A Reflection of Adult Learning Styles and Implications for Educational Professional

Development

Chad D. Cornwell

Walden University

September26, 2014

Section 1. Personal Learning Style

During my fourth grade year my language arts teacher, Miss Farrar, recognized that my

learning style differed from that of other students. I performed below average academically on

homework but was able to demonstrate my understanding come assessment time. Miss Farrar

asked me to come to her class every day after school to complete homework. This one act by an

adept teacher changed the world around me. Miss Farrar recognized that simply going through

the motions of learning, completing homework and class activities, and he draw of A’s and B’s

were simply not enough for an artistic and intuitive learner.

Knowles, Holton, and Swanson (2005) differentiate between the scientific learner who

“seeks to discover new knowledge through rigorous (and often experimental) investigation”, and

the artistic/intuitive learner who ‘seeks to discover new knowledge through intuition and the

analysis of experience” (p. 36-37). Being an artistic/intuitive learner I align more closely with

our understanding of adult learners who, as Lindeman (1926) points out use their life experience

to motivate ongoing learning and use their experiences as the impetus and foundation for their

learning.

I find little value in district sanctioned professional development course. This is due to

my need to connect the learning with my classroom. Hilgard’s personal motivation theory

(1966), married to my artistic/intuitive learning style make traditional classroom-based

professional development boring and ineffective, at least to me.

Section 2. Personal Learning Style and Adult Learning Theory

For many years educators have worked under the assumption that what is effective in K-

12 classrooms is successful with adult learners. We use similar methodologies in professional

development for educators, failing to understand the divergent needs of the adult learner, and

writing curriculum that fails to produce results in the classroom. Both Skinner’s and Guthrie’s

suggestions for teaching (in Knowles, Holton, and Swanson, 2005), are antiquated and

ineffective in the K-12 classroom, let alone for the adult learner. Adults do not enter into

learning situations for the reward of behavior, nor for the “arrangement of contingencies of

reinforcement? (p. 77).

Best practice aligns with Gagne’s understanding of how the environment effects the

learner. Although adults approach learning from an intrinsic place, Gagne points out that

learning begins with a stimuli that is outside of the learner (Knowles, Holton, and Swanson, p.

79). Activities, then prepare for learning. These may be recognition of background knowledge,

or stated or printed instructions. After instructions, the teacher models for the student. Both

positive and negative modeling has proven effective in the classroom to help students understand

the right and wrong way of the learning activity.

After modeling, a chain of cues are provided to “establish a proper sequence of

connections or to increase the distinctiveness of stimuli” (p. 81). These external cues, linked to

modeling help the student correctly align information in the learning process. As students

formulate problem solving the teacher guides the learner’s thought process through a series of

activities in which the learner interacts with the problem components. Interacting with the

problem allows learners to make meaningful connections, or to transfer knowledge from mind to

the physical universe via discussions or demonstrations designed to challenge the learner as he or

she applies their new knowledge in new ways.

Finally, learners are assessed to “the extent to which the individual has attained a specific

learning objective or sub objective” (p. 82). The assessment phase is critical to learning because

it is the moment where both the teacher and the learner realize that the learning has occurred and

allows the teacher to provide feedback to the learner about his or her achievement compared to

standards.

Gagne best exemplifies the learning process, enabling teachers to create environments

where the greatest learning occurs. Knowles, Holton, and Swanson (2005) write about Gagne’s

learning conditions that “when combined with certain prerequisite [i.e. the desire of the adult

learner intrinsically] capabilities within the learner, bring about the desired change in

performance” (p. 83).

Section 3. Integrated Professional Development

Professional development in the field of education sits at the intersection of what Knowles,

Holton, and Swanson (2005) call the theory of learning and the theory of teaching. The theory of

teaching informs the theory of learning in adult education. However, school district professional

development programs fail to attend to the learner’s needs, instead focusing on the requirements

of the course at hand.

Dewey, from Knowles (1980) clearly identified the needs of the learner as they relate to

the principles of teaching. Teachers of adult learners, including those teachers/adult learners

who endure hours of professional development must consider the extent to which the learner

“feels the need to learn, [how the] learning environment is characterized by physical comfort,

mutual trust and respect, [how the] learner perceives the goals of learning to be their [own] goals,

[whether] the learner accepts a shared responsibility for…a learning experience, [if] the learning

process is related to and makes use of the experience of the learners, [and if] the learners have a

sense of progress toward their goals” (p. 93-94).

Professional development cannot function under the auspices of traditional classroom

teaching. The learners involved in the learning process must feel that they are valued as a part of

the learning process and that their goals are considered important. Dewey states implicitly in the

last directive that “learners have a sense of progress toward their goals” (p. 94). He does not

write about progress toward a set of goals, nor the goals of the professional development

department. When professional development is implemented to uphold the learners’ goals, the

learning process is beneficial to those in attendance, and those benefits will transfer to the K-12

classroom, directly to the students.

REFERENCES

Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., III, & Swanson, E. A. (2005). The adult learner: The definitive

classic on adult education and human resource development (6th ed.). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.