Online Adult Learning - Considerations about Practical Application

Guided online trainings are the most effective form of adult education. Unlike independent online education, where an individual can often encounter various obstacles as a "stumbling block", which can be demotivating for further work, guided training enables smooth and unimpeded development of knowledge and skills.

Educational and Creative Centre Bor has actively been delivering the online adult training courses for seven years. The courses are mostly focused on building professional competences of preschool teachers, teachers and expert associates in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools. One of 40 accredited online adult training courses is the “Digital stories and fairytales”, and I am its author and moderator. The training programme is focusing on development of digital competences of teachers and expert associates, and other adults who want to promote personal skills and competences in using software for creating audio and video materials through organized online training courses.

Problems and needs for organizing adult education

The observed problem and the need for organizing the online adult training courses derived from the need for the improvement of the teaching process in the field of youth education. To make lessons comply with the applicable laws and teaching and learning curricula, it was necessary to turn to the education of adults. The modern pupils growing up in the conditions of an abrupt technical and technological development require organization of lessons that include active involvement in the process of learning, as well as the constant use of ICT.

The average age of teaching staff in Serbia is between 45 and 55, so we could say that they acquired education at higher education institutions in the conditions without computers. Besides teaching staff, the pupils’ parents also play an important role in the process of education. Although the generation range of parents is wide, there are some “digital natives” among them, but there are many of them without sufficient knowledge and skills in the field of ICT. The most significant factor directly hindering the introduction of innovation in the educational system in both cases is the fact that there is a lack of knowledge about the basic functions of information systems, primarily the conditions in which the information transfer between users and computers takes place.

Numerous campaigns focusing on Internet safety and cyber crime suppression were introduced on the national level and with a good reason. These campaigns often have an intimidating effect on the users, so instead of driving an aspiration to personal development and the improvement of digital competences, and raising awareness about the responsible use of ICT, the campaigns cause users to retreat from modern technologies and completely shut themselves off. This frequently results in banning the use of ICT devices at home and/or at school. This phenomenon is more frequent in rural population, but it’s not rare in urban communities either.

On the other hand, there are also psychological barriers, especially in older individual who does not admit that he/she does not know, which is particularly prominent in the regions where the patriarchy as a form of family “ideal” is still dominant. It does not pertain only to training on the use of modern technology, but in general to all the social segments involving the process of learning – self-education, qualification, retraining, lifelong learning…

The significant factors are also the conformism in performing certain tasks and life habits, lack of motivation for promotion and self-development, lack of confidence in one’s own skills and abilities, fear of failure, financial insecurity, etc., placing an individual outside the educational system and hindering their personal and professional development.

Living and working conditions change with the development of society. Those changes are causing the changes of legislative frameworks and regulations in almost all sectors of social action, and an individual, in those terms, loses the “excuse” and gains the “justification” for personal development and learning. With the enforcement of the new laws, an individual becomes “forced” to acquire new knowledge and develop skills required for the professional development and socially conditioned existence.

The target group of training course

Digital stories and fairytales online course’s target group is the teaching staff of the youth education institutions. In terms of profession, the majority of the course participants are teachers and preschool teachers, and then teachers of different subject working in primary and/or secondary schools who acquire specific professional competences for performing their jobs in accordance with the modern methodology and other scientific achievements in the field of educational technologies through this training programme. Apart from teaching staff, the online training course is attended by a smaller, but a significant percentage of librarians, psychologists, pedagogues, defectologists…staff of schools or other institutions dealing with youth.

Identification of participants in the training course

The participants register for the online training course electronically, so there is an assumption that the participant uses a browser, knows how to enter the username and password, and access the learning system independently, as well as to use the e-mail for the receipt of notifications and other news.

The initial task in its essence has the purpose to identify the level of basic computer skills of the participants. The initial task expects the participants to create (organize) their personal profile on the learning system, upload their photo and enter basic personal information through which they would present themselves to other participants. A successfully completed zero task indicates that the participant knows how to find a certain document on his/her PC (working with files) and upload it to the system. The mentioned assessments cannot be used as the basic indicators in identification of the participants, but they definitely provide moderator with significant information about the participants which can guide the moderator’s further training organization.

Because of certain national, cultural, religious and other values, the participants frequently do not want to upload their photos to the online learning system, so in that case, and the assessment is delayed and done within further activities, usually through forums of the first topic.

There are also the situations when the participants refuse to write their names and surnames on the online learning system.

Tasks which require sharing personal information should never be obligatory. As none of the online training courses are exclusively related to meeting the general and specific objectives of the programme, but they also tend to develop other transversal skills in participants such as the readiness to accept innovation and become capable of independent and safe use of ICT for the purpose of lifelong learning and promotion of the quality of life in the context of modern technologies, the discussion on the impact of modern technological achievements on people’s lives and jobs is thus initiated through the training programme, most frequently within forums.

For example, one of the topics mentioned in the discussions is the fact that there are more and more job advertisements regarding projects, donations, etc. which can be applied for only via the Internet, through the direct conversation via video calls or created video CVs sent via e-mail.

Preparing participants for activities and work on the online system

This is of particular importance in situations when older participants without the basics digital skills (the skills necessary for smooth following of content and working on an online system) join the online course. In those situations, there are special training courses that prepare the participant for further activities within online learning. When creating materials, we should always consider some of the psychological characteristics of older participants in the process of learning and their possible reactions. Specially created materials must not seem demotivating, that is why they are carefully designed. Through the use of video tutorials, it is possible to present “personal” content to participants, at the same time teaching them the basics of working with a PC, without actually guiding them. For example, the welcome video tutorial, through which the moderator introduces himself/herself and shows photos of his/her class, kept in a certain folder on a PC or a personal blog found through a browser, may provide the participants with basic and necessary knowledge about working with folders or browsers. At the same time, those participants do not have to admit that they do not know, they do not have to ask questions or comprehend that the moderator knows that they do not possess the basic ICT literacy.

