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Anyone that has not lived in a cave since the turn of
the centuryhas heard the termreferring to students
in school today as 21
st
Century Learners. These
students learn much differently than the adults
of today learned when they were in school. The
result has induced a transformation in education
for students in school.
Much of the discussion of 21
st
Century Learners
stems from the infinite amount of knowledge we
all have at our fingertips through technology. How
does this translate to adult learning? The greater
quandary that must be deliberately considered in
business is; how does 21
st
Century Learning affect
adults that are now in the workforce? How do
Learning and Development Managers in business
large and small establish a training curriculum that
addresses all audiences of learners? Technology
is absolutely a factor in adult learning as well,
however there are other factors that equally impact
the learning of adults that are not influenced by
technology.
Malcolm Knowles, a Harvard graduate long before
the 21
st
Century, has been acclaimed as the
foundational father of adult learning principles
that are still applicable today. The principles are
theory based which allows even the acceleration of
technology to accommodate the learning of adults
today. Through his research Knowles determined
that in preparing to instruct adults eight principles
must be understood about how adults learn and
how their expectations of learning will be met.
1.
Active Learning
– Active Learning means that
adults need to be engaged in the information
being presented. They need to be involved
in discussion, allowed to give feedback, and
participate in activities that pertain to the content.
2.
Problem Centric
– Adults anticipate learning
opportunities to solve their problems. They
do not engage in learning to gain content
knowledge solely.
3.
Previous Experience
– Instruction that can not
be linked to the adults background knowledge
will be lost.
4.
Relevance
– If the content is not specifically
relevant or the presenter does not specifically
identify the relevance to the adult learners life
and work, the meaning will be lost.
5.
Emotional Connection
– Another education
researcher Robert Sylwester stated, “Emotion
drives attention and attention drives learning.”
Emotional connections inspire memory
retention and recall ability.
8 Principles that Manage
the Learning of
Adults!
By The Merit Group
SOAR TO SUCCESS
/
A
pril
2016
/
Core Business Strategy