The Importance Of Adult Learning

752 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Advantages and disadvantages of different learning styles

Adult learners learn differently than children. There is a belief that fulfilled learning is best as a social action; while educating is a conscious demonstration. In order for instructors to be effective, they have to support the purposeful display of instructing. It is vital to have an establishment of theories that help the adult learner. Understanding these speculations will help you to be better prepared and more cognizant in your instructing. There is no single theory that can help with the understanding of adult learning. However, I will attempt to share my experiences and certainty on why I believe all theories play a vital role in adult learners.
Given the thought that adults learn in ways that are not the same as kids, instructive scholar Malcolm Knowles suggested that an alternate way to deal with teaching adults is needed. He thus promoted the term andragogy to separate adult showing techniques from teaching a method or showing strategies for youngsters (Sang, 2010). Therefore, there are a lot of theories in our culture. “For example, there are behaviorist, cognitivist, social and experiential learning theories. All learning theories strive to lead to change in basically three domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor” (Wang, 2012, para. 1). However, great learning theories focus on the learners and educators and try to …show more content…

Constructivism is a dynamic process in which learners build new thoughts or ideas based on their present/past information, social connections, and inspiration influence the development. Sometime, constructivism is likewise frequently confused as a learning theory that forces adult learners to create another process. However, constructivism takes advantage of and triggers the adult learner intrinsic interest about the biosphere and how things work. Adult learners don 't rethink the wheel yet, rather, try to see how it turns, and how it works ("What is constructivism?"

Show More
Related

  • Adult Learning in Cohort Groups

    2076 Words  | 5 Pages

    [According to a cohort participant,] cohorts are created not born. They are successful when everyone works collaboratively and collectively on improving their own and others' learning experiences. It takes self-responsibility, patience, courage, humor, commitment, sensitivity, and a lot of hard work to create such an enriching learning experience for everybody. (Nesbit 2001, p. 3)

    Read More

  • What Is Diabetes Education?

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    Adults are self-motivated. They learn best by building on what they already know and when they are actively engaged (Lindeman, 2010). The approach of adult education revolves around non-vocational ideals and is based on experience rather than subjects (Lindeman, 2010). It helps adults gain knowledge about their powers, capacities, and limitations (Funnell et al, 2012).

    Read More

  • Adult Education Philosophy : My Philosophy

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    The learning process for adults is never ending and can be very challenging. As an adult educator, teaching adult learners you will face many challenges in the learning process. It is our responsibility to keep the learners engaged, and to help them to realize their full learning potential.

    Read More

  • Being Unprepared for Adult Learning

    1677 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many students, including myself are entering college for the first time in our lives. They experience things alien to them and have to deal with an exorbitant amount of anxiety and stress. A major stressor that stands out is learning the academic way of thinking. Reading rhetorically and writing in a formal and academic manner are terms that, until now, were entirely foreign to me. At the high school level, many students are not exposed to these processes. Plain and simple, they just don’t experience this type of thinking and learning. This in turn causes an almost fight and flight response on the student’s part. Many students that struggle through these concepts give themselves the opportunity to stand or fall on their own accord, while others shut down and leave their education in the hands of chance. Students who experience this form of struggle are usually faced with the fear of asking for help.

    Read More

  • What is Andragogy? Malcom Knowles

    2289 Words  | 5 Pages

    What is andragogy? Andragogy consists of a theoretical model of six assumptions that was developed by Malcolm Knowles in order to “distinguish adult learning and adult education from other areas of education” (Mirriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 83). And so, andragogy might also be defined in terms of the efforts of “multiple researchers and scholars” (Henschke, 2011, p. 35) searching for a way to “establish andragogy as a proven theory and strong method for teaching adults” (Henschke, 2011, p. 35). But why is the topic of andragogy important for both adult learners and teachers? It is important because in order to effectively teach adult learners we must first “be cognizant of the differences which adult students bring to the classroom” (Schultz, 2012, p. 1) and to also understand that among adult learners, there exist “varying expectations and reasons for learning” (Schultz, 2012, p. 1). Andragogy is more¬over important to adult learners and teachers because both “learners and educators alike can use [it] to strengthen the learning transaction” (Mirriam et al., 2007, p. 84). With this brief definition of andragogy, along with the corresponding reason for its importance in mind, what now follows is what this paper is going to be about. The topic of this paper is an evaluation of whether or not the traditional learning environment is conducive to learning for adult learners as opposed to the andragogical environment. And the dual purpose hereof is to first briefly relate my own personal experience in a traditional learning context (under the heading of a ‘Traditional Learning Environment’), and then to reflect upon whether or not that traditional context (this time under the heading of ‘Andragogy Reflection’) i...

