The purpose of this paper is to look at the interaction of constructivist-based approaches, adult learning characteristics and six online learning issues. Constructivist learning environments allow learners to build their own meaning and understanding from learning resources and circumstances. Constructivists claim that learners accumulate new knowledge by themselves and use this to pile up previous knowledge and experiences. The learner is the learning focus, and the instructors act as facilitators or guides, which provide appropriate and enriching supplies. This theory supports well the adult style of learning. Based on constructivism, the online instructor is a facilitator to monitor and provide a safe, positive, and motivating online learning environment, and a tutor to provide the supporting skills and knowledge to each individual.
Compared to traditional education, online learning has some outstanding features, such as the setting overcomes geographic problems and the learners could go to the virtual classroom anytime and anywhere if they have the accesses to the Internet. This paper focuses on the adult learning group, along with the online learning benefits and some issues that occur among the technologies and human subjects
