Adult Development Matters In Adult Education

Abstract

All to often in adult education settings, the learning strategies and methods that we use are tailored as one size fits all. A key component of effective adult learning that can be easily overlooked is the role of adult development with adult learning. This oversight is possible among adult educators because our knowledge base is grounded in education as compared to human development or developmental psychology. The point being made that the developmental characteristics of the adult learners should influence the teaching-learning strategies that are implemented. In other words, developmental differences between a 22 and 77 year-old should be accounted for in a community-learning setting.