Library Instruction West 2014

Adult learners are a quickly growing population on university campuses. While there is a fair amount of research on the differences in adult learning pedagogies, most information literacy literature focuses on undergraduate skills and competencies. At the same time, more and more adult learners are harnessing the flexibility of online programs to get their degrees. How can we best leverage what we know about adult learning theories with sustainable, scalable, and engaging online learning modules?
Rebecca Halpern is the librarian for the online Master of Social Work program at the University of Southern California. One of her biggest projects is to create an online learning toolkit for her students. In this presentation, she’ll discuss what she learned about adult learning and the expectations adult learners have of the library; she’ll go on to talk about how she used adult learning pedagogies to transform online learning modules into tools that students are eager to engage with.