Wood Mill Adult Learning Reflection

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) allow students to receive educational credit for informal learning experiences. To what extent does PLAR provide an incentive for students to enrol in adult learning programs, whether on campus or off campus? Although this is not an easy question to answer, this paper offers an argument for the benefits of PLAR and why a national initiative promoting this concept would be valuable.

Knowles, M. S. (1980). The modern practice of adult education from pedagogy to andragogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Cambridge Adult Education.

Adults return to school for a number of reasons. Universities are seeing an increase in the number of adults who are returning to school in the pursuit of knowledge, go gain necessary skills to remain current, to advance in the fields, or to enter in to new careers. While universities try to accomodate all of their students, the adult learners are often lost among those more traditional (undergraduate) students. The needs of the adult learners must be addressed directly. Adult learners face challenges such as how they are taught, emotional challenges, and time management skills. The services designed for the traditonal student body does not adequately address the needs of adult learners.

Gadbow believes it is the duty of adult educators to instill a life-long love of learning into their students, "helping adults learn how to learn is the most important thing a teacher ever does" (p. 53). The first responsibility of educators working with adults is to help them identify their learning styles and differences as well as other special learning needs, and then provide effective strategies to adapt to these individual learning needs (53). The author's contention that all learners are special means seeing the possibilities as well as the problems or particular needs of each student as they present themselves.

Adult learning is having a clear picture of how adults learn and how this in turn affects the program planning process. Many adults are not sure about what they want to do with their lives after high school. There are many programs that will help you to decided, what you want to do with your life. This is where adult education programs can help you decided on the importance of education. There are three content areas that connects with adult learning and planning education within the adult. Knowles state that the adult learner, learns from their experiences. Experiences is how adults live their everyday lives and make concise

ABSTRACT In this qualitative research study, we sought to better understand the experiences of adult learners in adult education centers. We conducted eight focus groups with 104 adult education students from 25 adult learning centers. Five groups were made up of English-speaking ABE students; learners in the three ESL groups spoke Spanish. We used an iterative content analysis method. Strategic Analysis of Representations Approach (SARA), to explore data gathered from the tocus groups. Six themes emerged:

This paper will describe the data-collection and data-analysis needs for a program to increase the retention rate of adult learners; subsequently, there will be an inclusion of strategies to be utilized in succeeding collection. There will be a description of communication needs with stakeholders that will include strategies to meet those needs.

Over the course of this unit, I have managed to rethink with valuable details my own approach to understanding what an adult learner and an educator should aim for, what a well-designed course should look like and how to be on track to achieve your educational goals. At the beginning of the unit, my ideas on adult learning were mainly shaped by pure practice with little (that is insufficient) theoretical background. After the unit is finished, I feel I have grown as a person who values more important things now, and it is well evident in my weekly postings. Exploring adult education principles made me critically analyse how I position myself as an instructional designer and how it is highly valuable to reflect on your values and beliefs which, in turn, will “make you a more competent educator” (Kuziutkin, 2017f). Also, I learned how adults depend on self-directed learning, and that in-depth research should be done on peer-to-peer collaboration between adults before designing a course since “social networks and peer support influence their [adults’] emotional and educational guidance” (Kuziutkin, 2017d). Finally, it was extremely beneficial to think about associated with adult education social, economic and global changes and issues. Now, I can relate to the broad picture and see how education has evolved over the years, leading to potential benefits and challenges we may experience now. I find that learning about the

Today's workers need to prepare with continuous job training, growth and development. Given the increased age, experiences and diverse lifestyles of the working population, it is understandable that adult education practices must move beyond the traditional model of teachers and learners, while new skills, working with local companies to match their needs and sending staff into factories and other workplaces to spread the word about state and federal retraining assistance. While trying to decide how to rebuild your life after loss of employment and lack of job opportunities following the current recession, or devastated from a divorce? Adult students faced with other struggles; studies have shown that older adult students face different hurdles, family problems, and poor self-image. These along with poor time management, weaker academic preparation and a need for remediation an increased focus on adult learners and their needs can help. (armour)

The adult learners in our communities are increasingly living longer these days and taking on the after school care for the grand-children in the family (e.g. homework assignments via computers and social media). Not too long ago there are signs of non-traditional adult learners on college campuses seeking undergraduate degrees, filling some of the seats formerly occupied by the traditional, 18-22 year old students according to (Apps, 1981; Cross, 1981; Leckie, 1988). Cross (1981) noted that part-time students make up the greater part of this increase. In other words, the number of full-time adult learners are still quite small, particularly at four-year colleges and universities. While universities are noticing the presence of mature adults

The collection and organization of literature will be based on the needs of adult learners and research conducted on assisting adult learners prior to them dropping out of their programs. Literature will be collected that addresses adult learners need to be able to connect the dots between the program they are enrolled in and past learning experiences; their need to know that they are a part of the learning community, which will give them a sense of belonging; the knowledge that their immediate needs can be met by their program choice; and knowing who to seek assistance through if those needs are not being met. The outcome of collecting and organizing literature that explains the institutional context of the capstone will be to present research that addresses the issue of retention and solutions that can be implemented, such as a retention program for adult learners that will help to ensure that their needs are being met, help to increase program completion, and ensure that adult learners will have a successful learning experience that will be transferable to other learning experiences. The article written by Howell & Buck focused on four manageable variables that are observed as influencing adult students’ satisfaction with a business course: relevancy of the subject matter, faculty subject-matter competency, faculty classroom management, and student workload that can be applied to most courses (Howell & Buck, 2012).

During my visit to the Berkeley Adult School the first thing that strikes me is that it feels like a learning environment. While this may seem a given I have not always found that to be the case when visiting other adult learning campuses. The student body is a diverse population inclusive of, but limited to, homeless person trying to establish basic education skills in math and literacy in order to acquire and maintain employment to the spouses of International students from UC Berkeley seeking to improve their English. The students appear relaxed, but also serious and engaged. They are there to learn. A former elementary school campus (my own child actually attended first grade there) the space now serves the vast needs of Adult Learners, aged 18 and up, from Berkeley and surrounding areas. As an institution BAS seems to be doing its’ part in offering a wide range of educational opportunities for those seek to improve their skills, as well as significant support services to improve student’s potential for success in their pursuits.

Cooperative learning will be a method I use in my classroom. I believe that in a cooperative learning group a student can learn socialization skills and how to work with others. This goes along with the pragmatic/progressive philosophy that children learn by doing. The progressivism teaching style also includes the incorporation of problem-solving and critical thinking techniques. I want my students to learn to think for themselves and be able to function in society. At the same time, I will be a fellow learner myself and

The researcher intends to distribute Gary J. Conti’s Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS), a published instrument available for public use (Conti, 1982). The Principles of Adult Learning Scale was developed and designed to survey educators to see how instruction matched the factors identified. The survey is 44 items and is “valid and reliable as testing by juries, observations and statistical analysis” (Conti, 1982, p. 135).

I believe that the purpose of adult education programs is to foster the growth of the non-traditional student population. Students who have either been displaced or chosen to return to college for a variety of reasons. It is critical that we, as instructors and administrators, realize that each of these students may learn in a different manner. We must take into account known strategies such as Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences as we design and deliver courses within our chosen fields. I for one am primarily a very kinesthetic learner, and learn