Catering to the online learning needs of mature learners...

Now there is a 'C' to the three R's. Literacy is no more considered complete without computing skills. Those largely affected by this recent phenomenon are the Generation X'ers and Y'ers. Organisations though would have to wait long before their workforce wholly comprises populations from these generations. The focus of this article however is not workforce composition. It deals with the levels of their computing skills and knowledge.

Teething troubles.

It would be right to assume that Baby Boomers, who constitute a bulk of the workforce, are not as computer savvy as their successive generations. With growing IT dependence, the need to educate this workforce category in computing skills has become critical to their retention. Training mature employees in 'C' skills keeps them competent and competitive vis-à-vis their younger counterparts.

With Baby Boomers dominating workforce population, it definitely is time to ask, "Does online learning cater to the learning styles and needs of mature learners?" "Do designers understand the problems of learners who have to first make up for the lack of basic computing skills and knowledge?"

Age-old problems!

With the average age of online learners growing every year, senior and mature learners are beginning to create a new market for online learning. How can online learning provide for this new segment?

The first step to cultivating mature online learners is to understand their common physical limitations, which include, eye-hand coordination and diminished vision. These aside, mature users visit fewer sites and are slower at web navigation. Fortunately, few agencies like the National Institute of Aging recognise the limitations of mature learners and have developed guidelines to make online learning programmes more accessible to them.

These guidelines include:

• Using bigger font size, larger headings and doing away with fonts such as Helvetica, Monotype Corsiva
• Using easy navigational aids
• Displaying important information at the top of a web page
• Clear summaries and details in bulleted form

Rules meant to be flaunted

While these guidelines are easy to implement a recent study sadly revealed poor compliance rates. The summary of a report by The Software Usability Research Lab states, "A majority of the sites complied with guidelines related to basic navigation and content style, but not for text size, text weight or site map availability. This is surprising given the fact that one of the most fundamental guidelines for developing reading materials for older adults is to provide enlarged and highly contrasted text" .

The lack of resources needed to educate seniors who traditionally are book learners exacerbates the problem. A majority of mature learners fall into the category of " non-techies ". They have to be taught to access the Internet. While a hands-on curriculum is ideal for educating such users there are "not enough classes to teach seniors how to do this" , says Elizabeth Isele , President of CyberSeniors.org , a non-profit organisation that provides computer education to mature learners.

Respite

Fortunately, organisations like Isele's provide online tech classes designed specifically to meet the needs of mature learners. SeniorThinking offers online programmes to mature learners to build employee excellence across generations. According to their CEO Marian Stoltz-Loike the need to keep mature employees "well trained and up-to-date is critical" . This organisation recognises the fact that the most of the mature workforce is less familiar with computing technology and e-Learning.

Additionally, as Marian says, "At times even if they are proficient in using technology, they may not use the same vocabulary for discussing technology or features of a web site or learning as that used by younger colleagues". SeniorThinking courses found a simple solution to this problem. Their programmes now define technical words each time they occur.

Flexibility

Mature learners are most comfortable taking online courses in the evenings or over the weekend. They are more comfortable in learning as social activity. As a leading trainer says, "We must remember that successful workplace learning is necessarily a social activity." On date, most of the online courses are self-paced and asynchronous. Habitual to and more comfortable in classroom settings, this mode of learning fails to appeal to most mature learners.

A European survey was conducted recently to get insights into a mature worker's online experiences. Much to the surprise of the surveyors, these workers had some great online stories to share, despite the off-hours of training. The common to all these stories was the opportunity for discussions both synchronous and asynchronous.

The need for motivation

While most catalogue courses provide unlimited learning opportunities, learners both old and young need motivation. The only way to keep learners motivated is to ensure that they enjoy the learning process. Although self-paced, catalogue courses dominate online training and are inexpensive. They may not though provide mature learners with the best methods of learning. Most self-paced courses at the most use case studies that are considered launching pads for discussions. However, these case studies seldom excite a mature learner.

Another major drawback with self-paced courses is the answers to the course quizzes. Most answers are obvious and too simple unlike real workplace problems that tend to be difficult to solve. In short, most of the available self-paced courses do little to engage mature learners. Making matters worse is the current focus on saving costs. As a result, courseware designers often overlook an important learning dictum that no individual, young or old, will learn if he is disengaged.

Engagement to enjoyment

Learner engagement is a prerequisite for any learning to occur. The biggest advantage of an engaged learner is that he is rather unconcerned about when learning takes place. This is why most European learners did not seem to mind learning during off-hours or over the weekends. Off-site courses with structured online discussions (that provide learning context) are more engaging for mature learners, as they are comparatively more informal and provide numerous networking opportunities.

It is, as Isele says, "important to enhance life-long learning" both online and off-line. Well-designed online courses that meet the requirements of mature learners can do just that.