Older Adult Online Learning during COVID-19 in Taiwan: Based on Teachers' Perspective

Abstract

Since the world was affected by the epidemic in 2020 and older adult education was still going on. Adult teachers encountered challenges during the transformation from physical to online teaching. This study examined the difficulties and coping strategies that adult teachers experienced when transitioning to online teaching. This study used a qualitative research approach to understand the transformation of adult teachers' online teaching experiences during the epidemic. Researchers conducted semi-structured one-to-one in-depth interviews with 10 adult teachers who experienced the transition from physical to online teaching and had at least 2-year-experience of teaching older adults. The study findings are listed as follows: 1) Adult teachers encountered difficulties, including older learners did not have the required equipment nor stable connections, not familiar with operating phones to participate in online classes, extra burdens for older learners' vision resulted in learning drop-outs, and the lack of experience in operating the equipment that disturbed the courses, the decreased learning quality worsened the learning situation. 2) Adult teachers coped by asking family members to assist with the equipment, demonstrating and taking pictures of the steps, spending more time preparing for teaching, and using various teaching methods to enhance the interactions.This study found that adult teachers need to adapt their teaching strategies to the characteristics of older learners to transition from physical to online teaching. Particularly, solving equipment and technological issues will allow older learners to achieve the goal of "nonstop learning".