Principles of Adult Learning

The term adult learning has two aspects: adult and learning. What do these really mean in relationship to helping adults learn?

First take a look at the word adult. When do people become adults? Is it when they become 18? Is it when they enter high school or college? Is it when they take on the responsibilities of a job or family? From a learning perspective, people are adults when they become self-directing, and when they accept responsibility for their own lives. As an adult, being self-directed becomes an important component of one’s self-concept.

Learning is somewhat easier to define. According to Nadler and Nadler (1994), “Learning is the acquisition of new skills, attitudes, and knowledge.” Learning results in change. For facilitation effectiveness, the emphasis must be on both the acquisition and use of the new knowledge, skills, attitudes, and abilities.

Facilitation is the art of bringing adults together with the learning, by helping adults learn through self-discovery. Facilitation involves techniques for learners to learn from each other in the sharing of knowledge and experiences. Mitchell indicates that there are basic or foundational principles of adult education. He discusses these principles in some detail in his 1998 book, The Trainer’s Handbook. By keeping these principles in mind, you can more easily identify with the adult learner and provide meaningful learning experiences for him or her. Adult learning principles provide a framework for development and facilitation that helps ensure the desired results. Mitchell’s principles of adult learning are introduced here.

Noted

In the early 1970s Malcolm Knowles introduced to the United States the term andragogy, meaning “the art and science of how adults learn” and contrasted it with pedagogy, the teaching of children (Knowles, 1990). The mission of education, according to Knowles is “to produce competent people—people who are able to apply their knowledge under changing conditions; and we know that the foundational competence all people must have is the competence to engage in lifelong self-directed learning…. The way to produce competent people is to have them acquire their knowledge in the context of its application” (Knowles, 1988).

Readiness to Learn

Learner readiness is critical to success. Without learner readiness, there is resistance, and learning does not take place. The facilitator should encourage the participant to discuss openly his or her resistance. Once the nature of the resistance is understood, it can be addressed. (See chapter 7 for more on different kinds of learner resistance.)

One of the indicators for adult readiness to learn is when adults face situations requiring them to use the new knowledge, skills, or abilities. Timing, therefore, can be an important consideration. For example, if people are being trained on a new system or product that won’t be available for four months, the learner is not ready to learn. This situation happens quite frequently. The facilitator must position the content as a requirement for success in the near future. It’s important, too, for the facilitator to be available for follow-up, coaching, or a refresher course at the right time.

Active Involvement in Learning

Adults learn best when they are actively participating in the learning rather than being passive recipients. People learn by doing. In training, this is usually done on the job. In the learning environment, the job must be simulated as closely as possible. Allow participants to practice the skills being taught. You want to minimize time spent in presenting content and maximize the time spent in practice and application through role plays, case studies, demonstration and practice, participant presentations, and so forth (Mitchell, 1998).

Self-Directed Learning

Adult learners are responsible for their own learning and are capable of self-direction. Although adults need some structure, they resist being told what to do. The facilitator must engage the learners in a process of inquiry and decision making and not just “give” information or knowledge “to” them. When introducing various instructional strategies, the facilitator must provide the purpose (links to their need to know) and the instructions, while giving them latitude to complete the activity.

Trial and Error

Making mistakes is another way adults learn. According to Mitchell (1998), success motivates adults and makes them want to learn more, but they tend to remember mistakes and want to learn about how to correct them. Facilitators must allow participants to try new things, to make mistakes, and to learn from them. A safe environment for trial and error must be created. Likewise, the facilitator must be sure the successes are reinforced and that the learners capture those lessons learned.

Building on Experience

Adults learn by connecting new information with what they already know (Mitchell, 1998). It is the building-block idea of moving from the known to the unknown. Because learning participants come with different backgrounds, the facilitator must discover what the participants know and build on that knowledge. Some techniques that can help the facilitator understand the audience’s knowledge and experience base include: pretests; “icebreakers” (see chapter 4), an exercise or activity that brings everyone to a common understanding; participant profiles; and soliciting pre-course information by having participants respond to the course objectives.

Experience is a rich resource for adult learning. In any group of adults, there is a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. The facilitator can leverage the different experiences for a richer learning experience through facilitative discussions, case studies, role plays, simulations, and the like.

The downside to experience is that the adult learner can also bring a set of biases, presuppositions, and bad habits that can inhibit learning. The facilitator must help learners examine these areas and replace or enhance them with new ideas, concepts, and perspectives.

Sensory Learning

Although adult learners use all their senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste), individuals usually have a dominant or preferred sense upon which they rely for learning new things (Mitchell, 1998). For all practical purposes, learning facilitation usually addresses the senses of sight (visual learning), hearing (auditory learning), and touch (kinesthetic learning).

Visual learners must interact with and apply content in a visual way. This means that as much as possible, they must see what they are learning. This need can be met in a variety of ways, from graphics to the printed page. Auditory learners must interact with and apply content through listening and speaking. This need must be met by providing auditory versions of content (from lecture to music) and by providing multiple opportunities for learners to hear and speak to each other. Kinesthetic learners must interact with and apply content in a physical way. Although the obvious way to meet this need is to provide hands-on practice, this need can also be met by providing ways for learners to interact with content physically (from note-taking to drawing pictures).

