Photo Credit: laszlo-photo
Workplace/career upheaval and desire for personal growth are sending many adults back to a formal learning environment, whether physical or virtual. Individuals who have been away from structured learning may get a bit of a shock. They’re not kids anymore!
The distinctions are greater than age, agility and the downward pull of gravity. Adults learn much differently than children and youth do. First, there is experience. Adults have workplace, social and familial experiences that not only create an ‘action frame of reference’, but trigger a demand for learning activities (tasks or assignments) that allow them to integrate those experiences. Second, adults tend to be autonomous, or what employers call ‘self-directed’. Authoritarian teaching methods (typically represented by lectures and one-way communication) are far less effective than peer discussions and collaboration. Third, adults are goal-driven, even if the learning is for personal interest and not workplace promotion. The common claim that ‘learning is a process for its own sake’ may not sit well with individuals who have specific objectives when they invest time, money and effort in courses and coursework.
Are there additional attitudes and expectations common to adult learners? Most demand that both topical content and tasks be relevant, not purely abstract, and that assigned or optional learning efforts have one or more measurable, practical outcomes.
If you’re considering a return to formal learning—or undertaking it for the first time—it pays to assess your own attitudes, expectations and characteristics before selecting an educational provider. Scholarly publications abound on the psychology of the adult learner, and one ideal source is the Adult Education Quarterly; find samples at http://aeq.sagepub.com/content/vol58/issue1.
Wed, Jul 8, 2009
Adult Education, Continuing Education