Although online distance education provides adult learners with an opportunity for life-long learning, there are still factors challenging them to engage in educational processes. The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges faced by adult learners in online distance education through the analysis of the relevant literature. The articles (N=36) published in the key journals in the fields of open and distance education, instructional technology, and adult education were reviewed and analyzed through constant comparative analysis in the current study. The findings reveal that adult learners have challenges related to internal, external, and program-related factors indicating the interrelated nature of these challenges. The findings also show that the challenges experienced by adult learners vary depending on their age, gender, knowledge and skills as well as the context in which they study. The findings of this study, which has an exploratory nature, have several implications for distance education stakeholders such as administrators, instructors, instructional designers, and policy makers.

中文翻译：

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成人学习者在在线远程教育中面临的挑战：文献综述

尽管在线远程教育为成年学习者提供了终身学习的机会，但是仍然存在一些挑战，使他们无法参与教育过程。本研究的目的是通过对相关文献的分析，探讨成人学习者在在线远程教育中面临的挑战。通过本研究的持续比较分析，对在远程和远程教育，教学技术和成人教育领域的主要期刊上发表的文章（N = 36）进行了回顾和分析。研究结果表明，成年学习者面临与内部，外部和与计划相关的因素相关的挑战，表明这些挑战具有相互关联的性质。研究结果还表明，成年学习者所面临的挑战因年龄，性别，知识和技能以及他们学习的环境。这项研究的结果具有探索性，对远程教育利益相关者（例如管理员，讲师，指导设计师和政策制定者）​​有一些启示。