Adult learners are a significant proportion of distance learners and many of these students are working mothers. Several instructional design models center the learner, and this requires understanding the learner needs, strengths, and context. There is a gap in the literature describing the experience of modern working mother students in distance education. To understand this experience, the researchers interviewed and observed six academically high-achieving working mother students as they participated in their distance education courses during the pandemic. A discourse analysis approach was utilized to analyze the data. This extreme sample revealed several strategies that these students used to be successful despite their challenges. The findings suggest that understanding the experiences of distance learners as they study in the home are important for effective course design. More specifically, working mothers face significant distractions in their study environments, but the cognitive load can be reduced by making use of their prior knowledge, scaffolding instruction, and encouraging social presence. Additional strategies from the literature that address these constructs are provided for instructors and instructional designers.

成人学习者在远程学习者中占很大比例，其中许多学生是职业母亲。一些教学设计模型以学习者为中心，这需要了解学习者的需求、优势和背景。描述现代职业母亲学生在远程教育中的经历的文献中存在空白。为了了解这一经历，研究人员采访并观察了六名在疫情期间参加远程教育课程的学业成绩优异的职业母亲学生。采用话语分析方法来分析数据。这个极端的样本揭示了这些学生尽管面临挑战但仍取得成功的几种策略。研究结果表明，了解远程学习者在家学习的经历对于有效的课程设计非常重要。更具体地说，职业母亲在学习环境中面临着严重的干扰，但可以通过利用她们的先验知识、支架式指导和鼓励社交存在来减轻认知负荷。为教师和教学设计者提供了文献中解决这些结构的其他策略。