1. Self-concept: As a person matures his self concept moves
from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed
human being2. Experience: As a person matures he accumulates a growing
reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning.3. Readiness to learn. As a person matures his readiness to
learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social
roles.4. Orientation to learning. As a person matures his time
perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy
of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one
of subject-centeredness to one of problem centredness.5. Motivation to learn: As a person matures the motivation to
learn is internal (Knowles 1984:12).
1. Self-concept: As a person matures his self concept moves
from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed
human being2. Experience: As a person matures he accumulates a growing
reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning.3. Readiness to learn. As a person matures his readiness to
learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social
roles.4. Orientation to learning. As a person matures his time
perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy
of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one
of subject-centeredness to one of problem centredness.5. Motivation to learn: As a person matures the motivation to
learn is internal (Knowles 1984:12).
Information that conflicts sharply with what is already held to be
true, and thus forces a re-evaluation of the old material, is integrated
more slowly.
Adults prefer self-directed and self-designed learning projects over
group-learning experience
Self-direction does not mean isolation. Studies of self-directed
learning indicate that self-directed projects involve an average of 10
other people as resources, guides, encouragers and the like. But even for
the self-professed, self-directed learner, lectures and short seminars
get positive ratings, especially when these events give the learner
face-to-face, one-to-one access to an expert.
The learning environment must be physically and psychologically
comfortable
Adults have something real to lose in a classroom situation.
Self-esteem and ego a
Adults have expectations, a
Adults bring a great deal of life experienc
Instructors who have a tendency to hold forth rather than facilitate
can hold that tendency in check--or compensate for it--by concentrating
on the use of open-ended questions to draw out relevant student knowledge
and experience.
New knowledge has to be integrated with previous knowledge; students
must actively participate in the learning experience.
The key to the instructor role is control. The instructor must
balance the presentation of new material, debate and discussion, sharing
of relevant student experiences, and the clock.
The instructor has to protect minority opinion, keep disagreements
civil and unheated, make connections between various opinions and ideas,
and keep reminding the group of the variety of potential solutions to the
problem. The instructor is less advocate than orchestrator.
Integration of new knowledge and skill requires transition time and
focused effort on application.
Learning and teaching theories function better as resources than as a
Rosetta stone. A skill-training task can draw much from the behavioral
approach, for example, while personal growth-centered subjects seem to
draw gainfully from humanistic concepts. An eclectic, rather than a
single theory-based approach to developing strategies and procedures, is
recommended for matching instruction to learning tasks.