Assessing Adult Learning and Learning Styles

Know How ◽

Education Literature ◽

Learning Assessments ◽

Adults have different learning styles which can either enhance or deter their learning. In the conversation that follows, I discuss the utility of assessing adult learning and the diversity of learning styles. Adult education literature is replete with discussions on characteristics of adult learners and adult learning and development. But how do we actually know if adults gained the knowledge they set out to learn? We know that there are several factors that should be taken into consideration when facilitating adult learning, but as adult educators and practitioners of the field, it is equally important that we learn and/or know how to deploy various approaches in assessing adult learning. In this chapter are brief discussions on adult learning, learning styles, and learning assessments.

Lights, Camera, Andragogy! Adult Learning and Development in Film

Adult Learning ◽

10.1177/1045159519829039 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 150-159

Author(s):

Adam McClain

Keyword(s):

Adult Learners ◽

Adult Learning ◽

Growth And Development ◽

Life Experiences ◽

Real Life ◽

Emotional Reactions ◽

Adult Educators ◽

Social Phenomena ◽

This article will examine specific films that portray events or phenomena of adult learning and development, and how adult learning and development can be explored by studying the lives of the fictional characters in film. It will demonstrate how the use of contemporary film by adult educators and adult learners can enhance insights about people, about life’s dilemmas, and about the growth and development in adulthood. To teach adults successfully, methods and techniques must be adapted to their skills and environments. Despite genre or popularity, film has the opportunity to tell a story and/or be a real-life recording. Film provides another strategy of telling stories to help adult educators and adult learners have further reflection, insights, emotional reactions, and enhance various life experiences and stages of development. Learners can use film to better understand narratives outside of their own and develop alternative interpretations, and film can also be used to observe social phenomena in a noninvasive way. The films discussed in the article were chosen by the author to draw the attention to examples of various aspects of adult learning and development.

Andragogy: A Theory in Practice in Higher Education

Journal of Research in Higher Education ◽

10.24193/jrhe.2020.2.4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 54-69

Author(s):

El-Amin Abeni

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Adult Education ◽

Adult Learners ◽

Adult Learning ◽

Learning Styles ◽

Learning Style ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Cognitive Learning ◽

Analysis And Synthesis ◽

Learning Principles

Adult learning principles develop through an analysis and synthesis of adult education, andragogy, teaching, and learning in higher education. This research investigates foundational assumptions relevant to the field of adult education with a focus on andragogy in higher education. Characteristics of adult learners and principles of adult learning in higher education bear focus through the lens of andragogy. As such, andragogy as the preferred learning style of adults, andragogy vs. pedagogy, and cognitive learning develop relational significance to adult learners in higher education. As a result, the implications of linking learning styles and reflections of andragogy as a learning style are considered.

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ADULT LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Main Issues Of Pedagogy And Psychology ◽

10.24234/miopap.v14i2.50 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 30-37

Author(s):

S. Zichenko ◽

T. Kotirlo

Keyword(s):

Adult Education ◽

Adult Learning ◽

Psychological Development ◽

Psychological Characteristics ◽

Institutional Type ◽

The authors consider the problem of the adult social and psychological development and education. It analyzes various directions of social and psychological development, the peculiarities of the institutional type of training, as well as the basis of forms oftraining of adult education.

A Survey of Graduate Adult Education Programns and Thie Adult Learning and Development Curriculum

Adult Education Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0741713695045004002 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 197-212 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Carolyn Harrison

Keyword(s):

Adult Education ◽

Adult Learning ◽

Online Education and Adult Learning - Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design ◽

Digital Games for Online Adult Education

10.4018/978-1-60566-830-7.ch016 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 212-222 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Muhammet Demirbilek

Keyword(s):

Adult Education ◽

Adult Learners ◽

Adult Learning ◽

Digital Games ◽

Adult Educators ◽

Game Based Learning ◽

Effective Use ◽

Electronic Games ◽

And Training ◽

Pedagogical Approaches

Digital games are a strong motivating and engaging factor in adult learning. When students are engaged in the learning process, they learn and retain more. Engagement can come though emotion, relaxation, and especially through fun. This chapter provides guidance to online adult educators searching for ways to use digital games more effectively in their practice and give an overview of pedagogical approaches to digital games in online training and learning. In addition, benefits and pitfalls associated with using digital games in online adult education and general attributes of digital games are provided. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the potential of digital games in online Adult education. Therefore, it will be a useful reference for teachers with an interest in the use of digital game based learning for online Adult teaching and training. It is expected that this chapter helps educators make the most effective use of the electronic games available today, offering expert guidance on digital games to serve the needs of all Adult learners.

