Online coursework is dramatically changing the higher education landscape, particularly for adult learners. And while research notes the way these courses increase college opportunity for post-traditional students, they have poor learning and completion out-comes at many of the institutions to which older students frequently enroll. The author conducted a qualitative exploration involving 34 adult students at a large community college on the west coast to better understand the perceptions, experiences, opportunities, and challenges of online instructional delivery for adult students. Informed by semi-structured interviews with participants, findings from this study highlight: (1) the challenge of being a digital/online course novice, (2) online courses as better in theory than practice, and (3) problematic institutional assumptions that online pedagogy is better for adult learners. Results from this investigation provide new directions for implementation of online courses for adult learners students in higher education.