Online learning has enjoyed increasing popularity in gerontology. This paper presents instructional strategies grounded in Fink's (2003) theory of significant learning designed for the completely asynchronous online gerontology classroom. It links these components with the development of mastery learning goals and provides specific guidelines for incorporating these principles into each aspect of the online classroom such as the syllabus and presentation areas (class announcements, lectures, conferences, study groups). Strategies for cultivating connection to promote learning and retention in the online classroom and directions for future research on these pedagogical strategies are proposed.Distance-education programs in gerontology that prepare professionals to meet the needs of a rapidly growing and diverse aging population have become increasingly popular. Such programs frequently include television, e-mail and the Web to provide learning

The community of inquiry (COI) model identifies elements which are fundamental to a successful online learning experience, namely, teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence. The model has received empirical support as a useful framework for understanding the online learning experience. A limitation of the model is its understanding of emotional presence which, according to the COI model, is seen solely in terms of emotional expression, which, in turn, is a part of social presence. Emotional intelligence would support a much broader role for emotional presence in learning and embrace to a larger extent how emotions play out in the learning process, than singularly “emotional expression” in the original COI framework. Thus, the article first presents a conceptualization of emotional presence in terms of emotional intelligence. Second, it discusses the relationship of emotional presence to teaching presence and how teaching presence may foster emotional presence in learners. Finally, how emotional presence in teaching presence may foster social presence and cognitive presence in learners and lead to successful learning is presented.

Given the complex challenges organizations face and the importance of emotional intelligence to effective leadership, management education has begun to help adult learners develop emotional intelligence competencies. These include emotional self-control, conflict management, teamwork, cultural awareness, and inspirational leadership, among other qualities. Leaders and managers must navigate a landscape of challenges which demand effective teamwork, fresh perspectives, and an empathic understanding of others with whom they work to inform sound decision making. This article discusses aspects of Mayer and Salovey’s model of emotional intelligence. It proposes specific course design and instructional strategies which may foster emotional intelligence in adult learners, especially those in the online learning environment, based on this model. The article points to directions for future research which would empirically examine the effectiveness of these strategies on the development of emotional intelligence in adult learners in online higher education courses.

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