6.2.14: Online Writing Instruction – Paying Attention to Adult Learners Online: The Pedagogy and Politics of Community

6.2.14: Online Writing Instruction – Paying Attention to Adult Learners Online: The Pedagogy and Politics of Community

               Kristine Blair and Cheryl Hoy’s essay, “Paying Attention to Adult Learners Online: The Pedagogy and Politics of Community,” addresses two relevant issues in adult online writing education. The first deals with “virtual community,” and argues that more frequent/more personal communication between the instructor/student is not only essential for the success of adult learners, but is also “the most powerful tool in teaching and learning” (2) for this demographic.  The second issue involves what they term “invisible labor.” They define this as the additional, unobserved efforts of instructors, which are necessarily increased with adult students in online writing courses. Blair and Hoy write that “despite the large amount of discussion board traffic that occurs in an online course, very often the student-teacher interaction that occurs via [other media] is inaccessible to evaluators [thus,] the labor of adult education becomes invisible to those supervising” (2). The result is that instructors are missing a valuable evaluation component that can effect their compensation and/or promotion opportunities.

               Blair and Hoy argue that the traditional writing student has seemingly garnered the lion’s share of research in online instructional design. In response to this exigence, they argue for attention to the “differences in needs, motivation, production, and assessment between adult online learners and traditional college student learners” (2), and address the “numerous administrative and supervisory dilemmas in addition to the need for [enhanced] communication models that fit the needs of the adult learner population” (2). Overall, their two-pronged argument is well-supported and certainly makes a convincing case on both fronts.

               And while this is a valuable contribution to the study of teaching adult learners in online writing courses, it could be argued that the “traditional” student could also benefit from the increased, individualized attention they champion specifically for the adult leaner. Further, this could even be expanded to include other “non-traditional” students – demographics not solely defined via chronological age. Yet, in suggesting application to other demographics, I do so with the acknowledgement that the added workload in teaching online courses in this manner, does indeed have ramifications for the instructor.

               Blair and Hoy do, however, propose at least one idea to at least assist the instructor’s dilemma in this scenario. They suggest that the “blind cc” feature on emails may be useful in order for evaluators to see the full breadth of actual interactions with their online adult students – although they do recognize that this could raise privacy issues – an important consideration to be sure.

Ultimately, Blair and Hoy hope that:

Computers and writing specialists will continue to rethink traditional design and delivery modes for writing instruction that presume collaborative, community models will transfer seamlessly from the face-to-face to the distance classroom. [And] it is equally important that online writing instructors receive appropriate incentive, reward, and recognition for the impact of technology on academic labor. (16)

Blair, Kristine, and Cheryl Hoy. "Paying Attention to Adult Learners Online: The Pedagogy and Politics of Community." Computers & Composition 23.1 (2006): 32-48. Education Research Complete. Web. 31 May 2014.