What Is An Adult Learner?
A person 25 years or older pursuing continuing education to advance their professional preparation is considered an adult learner. These adult students come from various backgrounds, including Baby Boomers, Gen Z, parents, caregivers for aging parents, veterans, and job changers.
Other traits that adult learners share include the following:
- Frequently working full- or part-time.
- Aim to change occupations or progress in their current positions.
- May have dependents or family responsibilities.
- Frequently possess greater professional experience than an undergraduate student enrolled full-time for the first time.
Adult learners pursue higher education or postsecondary education for various reasons, both personal and professional. Their objectives frequently extend beyond earning a degree; they look for immediate, functional advantages that fit their aims and circumstances. Institutions must thoroughly understand these motives to create programs and marketing tactics for an adult learner.
Here are a few reasons adults opt for education:
- Change of career or promotion: Adults' primary reason for returning to school is to advance in their current field or change careers. Programs that offer specialized skills, certificates accepted by the business, and clear routes to new opportunities appeal to them.
- Boost earning capacity: Adult learners frequently view education as a way to increase income and achieve long-term financial security. They seek more education to obtain degrees, certifications, or highly sought-after abilities that enable them to work in higher-paying positions.
- Stay competitive in their line of work: Adults understand that to remain relevant in quickly changing businesses, they must reskill and upskill. Many enroll in courses to keep them competitive and assist them in adjusting to new technologies.
- Pursue their passion: Adult learners return to school to pursue their passions and interests rather than their employment aspirations. They value programs that cater to creativity, intellectual development, and personal fulfillment.
Adult Learning Principles
Adult learning principles should be applied to successfully transfer knowledge to adult learners through a specific training program or a more general learning method. Institutions that successfully use these ideas will benefit from knowing the differences in learning styles between adults and children.
Consider the principles below when creating a learning program, and develop learning resources accordingly.
1. Goal-Oriented Design
Adults must have a sense of purpose. Programs should have well-defined goals, specify expected results, and continuously relate lessons to those objectives. This approach guarantees that students maintain their motivation and make progress.
2. Contextual Learning
Adults need more than abstract theories. They gain the most from knowledge connected to real-world situations, such as case studies, job scenarios, or role-playing activities that connect theory and practice.
3. Autonomy In Learning Choices
Successful programs offer options, such as various learning paths, elective modules, and evaluation techniques. They meet overall learning objectives while empowering adults to take control of their journey.
4. Positive Feedback Cycles
Adults like prompt, courteous, and helpful feedback. Peer reviews, instructor insights, and self-assessment tools are all used to assist students in improving their abilities and identifying areas for improvement.
5. Learning Enhanced By Technology
Digital platforms increase flexibility and accessibility. Adult learners can stay involved and learn independently using interactive multimedia, mobile apps, and eLearning resources.
6. Equilibrium Between Support And Challenge
When adults receive the tools and direction they need to succeed while simultaneously being encouraged to think critically, they flourish. Finding the ideal mix promotes deeper problem-solving while avoiding frustration.
7. Integration Through Experience
Adult education shouldn't end in the classroom. Adults gain the most knowledge when encouraged to apply new information to their work, evaluate the outcomes, and develop ideas for improvement.
In addition to these principles, organizations can enhance their training initiatives by utilizing a variety of adult learning theories that are different from those of younger learners.
Adult Learners' Traits
1. Self-Direction
Adults feel the need to take responsibility for their lives and decisions and this is why it’s important for them to have control over their learning. Therefore, self-assessment, a peer relationship with the instructor, multiple options and initial, yet subtle support are all imperative.
2. Practical And Results-Oriented
Adult learners are usually practical, resent theory, need information that can be immediately applicable to their professional needs, and generally prefer practical knowledge that will improve their skills, facilitate their work and boost their confidence. This is why it’s important to create a course that will cover their individual needs and have a more utilitarian content.
3. Less Open-Minded And More Resistant To Change
Maturity and profound life experiences usually lead to rigidity, which is the enemy of learning. Thus, instructional designers need to provide the “why” behind the change, new concepts that can be linked to already established ones, and promote the need to explore.
4. Slower Learning, Yet More Integrative Knowledge
Aging does affect learning. Adults tend to learn less rapidly with age. However, the depth of learning tends to increase over time, navigating knowledge and skills to unprecedented personal levels.
5. Use Personal Experience As A Resource
Adults have lived longer, seen and done more, have the tendency to link their past experiences to anything new and validate new concepts based on prior learning. This is why it’s crucial to form a class with adults who have similar life experience levels, encourage discussion and sharing, and generally create a learning community consisting of people who can interact profoundly.
6. Motivation
Learning in adulthood is usually voluntary. Thus, it’s a personal choice to attend school, in order to improve job skills and achieve professional growth. This motivation is the driving force behind learning and this is why it’s crucial to tap into a learner’s intrinsic impetus with the right thought-provoking material that will question conventional wisdom and stimulate his mind.
7. Multi-Level Responsibilities
Adult learners have a lot to juggle; family, friends, work, and the need for personal quality time. This is why it’s more difficult for an adult to make room for learning, while it’s absolutely crucial to prioritize. If his life is already demanding, then the learning outcome will be compromised. Taking that under consideration, an instructional designer needs to create a flexible program, accommodate busy schedules, and accept the fact that personal obligations might obstruct the learning process.
8. High Expectations
Adult learners have high expectations. They want to be taught about things that will be useful to their work, expect to have immediate results, seek for a course that will worth their while and not be a waste of their time or money. This is why it’s important to create a course that will maximize their advantages, meet their individual needs and address all the learning challenges.
How To Teach Adult Learners?
Teaching ongoing vocational education and training to adults can be gratifying and challenging at the same time. Since their past experiences influence individuals' learning, trainers must employ efficient teaching techniques. The appropriate methods enhance practical application and information retention and increase engagement.
Seven of the best teaching strategies for adult learning are listed below:
Active Learning
Active learning motivates students to engage through group projects, role-playing, and case studies. This practical method helps students stay focused, develop critical thinking, and improve their ability to apply knowledge in the real world.
Experiential Learning
It focuses on problem-based learning, such as field visits and simulations. It offers relevant, real-world experiences directly impacting professional settings, which improves engagement and retention.
Collaborative Learning
Entails working in groups to accomplish common objectives. Learners hone their communication, cooperation, and critical thinking abilities by sharing ideas and cooperating on projects, peer reviews, and conversations.
Self-Directed Learning
This approach allows students to plan, set goals, and evaluate their performance. Students take charge of their development with the help of resources, including self-evaluations, goal-setting activities, and reflective writing.
Flipped Classroom
Before class, students can access instructional materials (such as pre-recorded videos), which frees up class time for problem-solving and interactive discussions. This learner-centered approach makes sessions more dynamic and engaging.
Problem-Based Learning
Presenting real-world situations to students encourages creativity, teamwork, and critical thinking. Trainers can also use case studies and simulations to educate students about the demands of the modern workforce.
Learning Through Games
Gamification, which uses components such as simulations and quizzes, makes learning enjoyable and interactive. It increases motivation, engagement, and knowledge retention, and works exceptionally well for various age groups and generations.
You may also find useful the:
- 18 Tips to Engage and Inspire Adult Learners
- The Adult Learning Theory - Andragogy - of Malcolm Knowles
