Adult Learning

The Oxford Dictionary defines learning as the acquiring of knowledge through study, instruction, and experience. Although this definition provides us with three general modes of acquiring knowledge, not all individuals respond favorably to all three modes. This realization has resulted in differentiating learners based on their demographics, the nature and meaning-fulness of knowledge, and the context of the learning environment. Adult learning has become a multidisciplinary construct that takes into account the learner's experience, personal motivations, environment, and maturation to explain the individual's capability to create knowledge or to learn.

Adult learning theoretical foundations are built on the understanding that the learning process doesn't end at a certain chronological age rather, it takes on different forms throughout the person's life. The context of acquiring knowledge varies with “life situations,” and the purpose of learning is not only to acquire skills and knowledge, but to maintain human progression, growth, choice, and freedom. This involves equating everyday life experiences with the learning process. Traditional pedagogical processes (e.g., teacher instructing students) and contexts (e.g., formal classrooms) no longer suffice the learning needs of an adult in a complex world.

The adult learning concepts have evolved into varying processes with differing names such as self-directed learning, andragogy, transformational learning, and critical inquiry. However, the basic tenets concerning the individuals learning preferences, needs, motivations, experiences, demographics, and readiness provide the criteria for judging the appropriateness of an individual's learning. For example, andragogy emphasizes the meaningfulness of knowledge as it relates to the motivation of the learner to meet unmet needs or thwart unwanted conditions preventing them from reaching goals. These motives arise from within the learner and cannot be directly facilitated from the external context. This has resulted in tailoring, or individualizing, the learning process with multiple options that allow the person to better relate the knowledge to their need and environment. In addition, by considering experience as a source of learning for the adult, the transfer of knowledge to action is better facilitated.

Learning processes for the adult may also vary based on the type of knowledge required. Jürgen Habermas contends knowledge can take three different forms: technical, practical, and emancipatory. Emancipatory knowledge may require more personal reflection than either technical or practical because it deals with individual perspectives that form current understandings of the meanings employed to make sense of the environment.