The learning journey does not begin or end at formal education. More and more of us start to understand the importance and benefits of lifelong learning. With societal, economic, cultural, and technological transformations around us, the ways we work, communicate, travel, or even study have significantly changed. Continuous learning helps us stay abreast of all these changes.
It is not surprising that the fast-paced world has turned adult learning into a critical matter. However, the way adults choose to learn is different from that of younger children. Older students enter education institutions and training centers with life and work experiences that are coupled with responsibilities. Thus, they are selective with what they choose to study or listen to. To turn an adult learning journey into a successful outcome one must understand student needs and tailor teaching experience to it. To reach the understanding, knowing, and understanding adult learning theory and principles would be essential.
The theory of adult learning is called Andragogy. It addresses the best ways of teaching and contextualizes with students’ age. Being one of the pioneers in Andragogy, Malcolm Knowles noted the following characteristics of adult learners:
Considering the above, there are many different ways one could develop the instruction path. Depending on the preferences, it is debatable what would be considered as the most effective option. However, the practical approach suggests considering the below aspects.
It is extremely important to understand the profile and background of your learners. Knowing what they already know and what they expect from specific learning activities can help customize the content and the way it is delivered. Ideally, conducting the learner needs assessment could help assess gaps in learning and would instruct the way forward.
Defining learning objectives helps puts the purpose of learning in concrete and measurable terms. Before deciding on these, it is important to determine what kind of learning your students are expected to gain. Identifying the type of learning – Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes (KSA) can facilitate the process of defining objectives. As a rule of thumb, training purpose must be anchored in learning needs, skills, knowledge, and deficit, and what your learners would need to know in actual terms. Practical learning objectives can be built using the SMART technique or the ABCD model.
Drawing on industry best practices, the ideal class size is usually within the limit of 15 people. This is true for the face-to-face learning mode. Smaller class sizes make it easier to break into groups or work on activities and use other learning methods besides simple lecturing. The more complex the material is, the more it will be needed to work on activities and practice-based scenarios to ensure desired learning outcome is achieved.
There is a wide variety of instructional methods to choose from. One would need to keep the selected method of teaching when developing the materials.
People tend to remember more when they practice or apply their learning in practice. The amount of information one remembers is in direct proportion to the amount of involvement s/he had in the learning. Edgar Dale, the originator of “The cone of learning” suggests that after two weeks in learning we remember:
Thereby, it is essential for an educator to select the appropriate method of teaching and place more emphasis on learning by doing.
With technology progressing at a stunning pace, a greater variety of training delivery methods become available. One could choose between face-to-face, online, hybrid (blended), non-formal, or problem-based learning. The selection of delivery mode would depend on participant background, availability, learning objectives, and environmental factors.
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