Online learning has become an integral part of higher education, offering flexible opportunities for study regardless of time and place. For adult students, online courses are particularly attractive as they allow balancing studies with work and family life. At the same time, digital learning environments generate valuable traces of student activity, enabling new forms of learning analytics. Learning analytics allows tracking engagement and performance through data collected from platforms such as Moodle and Panopto. Combined with traditional methods such as student surveys, these tools provide a multifaceted picture of learning processes. Yet research on how learning analytics reflects the study practices and experiences of adult learners remains limited. This study investigates adult students’ online learning using both system-generated data and survey-based feedback (Webropol). The research questions focus on how adult learners structure their study practices in online environments, how they perceive their progress, and what challenges or enablers they identify. Findings show wide variation in study behaviors, reflecting differences in motivation, prior experience, and digital competence. Survey responses further highlight workload management, clarity of instructions, and the importance of timely feedback. By combining analytics with student perspectives, the study offers new insights into the realities of adult online education. It also discusses how institutions can design online teaching practices that better support adult learners, ensuring both successful completion and positive study experiences.

Authors:
Päivi Hurri, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Heli Bergström, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Jarkko Ansamäki, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Finland

About the Presenter(s)
Päivi Hurri a senior lecture in South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk, https://www.xamk.fi/en). IAFOR-paper is made in TIEJOT-project, that focus on knowledge management and business intelligence.

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