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Student Engagement Guide

This guide provides step-by-step directions and guidance on using various software tools to enhance student engagement. It will include guidance on Microsoft Office and several other tools.

Teaching Adult Learners

Adult Learners

Defining the Qualities of an Adult Learner

  • The adult learner is typically 25 years of age or older.
  • Adult learners might have responsibilities such as a professional job, family, etc.
  • Adult learners are task-oriented and have a problem-centered approach to learning.

Differences between traditional students and adult learners

Adult Learners Traditional Learners

Use learner-centered teaching strategies such as discussions, reflections, and active learning strategies. 

                                                  

 Use more direct-instruction methods (e.g., lectures) combined with learner-centered strategies.

Adult learners have a wealth of experience and prior knowledge they will bring to the classroom.

Note: adult learners can reflect on past experiences in light of new knowledge.

Traditional students might not have as much professional or life experience as adult learners.

 

 
Adult learners tend to be more self-motivated to succeed and usually receive an external benefit from learning (e.g., new job promotion). Traditional students require additional external motivations.
More likely to be interested in self-directed activities and assignments that can align with professional and personal goals. Traditional students are self-directed and may require specific criteria or specifications to complete an activity or project.

Adult learners have time constraints and may have difficulty finding time to work on a group project or complete activities.

 

 More than likely, traditional students do not have the same time constraints as adult learners.

Andragogy  

Being an adult can be thought of when an individual forms a full self-concept of being responsible for their actions and life and has the capacity for self-directedness. This growth can occur throughout a person’s life, and most individuals will not possess a full self-concept or self-directedness until about age 30.  

Pedagogy Vs. Andragogy  

The pedagogical education model was firmly established in the U.S. after World War I, and it was used as the basis for modeling teachers. Consequently, adults were taught as if they were children. In the pedagogical model, the teacher is the sole person responsible for making all decisions in the classroom and with pupils.  

Andragogy is a term that was used in 1921 by Eugen Rosenstock to describe adult education requiring specially trained instructors, teaching methods, and unique philosophy. Rosenstock observed that adult education instructors not only had to address educational theory but had to cooperate with their students.

In the Andragogy model of education, six assumptions are different from the pedagogical model. These assumptions are as follows:  

  1. The Need to Know 
  2. The learners’ self-concept
  3. The role of learner experiences
  4. Readiness to learn
  5. Orientation to learning
  6. Motivation 
Assumptions Definition and Examples
The need to know. It requires a considerable amount of time and energy for adults to learn something on their own; learners will investigate the reasoning behind learning new content or the consequences of not learning. Accordingly, the instructor or facilitator's task is to assist the learner in becoming aware of the “need to know”.
The learners’ self-concept.

Adult learners need to be seen and treated as being capable of self-direction and will highly resent any situation in which they feel someone else is imposing their will.

Knowles, Holton III, and Swanson (2005) state “The minute adults walk into an activity labeled “education”, “training,” or anything synonymous, they hark back to their conditioning in their previous school experience, put on their dunce hats of dependency, fold their arms, sit back, and say ‘teach me.’” (p. 65). This experience can create a conflict between their treatment and the need to be self-directed, and it will result in failure.
The role of the learners’ experience.

Adults not only have a greater quantity of experiences, but their experiences are of a different quality than those of traditional students. As a result, adult learning places emphasis on experiential learning and activities where learners reflect and comment on experiences (e.g., discussion boards).

 

Be aware that this collection of experiences can have negative effects, such as forming bad habits, and forming biases or presuppositions.

 
Readiness to learn Oftentimes, adults will need to learn something in order to manage real-life situations. For example, getting a promotion might require a new skill. Adults will have a readiness to learn in regard to things they need to know and be able to do in order to manage effectively.
Orientation to learning

Adults are motivated to learn something that will have a positive impact on a real-life task, problem, or life situation.

Tip: Present new knowledge or skills in the context of how they will benefit real-life situations.
Motivation

Highly internally motivated (e.g., self-esteem, quality of life, job satisfaction, etc.)

Note. Student accessibility, access to resources, and time constraints can negatively affect motivation.

 

References

Knowles, M.S., Holton, E.F., Swanson, R.A., and Robinson, P. A. (2005) The adult learner. Butterworth-Heinemann.


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