IMPROVING STUDENTS SOCIAL SKILLS BY USING GAMES IN ADULT ONLINE EDUCATION

Adult education is a special field of education. Teaching grown-ups, especially when it comes to online teaching, can be a challenge. At the university of applied sciences FH JOANNEUM, some courses at bachelors and masters level are held primarly online, students and lecturers barely meet in person, which is not beneficiary for the social climate within the university. There is a certain gap between students and lecturers which is even bigger if they don´t know each other. But there is also a certain gap between the students and their colleagues when they don´t see each other. The class is not as strong and tightened as full-time classes which causes problems which are not existing at full-time classes.

Every lecturer has a different method or procedure to work with this issue. This paper shows, how different lecturers deal with this issue and how the usage of games -either traditional or on-line- can be used to strenghten the group and teach social skills.