Implementation of training course

The training programme is realized via Moodle. This system is characterized by separately structured elements enabling quick access to contents of the training and an easy view. The work space is organized in three units, two side bars and one central bar.

The left-side bar contains control elements such as online training course administration and navigation panel enabling fast navigation through the programme content.

There are also special elements enabling the participants a constant review of personal progress and results achieved in an individual or a consolidated display of activities with performance statistics, as well as the bar with time intervals in which they accessed certain content. In addition, there is a usual list of the enrolled participants, through which the participants can interact and cooperate among themselves during the training course.

Within the navigation system, there is a specific option of navigation through and access to the online training courses attended in the past, their content and materials created, even when the participants are not actively participating in the process of online learning.

In the right-side bar, there are special blocks enabling the participants an instant review of all activities on the online learning system. Calendar can be used for entering important dates and times for the upcoming activities or tasks, and they are also displayed in the block of the upcoming activities. The block of recent activities enables easier following of forums and participation of other participants in those forums.

The content directly related to the learning process is located in the central part. This content is divided by topics, which are listed successively, enabling better understanding and systematization. The content of the online seminar is very important. Although it has to meet certain standards, we should always consider the structure of course participants, meaning that the content needs to be presented in a way that the participants understand. On the other hand, content needs to be designed and presented so as to correspond to various types of learning styles. Lessons are presented through text, images, as well as video tutorials. They are frequently interactive, offering the possibility for the active involvement of course participants in the process of learning. They are presented through interactive videos, interactive images, coded material, quizzes, and various animations, simulations, etc.

Communication on the online learning system

Discussion forums exist within every topic, and they are a form of communication within an online training. The topic is initiated by a moderator or a course participant, and all active participants can take part in the discussion. The topics set by a moderator mainly focus on initiating the discussion among the course participants to share experiences, or to support a more comprehensive understanding of lesson content, whereas the topics set by the participants themselves are more specific, like asking for specific answers on lesson content, so the concept of the forum changes, and the discussion gains an educational dimension. The moderator frequently uploads additional educational materials through forums, usually video tutorials, but also texts, images and linked web addresses, and the purpose is to eliminate all doubts participants may have about the lesson content.

Apart from the discussion forums, the communication is enabled through private messages between participants and moderators, or the online course participants themselves. One of the advantages of online training courses is the privacy of participants, which is why older participants frequently choose this type of learning. Private messages are thus very important.

Evaluating the work and progress of the participants during the training course

Each topic ends with an assessment test and a practical task, through which the course participants gain insight into the knowledge, competences and skills gained. Those tests and tasks also motivate the participants, strengthening their self-confidence, thus they feel more comfortable using technology, so their creativity is expressed, at the same time increasing the level of implementation and connection until the full productive synthesis of content and evaluation is achieved.

Course participants frequently isolate new content observing it as a separate unit, whereas through working on a task, they recognize certain elements of the previously acquired knowledge or experience from daily life and their environment, understand how simple it is to use certain software and realize they can do it, and therefore their approach is more open, free and complete. They want to learn more and create different products, search for different solutions for one task (problem) and apply all that in different forms of personal expression.

Assessment tests through topics are designed so as to motivate, rather than really evaluate the knowledge gained, whereas the development of the final task is treated as the basis in evaluation of performance and mastering the programme contents. If we compare monitoring and assessment of the participants’ work with the form of classical assessment in schools, knowledge tests and thematic tasks would be in the category of formative assessments, and the final task in the form of summative assessments crucial for issuing the certificates as a proof of the completed online training.

End of the training course

Upon the course completion, the final meetings of course participants are organized in several Serbian towns and cities, so the participants have an opportunity to meet authors, moderators and other participants in person and share experiences, opinions, as well as products of their activities during the online training course realization. The presentation of the materials they created, as well as their public posting on Youtube, blogs, social networks and other sharing systems is voluntary.

As the successful realization of training programmes is particularly based on communication and constant interaction with participants and among participants that is more significantly developed during the second topic, certain positive relationships between the participants develop, frequently resulting in successful cooperation on joint projects and other tasks upon completion of the online training course. Another advantage of the online training courses is that the participants themselves select programmes and/or content they wish to study, so upon registration they are classified according to similar or identical interests that are recognized later in the programme implementation.

On the other hand, during the training course, the participants face the same challenges, so they support or “comfort” one another. The positive atmosphere is equally important in the direct learning environment and the online learning environment.

The final activity is the product of the overall engagement of the participants during the training course. The existence of that product is the personal satisfaction of every participant, so the participants are very happy and proud to talk about those products and they like to show them, as they created those products themselves. Such course participants are motivated to access the online learning systems of their own accord, they research independently, acquire new knowledge and develop skills.

At the end of the training course they attended, the participants get the certificates which are accredited by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development.

Online learning system remains permanently open, and the course participants can access lectures and other system content again and again.

Some of the products of the activities of participants, as well as their opinions on the online training course realized may be seen at https://ucmarija.wixsite.com/marija/digitalne-priche-i-bajke. There is a written consent of participants for showing the materials, although they themselves also show the majority of materials in public.

https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/online-adult-learning-considerations-about-practical-application