Adult Learning Styles
Discussion on Kolb's Theory of Learning Styles and Silver and Hanson's Learning Style Inventory
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Adult Education: A brief Introduction
Adult learners have
always been viewed to be different from child learners. One of the theories
that attempt to explain this difference is Knowles theory of andragogy. The
term Andragogy by translation means "art and science of helping adults
learn" and Kearsley assets that this to an instructor means that
Instructions for
adults need to focus more on the process and less on the content being taught.
Strategies such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluations
are most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource rather
than lecturer or grader (Lieb, 1998, p. 6).
While most education scholars deride
andragogy as being less a theory and more a set of assumptions about the nature
of adult students, there is general concession that andragogy offers a manner
through which strategic differentiation of educational practices between
children and adults can be made. As a science, adult learning is defined as
"the process of adults gaining knowledge and expertise" (Knowles,
Holton and Swanson, 2005, p.174). Key to the concept of adult learning is the
idea that the adult learner wants to have control over his/her individual
learning process and also aims at some particular result.
While adult learning
did not attract significant attention for the better part of the 20th century,
the last decades of the century saw a rise in interest in adult education. The
development of new information technologies, globalization and rising
unemployment to name but a few are some of the changes that had the cumulative
effect of transforming the social demand for learning. Adult learning therefore
became more prevalent as it proposes to meet the challenge of lifelong learning
that have been brought about by the rapid informational changes currently
experienced in the world (Rose, Kasworm & Ross-Gordon, 2010).
Thorpe, Edwards and
Hanson (1993) reveal that a good deal of adult education is actually in
compensation of previous school shortcomings rather than a continuation of the
previous regime. With this in mind, the authors go on to articulate that some
of the reasons for previous failure may include ability, motivation and
learning styles.
According to Rose, Kasworm and Ross-Gordon (2010) some of the
adult participants in formal learning opportunities do so as to improve the way
they feel about themselves. The desire for greater self-esteem and feelings of
self-worth is therefore a huge factor in the case where adult learners are
concerned. In any case, learning style plays a significant role in determining
the success or lack of it in the adult education process.
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