The Adult Learner

The adult learner: a mythical species.

Adult learning theory, first described by Malcolm Knowles in the early 1970s, is based on a number of apparently self-evident axioms about how adults learn. The fundamental assumptions remain largely untested, and a critical analysis suggests that they may be largely a product of the environment in which adults find themselves rather than of any innate differences between adults and children. W...

Constructing the adult learner - a governmentality analysis

Creating teaching plans for the adult learner.

www.homehealthcarenurseonline.com Creating Teaching Plans for Adults Jan, an RN and case manager, arrived at Mrs. A’s house armed with wound care pamphlets and instruction sheets. This 64-year-old client was admitted to home care the previous day for assistance with dressing changes to a belowthe-knee amputation resulting from complications of diabetes. Jan’s plan was to review the information ...

Ambiguity Intolerance and the Adult Online Learner

As Web_2.0 technologies redefine the learning space, apprehension in the adult learner toward technology and alternative instruction could represent a significant barrier to an effective teaching and learning experience. Although tolerance for ambiguity has been highlighted as important in the development of creative, integrative thinking in the college setting, few studies have examined ambigu...

Andragogy and the Socratic Method: The Adult Learner Perspective

One of the teaching methods available to teachers in the ‘andragogic’ model of teaching is the method of ‘Socratic Seminars’. This is a teacher-directed form of instruction in which questions are used as the sole method of teaching, placing students in the position of having to recognise the limits of their knowledge, and hopefully, motivating them to learn. This paper aims at initiating the di...