Course Description: Adults are significantly different from children as learners. Adult learners bring a lifetime of experiences, formal education, and wisdom to the classroom or to a webinar which they want to share with their peers. During this webinar, we will explain the characteristics of adult learners, and how best to teach to adult professionals. Some like to say that children’s brains are like sponges. They soak up new information. Conversely, adult brains are like sieves. They filter all new information through their experiences and tie any new information to past experiences. Dr. Malcolm Knowles’s research indicates that children and adults learn differently. As such, faculty members must design educational courses that honor those differences.

Credit Hour(s): 1.25

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this course, I will be able to:

(1) identify the characteristics of adult learners
(2) discuss methods for motivating adult learners