Effective facilitators “create a variety of sensory input because what isn’t clear when received by one sense often crystallizes through another” (Mitchell, 1998). Additional information about learning preferences and styles appears in the next chapter.

Less Is More

Effective facilitators take complex or new material and organize it in a simple way for participants so they can easily understand and apply the new information and skills. So, why is it that some instructors and trainers feel a need to cram all the content they can into a course? As content experts, they want to give the learners all of their content. Yet, this very practice inhibits learning.

A large part of this issue relates to the initial design of the course. Content should directly align with specific learning objectives; other content should not be included, as was discussed in chapter 1. When you are handed such a design, it is clear what content is critical and how you should focus your facilitation. When your course design does not have this component, you can fall into a trap of trying to do it all in as little time as possible, which can cause you to lose focus and get off track. This causes you to eliminate the skill practices and present more content to save time, which ultimately causes learning to suffer.

Building on Theory

Theory is important to understanding—an important prerequisite to learning. Having participants understand why the learning is important and putting it in context makes the learning easier. However, this must be balanced with their orientation to learning; theory cannot simply be discussed in a vacuum.

Adults want theory presented in the context of the job and applicability to real-life situations. Facilitators need to explain the “what and why” of the course and any content within the course, and then make clear the courses relevance to the learners’ situations. Before participating in a learning experience, adult learners want to know why they must learn the information. Once they buy into their need to know, they will invest significant energy in the learning experience.

The facilitator must be able to link the course objectives and content to the adult learners’ need to know. The facilitator must demonstrate the value of the learning as it relates to the learners’ personal or professional lives. A facilitator can tell them of the value, but it is better if the learners become aware of this through self-discovery of their gaps as they relate to the course content. Finally, debriefing activities should reinforce their need to know.

The facilitator should bring examples and applications to life by making them directly relevant to the learners’ situations. Draw on personal life and work experience to make your examples real to the learners.

Practice

Orientation to learning is life- or work-centered for adults. Adults want to learn things that will help them solve a problem, do a task, or prepare for a position. Therefore, a key ingredient is practice, practice, practice. Practice not only increases proficiency, but also increases the probability of retention.

If you run short on time, practice is not where you want to cut corners. Practice is critical to learning and on-the-job application. Think of other ways (discussed in chapter 6) to make up time.

Feedback

Adults want and need feedback. People like and need to know how they are doing. As a facilitator, there are several ways you can provide feedback. A common way is testing. This should be for feedback and to identify areas that need additional work plus areas where there is adequate knowledge. You can also use checklists to provide feedback on practices, role plays, and case studies. Peer learners can provide feedback, and you can help facilitate this process. When discussing ideas as a group, you can clarify and provide feedback on participants’ comments. When you debrief activities, provide feedback to your participants on the quality and completeness of their work. Summarize with lessons learned.

Individual Differences

Adult learners have individual differences. Every participant is unique and learns differently. Each brings different backgrounds, perspectives, and biases to the learning experience. As a facilitator, you need to recognize and positively respond to these differences.

Adults learn at their own pace. Not everyone is a fast learner. This variation can prove challenging for a facilitator. Ideally, you will have some knowledge of your audience prior to facilitating the course. If not, you can plan to address the needs of all, whether they are slow, regular, or fast learners. When you do that, you will focus on the largest group: the regular learners.

Your job is then to bring the slow learners along while challenging the fast learners. You may need to spend some extra time with slow learners or provide some remedial information. Fast learners can

• be given lead roles in your program

• provide peer coaching

  Think About This

  The acronym LEARN, suggested by an unknown but wise person, summarizes the principles of adult learning:

  Learner-directed: Adult learners like to be in charge of their own learning as much as possible. Group or individual work in which they decide on structure, format, and application is effective. And, if adults understand why they need the information you can give them (which supports their self-direction), the content will be easier for them to learn.

  Experiential: Adults in a learning environment gain more from experiencing the concepts being taught than they do from just a lecture or presentation. They want active involvement and relevance to their job and organization. This involves practicing and applying the concepts rather than lecture only.

  Able to be evaluated: When teaching a concept, define it. Specify as clearly as possible the result wanted from the learners. Identify what knowledge, skill, or attitude change will take place. Focus facilitation on reaching that goal and measure it.

  Residual: Adults learn more effectively if they build on known information, facts, and/or experiences rather than from independent, arbitrary facts. Base the information provided on their experience and knowledge and lead them into more depth of that knowledge.

  Numerous instructional methods: Some people learn better from verbal instructions, some from written instructions, and some from example. Others are visually oriented, and still others learn by trial and error. Incorporate various methods and types of activities into the program. You can reach a wider audience by using several instructional methods, plus variety provides valuable reinforcement and makes the course more interesting.

• serve as resources to others

• take on additional and more challenging tasks

• present some content

• lead group activities.

Individual differences become greater with age and experience. Some of these differences are learning styles, time and place of learning, and depth of knowledge and expertise. Facilitators cannot control all of these variables, but they can accommodate different learning styles and depth of knowledge. Alter learning activities to accommodate learning styles. Through the expertise of the facilitator and leveraging the expertise of the group, a facilitator can bring more depth and job relevance to the learning experience.