1. Regardless of media, straightforward how-to is the preferred content orientation.
  2. Self-direction does not mean isolation. In fact, studies of self-directed projects show they involve an average of 10 other people as resources, guides and encouragers. Lectures and short seminars are well-received if they give the learner face-to-face, one-to-one access to an expert.

Things We Know About Working with Adults in the Classroom

  1. The learning environment must be physically and psychologically comfortable. Adults report that long lectures, periods of interminable sitting and the absence of practice opportunities are high on the irritation scale.
  2. Bad experiences in traditional education, feelings about authority and the preoccupation with events outside the classroom all affect in-class experience.
  3. Adults have expectations, and it is critical to take time up front, during the intake process, to clarify and articulate all expectations before getting into content. It is important for both student and teacher to state expectations.
  4. Open-ended questions are useful for drawing out relevant student knowledge and experience.
  5. New knowledge has to be integrated with previous knowledge; that means active learner participation. Since only the learner can tell us how the new fits or fails to fit with the old, we have to ask them.
  6. The instructor must balance the presentation of new material, debate and discussion, sharing of relevant student experiences, and time restraints.
  7. 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.
  8. Integration of new knowledge and skill requires transition time and focused effort.
  9. The trainer of adults needs to take an eclectic rather than a single theory-based approach to developing strategies and procedures, as many offer valuable guidance when matched with an appropriate learning task.

Overall, adults want their learning to be problem-centered, personalized and accepting of their need for self-direction and personal responsibility.

Summarized from Training, June 1981.