learned something important from this experience: Distance learning best happens with opportunities for students to connect with the material, the instructor, and fellow students. Providing noninteractive online modules and/or tasks is not enough. Instructors can create avenues for communication through teleconferencing, web conferencing, shared virtual whiteboards, interactive slides, and other technology. Although intrinsically self-directed, adult learners need opportunities for interaction during the learning experience. Research indicates these elements are necessary components of effective learning (Morris, 2019). Therefore, my overarching tip to adult learners engaged in distance learning is as follows: Do not be an island. Use every available tool to ensure you interact with instructors and fellow students in your learning community. Ask questions, solicit feedback, have fun—connect with instructors and students. Similarly, my overarching tip to adult educators facilitating distance learning is as follows: Learners need to connect with you. They want to know more than the material in the text. They want to hear your perspectives on the subject and hear your thoughts on their progress. Deliberately open channels of communication and encourage learners to use them. Simply put, successful distance learning happens when adult educators and learners bridge the distance.

“Distance learning best happens with opportunities for students to connect with the material, the instructor, and fellow students.”