Adults must continue to learn or allow skills to become obsolete

In the world that we live and work in today with its rapid speed of change in knowledge and technology, we adults have to make a choice to either continue to learn or allow our skills and knowledge to become obsolete. Adults who choose to continue learning must do so under certain conditions.

Just what are these conditions that lend themselves to optimal adult learning? Dorothy Billington, Ph.D., has studied the types of learning environments that best help adults to experience significant learning and growth. Her study investigated which factors in adult learning environments best facilitate adult growth and development.

When I read Billington’s article, I was encouraged about the learning environment that we provide through Southwest Regional Adult Education classes. Our instructors work diligently to ensure that each of our learners, who commits to personal development and growth, has the ability to do so in the proper environment.

Billington’s study identified the following seven key factors found in learning environments that stimulate adult development:
1. An environment where students feel safe and supported, where individual needs and uniqueness are honored, where abilities and life achievements are acknowledged and respected.
2. An environment that fosters intellectual freedom and encourages experimentation and creativity.
3. An environment where faculty treats students as peers- accepted and respected as intelligent, experienced adults whose opinions are listened to, honored, and appreciated.
4. Self-directed learning, where students take responsibility for their own learning. (Students work with faculty to design individual learning programs which address what each person needs and wants to learn in order to function optimally in their profession.)
5. Pacing, or intellectual challenge. (Optimal pacing is challenging people just beyond their present level of ability. If challenged too far beyond, people give up. If challenged too little, they become bored and learn little.)
6. Active involvement in learning, as opposed to passively listening to lectures. (It has been found that adults grow more where students and instructors interact and dialogue, where students try out new ideas in the workplace, and where exercises and experiences are used to bolster facts and theory.)
7. Regular feedback mechanisms for students to tell faculty what works best for them and what they want and need to learn and faculty who hear and make changes based on student input.

To enroll in an adult education program where an excellent adult learning environment is provided, contact Southwest Regional Adult Education. Even though our classrooms are closed at this time due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, you can begin your studies with us online with the support of an instructor and even take a GED® Ready practice test from your home. To register, call 866-581-9935 and leave us your contact information; then, someone from our office will get back to you with all the details on getting started.

GED® is a registered trademark of the American Council on Education. Used under license.

Reference: Billington, Dorothy D. “Seven Characteristics of Highly Effective Adult Learning Environments” Johns Hopkins School of Education 2016 Web. 12 April 2017.