Why Did I Ever Think Going Back to School Was A Good Idea?

It is almost time for the evening news and I am surrounded by library books marked with little stickers, a few journals, a couple notebooks, and no ideas. I have a presentation tomorrow about a project that seems to be an unsolvable problem: how do I reach out and engage adult learners in an online discussion? What would make them access a Blackboard site on campus that might actually help them? How do I get their attention, and worse yet, how do I keep it if I ever manage to get it in the first place?

Problem 1: Who is my audience? Adult learners are a diverse group. Maybe non-traditional students is a better definition because the audience for this site is students who live off-campus, who may have responsibility for caring for others (parents, children, spouses, even pets), who may be self-supporting, who might range in age from 18 to 80, and who may be from either gender or any ethnic/racial group.

Problem 2: The original site is hard to access. Students have to go out of their way to find it and add themselves to the roster. What can I do to make it easier to find?

Problem 3: If they manage to find the site, what will make them use it? What kind of information will they need? What info do they already have available from other sources?

Problem 4: Once they find the site, how do I transform them from passive viewers to collaborative participants? In other words, how do I engage them and get them to take some ownership of the site so it can serve them better?

In a way, I'm my own audience. I'm an older adult learner. I've got a couple of 20 something kids living with me and another one away at college. I've got pets. I live in an old house that costs too much money. I have car payments and property taxes. I work and I volunteer. There's never enough money or time.

So what do I need that a site could provide? Resources and information that could save me time and money would be a start. Advocacy would be another because a lot of the time I feel marginalized in a university where I am one of the older students. Finally, I need a social network because I moved here to return to school, so it would be nice to have some local contacts.

I need an online one stop shop that will help me feel like my decision to return to school was not such a bad idea. It might be easier just to be a discount store greeter. At least I wouldn't have had to take out school loans again, but I'm probably too grumpy to be a greeter, so I guess I'd better come up with some ideas for this presentation. I'm too old to run away from home!
http://www.antshe.org/