How Teaching Adults Impacts your Instruction

Stan Skrabut@skrabut#UWCEShttp://www.slideshare.net/skrabut

More and more adults are participating in adult education.

You are an adult educator

You are noticing that it can be a challenge to work with adults.

You want to implement better adult learning strategies.

Let me show why adults can be challenging and some strategies to help.

Adults have a number of

characteristics that may affect adult

learning.

Adults are typically classified in 3 groups: young adults, working-age adults, and older adults.

Young adults are 18-24 years old and are mostly in college; they make up 13% of population.

Working-age adults range from 25-64 years of age and make up 70% of population.

Older adults are 65 years and older, and make up 17% of population. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010)

Knowles (1980) defines an adult as someone who behaves as an adult, and who perceives themselves as adults.

As adults age, hearing begins to fade.

“Hearing difficulties affects more than 25 percent of adults over the age of 65” (Wlodkowski, 2008).

Older adults may have trouble translating what is being said or understanding rapid speech. (Wlodkowski, 2008).

Some adult may have problems hearing certain frequency ranges. (Wlodkowski, 2008).

While reading skills may not diminish, changes in sight can affect learning.

Changes in sight can be corrected with glasses and proper lighting. (Wlodkowski, 2008).

Older adults may have problems processing information visually and may need more time. (Wlodkowski, 2008).

For visual presentations, ensure the font size is large enough for easy viewing.

Contrary to popular belief, memory only diminishes slightly over time.

Because of issues with sight and hearing, older adults may have problems with sensory memory (Rothwell, 2008).

Long-term memory does not appear to be affected by aging. (Rothwell, 2008)

Older adults may have problems with short-term memory and may need more time to learn. (Rothwell, 2008)

Research has shown that adults are able to continue to learn even into old age.

“When information is learned well, and new material is integrated with prior knowledge, older adults remember and

use this information into old age” (Wlodkowski, 2008).

“Adults can learn!” ~ Knowles

As the field of adult education

developed, some assumptions about

adult learners formed.

Malcolm Knowles has outlined four crucial assumptions in The Modern Practice of Adult Education.

Adult learners tend to be more self-directed. They do not wish to stay dependent on others.

Adults gain experience throughout life and in turn become a resource. They want to build on their experiences.

Adult learners want to gain experience to solve real-life tasks.

Adult learners need to understand why a topic is important before learning it.

Adults are oriented to learning if they believe it will help them in life situations.

William Rothwell outlines six reasons why adults are motivated to learn.

Some adult learners learn in order maintain skills in the workplace.

Adult learners pursue training in order to advance their careers.

Many adults learn in order to develop skills to help others.

Some adults learn as a means of escape or adventure.

Many adults learn for the sake of learning.

Some adults are interested in making social connects.

Based on what is known about adult learners, there are some strategies for

improving instruction.

Strategies from Patricia Cross in Adults as Learners make up the core strategies to keep in mind.

Present information in meaningful and relevant ways. (Wlodkowski, 2008). Make learning as specific as possible.

Use aids like checklists and mnemonics to help organize information (Wlodkowski, 2008).

Present material on a pace to help with learning (Wlodkowski, 2008). Older adults want to learn it the right way the first

time.

Present one idea at a time. (Wlodkowski, 2008).

Summarize material often, and summarize after each section (Wlodkowski, 2008).

Encourage notetaking. (Wlodkowski, 2008).

Connect new applications of information to important issues and problems. (Wlodkowski, 2008).

Here are additional strategies to keep in

mind.

Create successful learning situations, adult do not like to appear foolish or incompetent. (Rothwell, 2008).

Ensure the learning environment is conducive to learning. (Knowles, 1980)

Involve learners in the planning process. (Knowles, 1980)

Incorporate experiential activities so learners can practice what is being presented. (Knowles, 1980)

Scaffold learning objectives so that one lesson builds upon a previous lesson. (Knowles, 1980)

When you group learners, it is sometimes better to have homogeneous groupings. (Knowles, 1980)

Focus on problems to solve rather than subjects to teach. (Knowles, 1980)

References