Transformative learning, epistemology and technology in adult education

Journal of Adult and Continuing Education ◽

10.1177/1477971420918602 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 147797142091860

Author(s):

Victor Wang ◽

Geraldine Torrisi-Steele ◽

Elizabeth Reinsfield

Keyword(s):

Adult Education ◽

Adult Learners ◽

Adult Learning ◽

Transformative Learning ◽

Teaching Practice ◽

Teaching Strategy ◽

Digital Technologies ◽

Ways Of Knowing ◽

Adult Educators ◽

Learning Contexts

Adult learners can have well-established ‘ways of knowing’, so a process of transformation represents learning that challenges them to discover new ways of thinking. Transformative learning is thus a frame for the practice of adult educators. The affordances of technologies can be exploited to facilitate transformative learning in adult learning contexts. However, this response is not consistently applied. In the present article, the authors highlight that technology is a tool within teaching strategy, and that it can be used to facilitate transformative learning albeit in a slightly different manner depending upon the epistemological stance of the educator. Adult and vocational teaching practice is positioned within four epistemological stances: post-positivist, constructivist, advocacy/participatory and pragmatism. Discussion focuses on the opportunities for transformative learning, made possible by digital technologies, within each of these epistemological stances.

Writing Our Life: Adult Learning and Teaching Through Autobiography

Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education ◽

10.21225/d5mp43 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Irene Karpiak

Keyword(s):

Adult Learners ◽

Adult Learning ◽

Continuing Education ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Life Story ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Transformative Power ◽

Learning And Teaching ◽

This paper explores the use of autobiography as a tool for teaching and learning in continuing education. In a recent continuing education course on adult learning and development, students took on the project of writing five chapters of their life story. Subsequent interviews with the writers explored the process and effects of writing. The findings suggest that when adult learners undertake autobiographical writing in the context of adult education, they embark on a process of self-exploration and meaning making that, in turn, can promote the development of an enlarged view of themselves and the world around them. Based upon these findings, a proposition is made for the transformative power of putting pen to paper.

Are adult learners in Europe happier than non-learners? Statistical evidence from the European Social Survey

European Educational Research Journal ◽

10.1177/14749041211014608 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 147490412110146

Author(s):

Ellen Boeren

Keyword(s):

Adult Education ◽

Adult Learners ◽

Adult Learning ◽

European Social Survey ◽

Welfare Regimes ◽

Participation Rates ◽

Social Survey ◽

Academic Literature ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

The Relationship

This paper borrows insights from the literature on European welfare regimes to analyse the relationship between happiness and participation in adult education. The academic literature and policy discourses on adult education tend to claim that participation in learning is correlated with happiness despite the lack of strong European comparative empirical evidence on this topic. This paper uses data from the latest Wave of the European Social Survey to analyse the happiness perceptions of nearly 20,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 64 who live in 16 European countries (15 European Union countries and the United Kingdom). Results indicate that while adult learners on average tend to be happier than non-learners, this correlation weakens when controlling for determinants of participation and happiness and for the countries in which these adults live. Confirming the importance of welfare regimes, this study found that adults in Finland tend to be happier than those in other countries, regardless of their participation in adult education. Happiness scores were lowest in Bulgaria and Hungary, countries with low participation rates in adult education and with the biggest differences in happiness scores between learners and non-learners. It is argued that the presence of well-structured adult learning provision might be an important characteristic of welfare regimes but that happiness is determined by much more than being an adult learner.

Integration of Indigenous Knowledge into Adult Learning Material Development and the Facilitation Methodology

Education Research International ◽

10.1155/2021/2231759 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Yalalem Assefa

Keyword(s):

Adult Education ◽

Adult Learners ◽

Adult Learning ◽

Indigenous Knowledge ◽

Knowledge Integration ◽

Data Gathering ◽

Real Life ◽

Learning Material ◽

Learning Materials ◽

Material Development

Connecting indigenous knowledge systems and practices with adult education programs has priceless value of promoting and transferring indigenous perspectives from generation to generation. Indeed, education is the surest path to ensuring social continuity when it ought to be based on the real-life experiences of learners and what their immediate environment and social realities entail. This demands the development of relevant adult learning materials and the utilization of participatory facilitation methodologies. Considering this in mind, this study was aimed to explore the integration of indigenous knowledge into adult education practices. In doing so, a case-study design was employed. The study sample was composed of eighteen experts, seven adult education literacy center coordinators, and seventy adult learners. Interview and FGD were considered the major data-gathering tools. Also, thematic analysis was the center of this study’s data analysis. As a result, the finding indicated that even though adult learners have diverse learning experiences, narrow emphasis has been given to the development of learning concepts and objectives in adult learning materials. The application of appropriate facilitation methods through participating experienced learners remains symbolic. To enhance the positive inclusion of indigenous knowledge into adult learning, learning material and its facilitation environment must be conducive and adequately be portraited. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the existing practice of indigenous knowledge integration into adult education in North Wollo, from the perspectives of learning material development and utilization of the facilitation methodology.