- Active learning is more effective than passive learning. Talking is more active than listening;
writing is more active than reading; doing is more active than observing. Adult learners need
opportunities for both active and passive formal learning, and intentional and incidental
informal learning.
- Learning requires focused attention and an awareness that what is to be
learned is important and is relevant to the learner.
- Learning is more effective and efficient when learners have explicit, reasonable, positive
goals, and when their goals fit well with the instructor's goals. Learners need opportunities to
be involved in planning their own learning,
- To be remembered, new information must be meaningfully connected to prior knowledge; it
must first be remembered in order to be learned. Acknowledging prior learning helps
individual learners connect new knowledge to prior knowledge. Adults burdened by multiple
roles and responsibilities may experience sufficient distress to temporarily create short-term
memory difficulties.
- Unlearning what is already known is often more difficult than learning new information.
Unacknowledged prior learning may be detrimental to current learning. Acknowledging prior
learning may help adult learners understand the need for new information.
- Information organized in personally meaningful ways is more likely to be retained, learned,
and used. Learner-centred and learning-centred approaches to teaching are more effective
then content-centred or teacher-centred approaches.
- To learn well, learners need feedback on their learning, early and often; to become
independent, they need to learn how to give themselves feedback. Adult learners may need
support and assistance to become self-directed in their learning. Feedback strategies
appropriate for adult learners need to be designed and used frequently throughout a learning
activity.
- The ways in which learners are assessed and evaluated powerfully affect the ways they study
and learn. Adults do not respond well to time-limited tests and examinations.
- Mastering a skill or body of knowledge takes great amounts of time and effort. Because of
conflicting roles and responsibilities, adult learners sometimes do not have sufficient time or
energy to master a skill or body of knowledge within time-limited learning opportunities.
- Learning to transfer, to apply knowledge and skills in new contexts, requires a great deal of
practice. Workplace and “situated” learning (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989) opportunities
are essential for adult learners.
- High expectation encourages high achievement, but expectations need to be realistic for
adult learners and achievable within the conditions of their lives.
- To be most effective, instructors need to balance levels of intellectual challenge and
instructional support.
- Motivation to learn is alterable; it can be positively or negatively affected by the task, the
environment, the instructor, the learner, and the learner's prior experiences in the
educational system.
- Interaction between instructors and learners is one of the most powerful factors in
promoting learning; interaction among learners is another. Adults do better in learning
activities that include opportunities for social interaction.