Characteristics of the Adult Learner | Origin: ED208
This is a general discussion forum for the following learning topic:
Adult Learning Theories --> Characteristics of the Adult Learner
Post what you've learned about this topic and how you intend to apply it. Feel free to post questions and comments too.
I've worked with babies, children, and adolescents. When working and/or teaching adults, it's always good to talk to them at their level. We are both adults. Adults have roles, responsibilities, and experiences for a long time and it may not be easy to be a student because of them. It is also important to understand their situation and be compassionate if they don't perform like the other students.
Every adult has different learning style
When it comes to adult learning, some people learn better through lectures, whiles others need a more on-hands enviroment to grasp a new concept or idea. We need to adapt our strategies to fit our team of adults.
Adults have different reasons for seeking education. Generally adult learners come with alot of knowledge and experience in both edication and life experience.
Take into account why they are there and what might be road blocks.
The reasons adult learners return or continue in school include:
-developing social bonds
-satisfying expectations at place of work
-serving the community
-advancing professionally
-stimulating thought
-leraning for learning's sake
-having a sense of greater purpose in life
There are many reasons why adult learners decide to get an education and as tehy get older, over 50, the reasons change.
Adult learners return to the learning environment for many different reasons, including job advancement, a new challenge, expectations of an authority figure, etc. However, what stuck out to me was the fact that LTM capacity does not decrease with age. Of course, processing speeds do decrease, but overall capactity does not. Interesting.
I feel that adult learners bring many different skills and learning challenges to the classroom. They also bring experience as well.
Adults have differnt reasons for seeking education, bujt they generally come with experience in both education and life that needs to be taken into consideration in the classroom. In addition, the educator must be aware of barriers in the indivuduals life that may be preventing them from investing in the education proces and attempt to mitigate them.
Adult learners have different reasons behind continuing their education and we have to look at these reasons to be able to encourage them and help with the remove the barriers.
I need to be more cogniznt of the life events that interact with my student;s motivation, and teach to those events
As a post-secondary educator, much of what is covered is true of my adult students. Particularly the experience and self-employed sections. I notice a sense of purpose in most of my students, young and old, and it was informative to learn about the motivations and purpose behind adult learners' pursuit of educational goals.
I have seen with my experience that adult learners can bring life experience to the classroom which has helped many. They are more determined to complete the courses that are needed to take them to the next step for job advancement.
Adult learners may process information more slowly but thei rlong term memory capacity does not diminish.
Different developmental stages affect learning and the interest in learning.
The motivation of continuous education as an adult can vary. This can be initiated by the need for personal achievement or simply by necesity, in regards to forward a career or income.
I find that because adult learners have a clear sense of why they are taking the class, and prior experience and knowledge in how to successfully pass a college-level course, they are motivated learners, hard working, and well-engaged in course content. They do, however, require some additional flexibility at times, because they have outside obligations like work and family that also require their time and attention.
Adult learners have many reasons to pursue new learning opportunites and have life experience to bring with them. They are not like child learners.
