Enhancing Online Adult Learning Communities Through the Lens of Social Climate Theory

Abstract

The dramatic expansion of online learning programs for adult degree-seeking professionals has opened significant access and opportunity for institutions of higher education, as well as for the adult learners they serve. However, this recent dramatic increase in online graduate degree offerings has posed challenges to educators and students. One of the most significant challenges is building and maintaining strong connections, and a sense of community, among the participants within the online setting. Social climate theory provides a useful lens for a reconsideration of the social climate of an online learning environment (synchronous and asynchronous) as embodying a “personality” that iteratively shapes the learning community and the experience of participants, and is shaped in return. This chapter presents an in-depth analysis of how educators can strategically enhance online classroom communities for adult degree-seeking professionals through the application of social climate theory principles and a proposed conceptual framework.