Designing and Delivering Effective Online Instruction,How to Engage the Adult Learner

Online learning has created enormous access at a global level. Adult learners, in particular, can achieve educational goals with greater flexibility because classroom activities are available in multiple environments where internet access is available. Linda Dale Bloomberg’s book—Designing and Delivering Effective Online Instruction—provides instructors and potential instructors a guide to creating practical online courses with pedagogic methodologies that are effective and instructional. Bloomberg, a professor of education, holds a doctorate in adult and organizational learning from Teachers College, Columbia University, and master’s degrees in counseling psychology and organizational psychology from Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Dr. Bloomberg is the founder of Bloomberg Associates, Institute for Learning Innovations and Adult Development, and Advanced Learning Solutions. Bloomberg’s book offers a roadmap for instructors on how to provide a practical online pedagogical approach; she seeks to remove the barriers to student-teacher engagement and the act of learning.

There are three sections to this book. Part one of her book is referred to as the set-up cycle, which provides insightful ways to develop and design online instruction by incorporating Bloom’s taxonomy with specific and measurable goals throughout the course design while always keeping the adult learners' needs dominant. She explains how diverse the adult learner is, and has different educational experiences, and therefore requires multiple tools to reach the learner. Bloomberg posits instructors need to empower and engage students in a more dynamic approach. She describes adult students as self-directed and autonomous; they want to apply new information to their life experiences and career endeavors. More succinctly, Bloomberg describes how traditional methods of subject-centered teaching are less successful than engaging learner-centered experiences (Bloomberg, 2021)

Part two of the book provides a discerning look at the learning environment; a more diverse population seeks a nontraditional education platform that requires new teaching strategies and methods to empower and encourage the adult learners' growth. Bloomberg calls this the engagement cycle, which is developing relationships with students and building a learning community. The book is empathetic to the adult learner, and acknowledges and embraces the students’ contribution to the learning journey. Bloomberg states that an instructor’s role is more than dispersing information but rather cultivating the learning journey as a student-owned experience. The instructor provides a presence (available and approachable) during the learning process and acts as a mentor. It is the progress of deeper learning rather than peripheral knowledge (Bloomberg, 2021)

The book’s third part touches on the processes necessary to maintain engagement and empowerment with the adult learner, emphasizing the instructor’s self-reflexivity, thereby decreasing implicit bias. Bloomberg provides eight engagement indicators that help drive success within the multimodal environment, from individual engagement practices to community building. She emphasizes that pedagogy is adaptive to the learning experience, and instructors should embrace the learner’s needs (Bloomberg, 2021)

Bloomberg’s book successfully outlines a pedagogical methodology for instructors. Her approach is grounded in science and theory. She offers a theoretical perspective to distance learning and a practical and applicable path to procedures. Her book takes the reader through the stages of course design and provides the reader with tips on keeping the student engaged and excited about learning. She is acutely aware of the need to provide inclusivity in all instructor engagement and course design elements. Online learning has a positive trajectory, and maintaining enrollment requires a humanized approach to teaching and learning. Bloomberg provides this in her book.