Online Education and Competence development: Why Online Education May not Provide for the Competence Development of Adult Learners?

Abstract

Online education has become the order of the day for delivering higher education by transcending temporal and spatial barriers. Despite its appropriateness in reaching distance learners, there are still issues in relation to the effectiveness of online education in developing the competence of adult learners. This paper makes a review of the literature in the area with aim of informing actors the possibilities whereby online education may fail to deliver its promise. Seen from a pedagogical point of view, the paper concludes that although online education is successful in addressing the physical distance between learners and instructors and among learners themselves, there is evidence that it has not been successful in breaking the psychological and social distance among participants. It is suggested that initial and intermittent f2f contact is arranged for; cyber literacy and related experiences of learners considered, and candid assessment of the leaning needs of online learners be made before implementing online education.