Incorporate principles of andragogy by involving adult learners in the online course design and evaluation, using adult learners' experiences as the basis for instruction. Focus on problem-solving rather than content introduction.
Apply andragogy to online course design by clearly stating the course objectives and the reasons why adult learners should learn the concepts covered.
Use tools such as discussion forums and chat rooms to begin soliciting learner feedback at the beginning of the course. Incorporating ongoing evaluation is a needed element of course design.
Create an online course design that is easy to use for adult learners who have varying levels of understanding of computers and the Internet. Use features that allow adult learners to skip over sections that they already understand and focus on the areas where they need the most instruction.
Present concepts in multiple forms to accommodate different learning styles, and give the option of concrete tasks for people unfamiliar with technology. Provide expansive and diverse resources for people with a high comfort level to explore at their own direction.
Provide additional opportunities for adult learners to use instructor contact early in the course as they are introduced to new technologies, and give timely instructor feedback to learner questions and concerns.
Use action learning theory by creating groups of adult learners, each with an assigned learning coach and project director, who form a support group for each student so that adult learners can meet face-to-face or in smaller scale online chat rooms or conferences.
Use experiential learning theory by structuring online activities around the cyclic process of goal setting, planning, experimenting, acting, observing, reflecting and reviewing. Give adult learners the opportunity to complete an online task in order to accomplish learning objectives, and use other features of online course design such as discussion forums and blogs to facilitate reflective and collaborative work.
Use project-based learning theory by assigning adult learners to groups and providing online resources for groups to work together to solve real-world, interdisciplinary problems. Provide online resources, including links to scholarly databases and other instructional modules, to facilitate the gathering, synthesis and analysis of information. Incorporate opportunities for adult learners to demonstrate and communicate their knowledge to other students in the class through posting of student-generated online content and student-led discussions.
Use self-directed learning theory to provide adult learners with instructional resources for setting their own learning goals and determining their own learning process. The key is to always provide multiple avenues for a single-learning outcome. View the instructor's goal as primarily a facilitator and provider of tools and resources for adult learners to accomplish their own learning goals.