How We Learn Changes
As learners transition from their undergraduate education into graduate studies, they are also making important developmental transitions regarding how they build, apply, question, and embody concepts relevant to public health practice, both in the classroom and through their lived personal and professional experiences. In this transition, the learning environment of learners has vastly expanded from a stage of dependency to a more self-directed method of inquiry. As an instructor, you play an essential role in this knowledge-building maturation as you guide learners deeper into environments that support principles of adult learning. While not exhaustive, below you will find a brief introduction to five key principles of adult learning to consider and implement as you prepare to teach.
Adults Need to Know Why They Are Learning
As an instructor, it is important to regularly reiterate the relevance and purpose of activities and objectives to help adult learners understand why they are being asked to learn and how they will personally and professionally benefit from the material. Do not solely rely on the assumption that students will find content applicable to their training and professional development simply based on passive interpretations of learning objectives.
Adults Are Motivated to Learn by the Need to Solve Problems
It is helpful to be explicit with learners about how their training will equip them to respond to timely issues relevant to public health practice. As an instructor, you will play a key role in the translation of academic concepts and skills that adult learners may initially find abstract and disconnected, into pertinent training that will equip them to respond to real world problems in their field.
Adults’ Previous Experience Must Be Respected and Built Upon
Adult learners often enter the classroom with a wealth of personal and professional experience, with the intention to add to this existing knowledge base. As an instructor, it is important to support an environment of co-learning and acknowledge adult learners’ prior experiences by orienting course content to accommodate the construction and deconstruction that may arise as experienced learners re-engage the learning process.
Learning Approaches Should Match Adults’ Background Diversity
Adult learners are often motivated to engage within environments that tangibly reflect the diversity of their own journeys. In your role, you will facilitate the connection between new learning and prior experiences. As an instructor, it is important to ensure that you leverage the diverse experiences adult learners bring into the classroom by intentionally selecting media, case studies, scholarly journals, topics, and assignments that incorporate engagement with skill development around the intersectional issues adult learners have and will continue to experience in public health practice.
Adults Need to be Actively Involved in the Learning Process
Though they still need assistance in assessing their own learning, adult learners often value having responsibility within their own construction of knowledge. As an instructor, allow ample opportunity for meaningful participation that facilitates the application of skills and knowledge. After application, provide timely feedback about the adult learner’s performance through specific positive reinforcements and suggestions for improvement.
The table below outlines selected theories and models that further explore some of these five key principles. (Bryan et al. 2008)
| Adult Learning Principles | ||||||
| Theory or Model | Key Citationa | Adults Need to Know Why They Are Learning | Adults Are Motivated to Learn by the Need to Solve Problems | Adults' Previous Experience Must Be Respected, Built Upon | Learning Approaches Should Match Adults' Background Diversity | Adults Need to Be Actively Involved |
| Andragogy | Knowles, Holton, & Swanson (1998) | x | x | x | x | x |
| Thiagi's Laws of Learning | Zemke (2002) | x | x | x | x | x |
| Teachers as Learnersb | Lawler (2003) | x | x | x | x | |
| Self-Directed Learning | Knowles (1975) | x | x | x | ||
| Adult Basic Education Principles | Imel (1998) | x | x | |||
| Constructivist Learning | Daley (2001) | x | ||||
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a Selected from many citations b Module not formally named |
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References
Bryan, R.L., Kreuter, M.W., &, Brownson, R.C. (2008). Integrating Adult Learning Principles Into Training for Public Health Practice. Health Promotion Practice, 10 (4), 557-563.
Daley, B. J. (2001). Learning and professional practice: A study of four professions. Adult Education Quarterly, 52, 39-54.
Imel, S. (1998). Using adult learning principles in adult basic and literacy education. Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED425336)
Knowles, M. S. (1975). Self-directed learning. New York: Associated Press.
Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (1998). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (5th ed.). Houston, TX: Gulf.
Lawler, P. (2003). Teachers as adult learners: A new perspective. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 98, 15-22.
Zemke, R. (2002). Who needs learning theory anyway? Training, 39(9), 86-91.