Adult learners, or those over the age of 25, are a rising subset of the university population. Additionally, online higher education courses consist mostly of adult learners (Silva, 2018), who find freedom and flexibility with this medium ( James, Swan, & Daston, 2016). While adult learners enter college with rich life and career experiences, they also have families and other responsibilities. This means that their educational needs, expectations, and interests are different from those of traditional college-age students. As a result, an understanding of how faculty could reach online adult learners becomes paramount. The Community of Inquiry Model and the theory of andragogy helped to guide 10 best practices for teaching online adult learners. These practices are contextualized within several communication courses such as journalism, mass media, and newswriting