    Read More

  • Andragogy: Adult Learning Theory

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edward Lindeman is thought by many to be the founder of contemporary adult education. His work in the area of adult education included the writing of articles, books, public presentations, assistance in the collegiate system as a lecturer of social work and as an associate pastor in the church (Brookfield 1986). Lindeman and Martha Anderson traveled to observe and analyze the German Folk High School system and the worker’s movement. Consequently, Lindeman and Anderson’s comparative research lead to the breakthrough of the German perception of andragogy. Their studies define andragogy as the “true method of adult learning” (1986). In 1968 at Boston University, the initial use of the term “andragogy” to attain prevalent notice of adult instructors occurred when Malcolm Knowles who at the time was an instructor of adult education, presented the term via journal article. In his 1970 book publication, he defined “andragogy” as the art and science of helping adults learn. The concept of self-directed learning, or SDL, maintained below reveals Knowles’ definition of SDL:

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Malcolm Knowles's Theory Of Adult Learning

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    One theorist that is relevant to this study is Malcolm Knowles’s theory of adult learning. Though Malcom Knowles may not be the first one to introduce adult learning, he was the one that introduced andragogy in North America. (McEwen and Wills 2014). Andragogy means adult learning. The core concept of Knowles’s Adult learning theory is to create a learning environment or awareness for adults to understand why they learn .Knowles

    Read More

  • Humanist Learning Theory Analysis

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    Regardless of philosophical basis, the design of instruction for adults normally involves an analysis of learning

    Read More

  • Adult Learning Environment Analysis

    259 Words  | 1 Pages

    The two International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (ibstpi) competencies that are most important to my practice of instruction in an adult learning environment are: Provide clarification and feedback and Promote retention of knowledge and skills. These two competencies allow students to codify learning in ways that they can receive feedback and apply new knowledge. For instance, instructors can create a venue to provide context for learners to request feedback on new knowledge application. Instructors may use a myriad of methods/techniques (e.g., case studies, demonstrations, etc.) to promote teacher-student engagement, allowing recommendations to flow smoothly. Students can also provide their own feedback

    Read More

  • Andragogy and Pedagogy

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    Teaching the adult student is a great and unique responsibility; Andragogy preaches that teaching the adult learner takes a certain skill set and approach in order to be highly effective. The adult teaching theory and approach is based off the characteristics of the adult student. Andragogy views the adult learner as a very highly motivated student, a student ready and prepared to learn, and a student that comes to class with expectations of learning (Knowles 1984, pg12). With such a capable learner in the classroom the teacher must make the necessary adjustments. When teaching the adult learner, the teacher will have respect for their students and respect the fact that each student will have their own individual learning style. The teacher will also allow the adult student to experie...

    Read More

  • Adult Learning Theory: Andragogy

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    The dispute of how adults learn is an ever developing subject matter since the 1920’s when adult learning became a professional field of practice (Merriam, S., 2001). Questions such as, do adults learn differently from children? Are adults able to learn quicker, independently, or in the same environment? These are just some examples of a multitude of questions that have been raised since scientists began investigating Adult Learning. I intend to clarify some of the misconceptions of adult learning through proven scientific research and writings of experts in the field. First, we will summarize the evolution of the concept of Adult Learning. Second, we will examine several recognized Adult Learning Theories. Third, we shall explore the Philosophies of Adult Education and finally, we will consider how technology affects life-long learners. To understand how adult learning evolved, we will need to explore how it all got started and which scientist established the term Andragogy.

    Read More

  • Andragogy vs. Pedagogy

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    The facilitation of this model allows adult learners to be active and self-directed in their learning.

    Read More

  • Constructivism

    2310 Words  | 5 Pages

    The term constructivism has been used to explain everything from school reform to teaching styles, and most importantly related to a learning theory. As you can imagine the term Constructivism has the potential to develop many misconceptions since it lacks a universal definition. “Constructivism is an important theory of learning that is used to guide the development of new teaching methods”(Baviskar, Hartle & Whitney, 2009, p.541). The framework of constructivism is built upon the understanding that “learning is an active process that is student centered in the sense that, with the teachers help, learners select and transform information, construct hypothesis’, and make decisions”(Chrenka, 2001, p.694). It is important to understand that when speaking about constructivism we are referring to a learning theory not teach...

    Read More

  • Constructivism in the Classroom

    1824 Words  | 4 Pages

    Constructivism is a method that says students learn by building their schema by adding to their prior knowledge by the use of scaffolding (Rhinehart Neas). Because the students are basically teaching themselves new information, the teacher is there mainly for support and guidance for the students.

    Read More

  • Reflection Of Adult Learning

    1459 Words  | 3 Pages

    Andragogy is focusing on creating good learning experiences for adults(2013). Here, we should understand some assumptions about the boundary of adult and pre-adult. First , Adult learner can do self-direct learning (chapter 4), and can study independent than the pre-adult or children who are totally learning rely on teachers---learner’s self-concept, also this part is the most engaged part with learning. The second assumption is the most impressive and helpful. Adult learner have more experience than other learner, that means, adult’s prior experience have a big difference feeling or motivation with other adults. Take myself for example, when I was in high school, my orientation for study was went into a good University; whereas, right now, my orientation for study is to make my life different than before. It’s a internal motivation, because I experienced many things which I didn’t experienced in high school. The part “the need to know” makes me feel distanced from

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Adult Learning

Open Document