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Adult Learners – Online Programs: Choosing Best Matches
Keywords
Online, Design, Delivery, Adults, Market
Session Abstract
This session will provide the participant with basic tools for identifying adult learner market needs, programs able to be delivered online, by virtue of program and institutional strength and nature of the programs, and methods for determining best matches between adult learner market needs and institutional programs.
Session Description
The adult learner market continues to grow in size and importance in higher education, as does online education, with the two being powerfully linked. Adult learners, busy with work and their personal lives, seek the accessibility and flexibility of online programs. This makes critical the need to determine what programs institutions should, and could, by virtue of program and institutional strengths, match to adult learner market needs. This session addresses that need by providing 1. basic tools for identifying adult learner market needs, 2. identifying institutional and program strengths as they relate to online education, and 3. determining how to match market and programs in a strategic manner. Each of these three elements have unique characteristics and drivers. The adult learner market is not monolithic, and involves both individual and organizational needs. Not all institutions will be situated to enter the online space, thus a need to identify their key strengths at both the institutional level and program level in terms of online potential. Lastly, there needs to be a strategic approach to matching market and programs, lest time, energy, and money are wasted by developing and offering the wrong programs.