Self concept refers to an adult becoming more self-directed and independent as he/she matures. Adults typically want to choose what they want to learn, when they want to learn it, and how they want to learn. This assumption means that educators can provide more choices for learners, such as allowing them to design their own tests, and/or providing a collaborative learning environment that foster mutual respect.

Adult learners have a wealth of life experiences that they bring with them into new learning experiences. Because of this, they are able to contribute richness to class discussions and are considered valuable resources for learning from and with each other.  Some of the experiences, though, may cause misinformation or biases related to the new learning and must be clarified so as not to cause a barrier to the new learning.

Whether or not an adult is ready to learn depends on what they need to know in order to deal with life situations.  Life situations that compel adults to learn include such things as learning to care for a child who has been diagnosed with a disease, or learning to cook healthy meals to prevent health risks.

Adults need to see the immediate application of learning.  Therefore, they seek learning opportunities that will enable them to solve problems.

Adults will seek learning opportunities due to some external motivators, but the more potent motivators (self-esteem, better quality of life, self-actualization, etc.) are internal.

Adults need to know what’s in it for them – how this new knowledge will solve a problem or be immediately applied.

Engage in all modalities of learning

While there is some (valid) discussion about the number of 'modes' in which people learn - it is vital that an instructor:

1.   Realize that people learn differently (maybe quite differently than the instructor learns)
2.   By including all of the modalities a learning opportunity has a higher chance of successful learning transfer.  (as '..learning is maximized when the strengths of both sides of the brain are activated' (Merriam & Bierema, 2014) )

Learning modalities are the sensory channels or pathways through which individuals give, receive, and store information.  Perception, memory, and sensation comprise the concept of modality.  The modalities or senses include visual, auditory, tactile/kinesthetic, smell, and taste.  Researchers, including Reiff, Eisler, Barbe, and Stronck have concluded that in a classroom, the students would be approximately:

• 25-30% visual
• 25-30% auditory
• 15% tactile/kinesthetic
• 25-30% mixed modalities

Therefore, only 30% of the students will remember most of what is said in a classroom lecture and another 30% will remember primarily what is seen (Caruso, 2002).

Some questions to consider are:

• Have you incorporated a visual (directly self-explanatory) that relates to the topic?
• Is there a chance for a live demonstration of what's being taught?
• Do you have demo pieces that or some type of squishy giveaway that the audience could have 'in-hand' during the discussion?

Use supplemental sheets for extensive data

In one of our course texts, the author nonchalantly suggests that large amounts of factual/data type information be supplied in follow-up sheets and not be the main focus of the teaching.  While it may not have been ground-breaking for them - this is how most of the sales world operates!  We want to push/show that our 'data/facts' are better than the next guy's, therefore, our product must be superior.  From an AET standpoint, nothing could be further from the truth!  We need to STOP doing that!

Certainly, as engineers, we'll have to have the information for follow-up and reference when the appropriate time comes but the AET program has taught me that I need to focus on the needs/questions that an individual might have, how can pull/point to that information/skillset in some teaching fashion that meets all modalities, and how can I pull information from the other students to edify the entire group.  When we consider the learning has emotions associated with it and we, as the learning facilitator, can make/break those by setting the mood/feel of the classroom - we will be much more effective that a 'run through of facts/performance'.

We are designed to grow - win little-by-little

First, adult learners bring to the educational setting a diversity of prior experiences and present ideas about what it means to be a learner.  These experiences influence perception, how and what the learners do with new information, how they organize it, what information is kept and what is discarded, and how new information is related to previous information.  Prior experiences form the basis of beliefs and actions that guide learners as well influence our teaching style, if we choose to incorporate these experiences into the process of further learning (Galbraith, 2004).

This paragraph is something I want to remind myself of due to that fact that adults learn new material based on previous experience.  That previous experience might be negative, so it is incumbent upon the current learning facilitator to pull-out and access where the individuals are at before adding 'new'.

It is also important that the various individuals EACH feel success (albeit could be small) at learning and applying the newly acquired knowledge and/or skill.  This is where gameplay and/or role-playing can be incorporated as a means for the individuals to 'step through' something in a 'safe' environment first.  This is also a great way to reinforce (and have a repetition of) the learning not coming only from the instructor but themselves.

Iterative Feedback & Course Correction

All throughout schooling, the majority of people are focused more so on the resulting 'grade' of the course rather than the value/content/quality of how much they've grown in knowledge/skillset/application of a certain topic.  The idea of not focusing on the final result but instead tracking iterative 'none graded' polls of knowledge transfer throughout an instruction time and making course changes can have a dramatic impact on the overall results/success of the time together.  How many students reach a point of non-understanding and can't continue to learn until getting past their 'sticking point'.  For them to know that the instructor actually cares about them 'getting it' and taking five minutes of class time to re-teach in another way that subject could really make the difference in the individual and the class as a whole.  The concept of 'Classroom Assessment Techniques' (CAT) was a bit new to me but quickly became something I never want to teach a course without.  Just realizing, as an instructor, to take a moment and address the 'glazed looks' makes a world of difference to the students and can re-engage them into the learning process.  The three techniques listed (1, 2, and 3) were based on very quick methods of feedback that someone could use within the shortened instruction time that I'm used to to not only change that course but improve 'trouble-spots' for future students/learning opportunities.

Supplantive & Generative Learning

It is critical to remember (and I want to remind myself) that each learning opportunity is a two-way street but it doesn't (and shouldn't) be the end-all to end-all.

Although the events of instruction are most often described in terms that make it seem as if the teacher is the active participant while the learners passively receive instruction....students may take an active role....Smith and Regan (2005) observe that each instructional event can be viewed as having two aspects:  the supplantive - those supplied by the instruction itself, and the generative - those generated by the student....the events of instruction should be considered a reciprocal process, the instructors and students making contributions that lead to an effective learning experience (Brown & Green, 2016).

Engaging the adult learning and allowing them to share their experiences and previous learning opportunities will allow the group, as a whole, to learn but the facilitator needs to have thought through before class enough to have 'future homework'.  This additional study material will continue to engage the students and allow them to be a bit more 'self-directed' in their (generative) learning even though the short time-frame is completed with the instructor.