Adult Learning Theories
How can knowing adult learning theories help you in your instructional planning for adult learners?
Adult learning theories help me plan my instruction by awareness of how adults learn and the methods used to create a positive learning environment. These methods include active learning, group activities, guided lecture, class discussions, and openness to student generated test and quizzes.
Good point, Lawrence. Adult learners often need to know the "why" before they motivate themselves to learn something.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I have found that knowing how adult learners have grown previously is very conducive to getting them back into the classroom situation, study habits, etc. Particularly in the challenge of making clear to them the radionale to some things being taught.
Heather,
We also need to require students to move out of their learning comfort zones from time to time to help them further develop learning skills.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Knowing these therios allow instructors to understand the learning styles of all the students in the classroom. I think this goes back to understanding generational cohorts. You need to understand where the student is coming from in order to guide them to where they are going.
Elsie,
"Accelerated" and "Nursing" do not go together that often. When there seem to be too few classroom hours, it can be helpful to develop tools students can use to master some of the topics outside of the classroom.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I am one of the instructors of an accelerated vocational nursing program (about 13 months). Our students come from various walks of life with huge age differences, experiences, and educational backgrounds. I am a strong proponent of adult learning and using different teaching techniques in the classroom. The biggest challenge I find is the time required to teach a curriculum. All major medical / surgical classes were assigned 24 hours of theory time. Everyone who had taken and M/S course, Cardiovascular Nursing or Neurological Nursing for example will agree that these two classes cannot have an equal theory hours. 24 hours is not enough to teach any M/S course more so these two; and yet that’s what we have to work with. As much as I would like to maybe use something like Jeopardy games to teach about the heart and the brain, I know that further discussion in the form of lecture will have to follow if the students are to understand the electrical conduction of these 2 organs, and there is not enough time to do that. Sometime I feel that adult learning theory does not work as well in accelerated nursing programs. These students have to be ready to sit in the national licensing examination in such a short time.
It is important to recognize that adults have learning styles different from children and as such need to be treated as adults. Understanding the various ways adults learn helps the educator develop strategies and curriculum that will provide adults the best opportunity to learn no matter what their learning style. essentially the adult learner is "our customer" and we as educators need to meet their expectation of providing them an avenue to effective learning.
Miriam,
Great point. There has been quite a bit of training and writing related to teaching millenials over the past several years. We need to know they are not all the same and that they are not our only students.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Having knowledge about adult learning theories can help an instructor to develop coursework which encourages participation and self-directed learning from the adult learner, who may be inclined to create barriers to learning in a learning environment that is too focused on the millennial student.
Emeline,
It is a great idea to look for one or two strategies that appeal to multiple learning styles for each classroom session. One could way to get to this point is to include strategies that require students to see, hear, touch, talk about and think about the subject matter.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Adult learning theories help me identify methods understanding what type of learners I am dealing with and try to understand different learning styles.
Lisa,
Great post. We need to plan lessons that provide multiple ways of delivering content.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I try to mix up techniques, as my students range from 18 to some students in their 50s. If I try to mix it up in the classroom with different games or strategies and techniques, such as visual or interactive, etc., at some point in time they will all gain a better understanding of a particular point or idea.
Thank you for this post, Adam. This is a strategy your peers who take this course should benefit from. Do you ever have students in either group resent being paired with students so different from themselves?
Jeffrey Schillinger
There are several courses I am currently teaching that have a mixture of digital natives and digital immigrants. What I find interesting is they naturally collaborate and learn so much from peer to peer interaction. The adult learners emphasize punctuality, time management, and critical thinking while millennials bring inquisitive attitudes, creative energy, and of course technology. There are of course exceptions to each. I have had success in pairing the two together when working toward a common goal.
Gregg,
One of the best ways to plan a class meeting that will appeal to the greatest number of learning styles is to find ways for students to hear, discuss, reflect upon and practice the topic.
Jeffrey Schillinger
It provides the basis on how you can present the instructional material in fashion that will be well received and remembered. I think these are two key areas that need to examined in creating educational programs.
Qadar,
Thank you for this post. Do you have a procedure to determine student's level of mastery prior to getting to your course? We have found a number of our younger students have enough mastery to test out of our introductory computer applications course(s).
Jeffrey Schillinger
