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A copy of the Learning Style Self-Assessment that you completed during
training can be found in Appendix A. You may use it in the courses you
instruct if you want to.
Malcolm S. Knowles, a well-known expert on adult learning, has made the
following assumptions regarding adult learners. Dr. Knowles also suggests how
instructors should deal with each of these assumptions.
ASSUMPTION WHAT IT MEANS TO ME
Adults want to know why they should
learn.
Adults are motivated to put time and
energy into learning if they know the
benefits of learning and the costs of not
learning.
Develop “a need to know” in your
learners—make a case for the value of
the learning in their lives. Help learners
answer the question, “What’s in it for
me?”
Adults need to take responsibility.
By definition, adult learners have a self-
concept of being in charge of their own
lives and being responsible for their own
decisions, and a need to be seen and
treated as being capable of taking
responsibility.
Realize that despite this self-concept and
need for responsibility, once they enter a
classroom many adults revert back to
their school and college days when they
tended to be passive learners. Do not
fall into a trap of assuming that they
want to learn passively. Empower them
to learn and to take responsibility for
learning. Enable learners to assess their
own learning, similar to the self-
assessment and feedback that you
experienced during the Instructor
Development course.
Adults bring experience to learning.
That experience is a resource for
themselves and for other learners, and
gives richer meaning to new ideas and
skills. Experience is a source of an
adult’s self-identify.
Experience is both a plus and a minus.
It is a plus because it is a vast resource.
It is a minus because it can lead to
biasness and presuppositions. Because
adults define themselves by their
experiences, respect and value that
experience.
Adult Learning
Assumptions