Principles of Adult Learning

Adults have different motivations and needs for seeking learning opportunities. A successful educator or trainer will understand what drives an adults needs and tailor their presentations and classes to meet these needs. There are ten basic principles of adult learning as shown below:

1. Adults learn to do by doing.
2. They learn to do what they do and not something else (i.e., the fabled "underwater basic weaving" or "freebie" courses taken in a traditional college course vs taking a specific course to enhance or learn a new skill).
3. The experience must include readiness otherwise it will be inefficient and could even be harmful.
4. Must include motivation otherwise there can be no learning at all.
5. Responses and feedback must be immediately reinforced if the experience is to be effective.
6. Meaningful content is learned better and retained longer than less meaningful content.
7. To maximize the learning experience, responses should be learned in the way that they will be used by the adult (i.e., if teaching a class on electronic banking the instruction should not be about manual banking procedures).
8. The adults response will vary according to how he / she perceives the situation.
9. Individual responses will vary according to the learning atmosphere (i.e., conduciveness to learning, applicability).
10. Learning will be accomplished using the talents, physical inheritance, background and cultural norms present during the experience.

After a careful review of the ten principles the trainer will better understand the depth and detail to which they need to tailor their presentations and communications with their students.

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved.

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