Teaching religion online to nontraditional adult learners

Abstract

Today three-fourths of those enrolled in undergraduate programs are nontraditional students, defined by the National Center for Education Statistics as adults with one or more of these characteristics:delayed enrollment into postsecondary education, attended part time, financially independent, worked full time while enrolled, had dependents other than a spouse, was a single parent, or did not obtain a standard high school diploma. I have been teaching online world religion courses for nontraditional learners since 2004 (64 courses, totaling over 1000 students) at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO) while also teaching full-time in the classroom at Ripon College in Ripon, WI. This paper describes the pedagogical methods I have employed to maximize student learning in online courses. It summarizes my own learning experiences from teaching online at UWO and describes how online teaching has impacted my face-to-face classroom instruction at Ripon College.