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I have been involved in teaching adult learners for
more than fifteen years and I hold a masters degree in adult education from the
University of Arkansas. It is important to realize the difference between
teaching adults and teaching children. Things are done differently and I
hope this information will give you some insight into the process as well as
dispel some myths about the adult learner.
- Who are adult learners?
- Why do adults go back into the
classroom?
- How do adults benefit from returning
to school?
- What makes adult learners
differentl from younger learners?
- Why go to back to school? I already
know what I need for my work.
- Will classes be different than
when I was a child? I don't have a lot of good memories about school.
- Am I too old to learn effectively?
- My memory isn't as good as it used to be.
Can I still learn?
Who are adult learners?
(top)
They are people who are working, people seeking employment, single parents,
homemakers, retirees, active duty military personnel and people overcoming
disabilities. In short, they are people from all walks of life. Now
they are adults and I've noticed that adults have this strange
characteristic. When they learn a new skill they tend to give
themselves two minutes to become perfect. When they fail after two
minutes they become angry and frustrated. Could that be you?
Hmmmm?
Why do adults go back into the
classroom? (top)
Education helps them grow socially and personally. They are returning to
school to improve their lives. They need additional training and education
to advance in their jobs.
More than one third of adults going to college in the last decade were
adults. They are often referred to as "non-traditional" students.
How do adults benefit from returning
to school? (top)
By mastering new skills and mastering new information they increase their
self-esteem.
They find new career opportunities, change careers and earn higher salaries
as the result of furthering their education.
What makes adult learners
differently from younger learners? (top)
Malcolm Knowles, the father of adult education in the United States, gave
these principles as a foundation for modern adult learning in his book The
Adult Learner, A Neglected Species, 4th Ed. (Gulf Publishing Company,1990)
Adults are motivated to learn as needs and interests develop from their
experience. Learning will satisfy these needs and interests. Adults are
there to learn because they want to be there.
Motivation for learning is a life-centered. Learning experiences are based
more on life situations rather than individual subjects. Learning is more
expansive and diverse.
Adults bring the rich resource of individual experience to the learning
situation. Learning is both the acquisition of new knowledge and the sharing
of experiences unique to the individual.
Self-direction is a deep need for adult learners. The teacher becomes a
facilitator in the process of mutual inquiry rather than making an effort to
impart his/her knowledge to the learner. Learning is a group effort in which
everyone learns and shares.
Individual differences increase with age for adult learners. It is important
to tailor the learning experience with attention to differences in learning
styles, time, location and the stage of learning.
Why go to back to school? I already
know what I need for my work. (top)
The world of work is changing. The days of working in a manufacturing plant
for thirty or thirty-five years are mostly gone. It is estimated that an
adult will have an average of five to seven careers in his or her working
life. That means training and retraining. Now the concept is lifelong
learning. Think about it. You have been learning all of your life both in
and out of the classroom. Nothing has really changed that much. Let's face
it, if you stop learning you will get left behind.
Alvin Toffler, the Futurist, said it nicely. "The illiterate of the 21st
century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot
learn, unlearn and relearn."
Will classes be different than
when I was a child? I don't have a lot of good memories about school.
(top)
Yes and it's wonderful! Believe me, it is much more fun. One of the first
things I tell my students is that you don't have to raise your hand when you
want to go to the bathroom. It just doesn't get any better than that.
The adult learning environment is by nature more relaxed, more open and less
rigidly structured. Teachers who think otherwise soon find their classrooms
empty. Adult learners vote with their feet. If they don't like what they are
doing in the classroom they leave.
By and large the instructor is as much a facilitator as a teacher unless he
/ she is teaching knowledge that is new to the learners. In most cases the
learners themselves will bring a lot of life knowledge to class as a whole.
As an adult you bring your unique life experience to the group and so you
enrich the learning experience for everyone. Others enrich the learning
environment for you. It's a win-win situation for everyone.
Expect to be treated like adults when you return to the classroom. Keep in
mind that you may encounter instructors who treat you more like children,
but I would imagine they are from the K-12 education world and are used to
acting like public school teachers. Understand that they have to learn about
the adult learning environment themselves. Even teachers learn and evolve
with their experiences. Remember, lifelong learning.
Am I too old to learn effectively? (top)
@#$% no! Everyone can learn. People used to think that once you reached the
age of twenty your ability to learn started down a steep slope, but that is
baloney. Over a period of time your mental ability to learn may begin to
decline, but not at a high rate. Your wisdom, gained through experience,
more than compensates your ability to learn. In my opinion, you learn even
more effectively. Raw intelligence alone is not sufficient to learn and
become knowledgeable. You can only get wisdom on the installment plan. Think
about it.
The big difference is in what you learn. As a child they told you what to
learn and guided you along by the hand. You had little or no choice, but as
an adult this changes. You care less about the history of the Roman Empire
and more about how to operate a small business or repair a computer. You are
more interested in learning that which is necessary and not that which is of
no practical value to your particular life situation.
Interest in a subject makes it easier to learn and a lot more fun. Even if
you don't know how interesting it is you may change your attitude when you
discover that you will lose your job if you don't learn it. Motivation comes
in many forms. If you pretend that something can be fun you will find that
learning is much more pleasant. If at first you are bored, terrified or
doubt your own ability then just give it your best.
I notice that some students enter classes carrying with them a lot of
emotional baggage from when they were children in school. Sometimes it's
hard to overcome, but please persist. Know that others in the class feel
exactly the same way you do. It's natural.
My memory isn't as good as it used to be.
Can I still learn? (top)
Of course you can. If there is one thing that really burns my grits it's the
fact that my teachers in elementary and high school never taught me how to
learn. They never taught me how to memorize or think critically. They just
presented me with a bunch of facts and said, "Learn this. There will be a
quiz on Friday." Those who could learn effectively thrived and others just
seemed to founder or to just get by. I look back on that with sadness.
It wasn't until I was in graduate school that I was exposed to the amount of
research done on memory and learning. I had seen infomercials on TV about
study courses that would enable you to memorize whole magazines, but so
what? Like a typical adult I had to wonder why I needed to be able to
memorize a magazine. What I really wanted to do was memorize a whole grocery
list. Now that is a practical application.
If you are really want to learn more about the function of memory then read
a book by Kenneth L. Higbee entitled "Your Memory : How It Works and How to
Improve It". It is really good stuff. There is more to memory than one might
think. You just might see a change in your attitude about learning in
general. Part of it may well be the emotional baggage from when you were a
child. (top)
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