ADULT DEV SLP2 - Research Paper Example

Self Directed Self-Directed According to Malcolm Knowles, an adult prefers to learn on his own and becomes self directed as his maturity level increases (Gibbons, 2002). This is because an adult has a self concept; he/she views him/her self in a certain way and wish to proceed further in their lives to maintain that self concept. When an individual matures, he tends to become more independent and his attitude of dependency starts fading away. This is why when in educational institutes, students are directed as they used to be directed in their early educational circus, they tend to become stubborn and show rigid behaviour.

Thus when an individual turns into an adult he should not be taught, guided and directed as children. Secondly, when an individual enters into adulthood, they have captured huge amount of experience and information and this experience is of high value to them as this experience shapes their beliefs, norms and values. If teachers underestimate the experience of adult learners and start teaching them through their own experience like they teach children, adults tend to question what the teachers are teaching because their experiences might be different from what the teachers and the course material is informing them.

As an individual enters the ages of adulthood, his/her demand for knowledge increases and his/her readiness to learn more even increases (Merriam, 1989). During childhood, individuals do not tend to care much about education and whatever they learn is more targeted towards completing a particular course and earning high grades in them. On the other hand an adult learns so he can practice what he has learned, thus they want to learn more so they can apply more and become successful in their jobs.

Since adults are working and have jobs, they give more importance to the practical side of knowledge they are gaining from educational institutes. An adults learning is more task oriented than just for the purpose of gaining knowledge (Rubenson, 2011). This is why when educators teach theory to adults without informing them about the application of that theory, adults find that piece of information irrelevant and tend to ignore its importance. On the other hand if educators teach concepts with practical application to adults, adults will learn better and absorb more information.

During adulthood, students prefer not to waste time as their social roles increase. Their social role may include role of father, son, employee, friend, student and husband. Thus, adult students have to devote their time and effort to all their social roles, in order to maintain a balance between them. If educational institutes fail to provide timely knowledge to adult learners, they start avoiding such educational settings and rather study on their own so they can obtain knowledge as a student and comply with other social roles.

An adult becomes more motivated to learn and this motivation is not provided by educators, but this motivation is an outcome of their aims and objectives which persuade them to obtain higher amount of knowledge. ReferencesRubenson, K. (2011). Adult learning and education. Boston: Elsevier/Academic Press.Merriam, S. B., & Cunningham, P. M. (1989). Handbook of adult and continuing education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.Gibbons, M. (2002). The self-directed learning handbook: Challenging adolescent students to excel.

San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.