Volume 11, Number 4

The use of Social Infrastructure in Online Adult Education: Theory and Application

  Authors

Susan E. Baer¹ and George R. Larkin², ¹The University of Kansas, USA, ²Walden University, USA

  Introduction

Online learning serves not only as a cognitive process but is also situated within a social context.Social infrastructure is generally defined as the physical places and organizations that shape the way people interact, but social infrastructure may also be discussed more specifically in relation to education and technology. Bielaczyc defines social infrastructure as the social structures that support learning with a technology-based learning tool. The purpose of this paper is to describe Bielaczyc’s social infrastructure framework and to apply the framework to an adult English as a Second Language (ESL) program in Walton County, Florida that was forced to quickly implement online learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Keywords

Social Infrastructure Framework,Online Adult Education, Zoom, COVID-19 Pandemic.