The first book to receive both the Imogene Okes Award and the Cyril O. Houle World Award for Literature in Adult Education presented by the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education. This book analyzes current approaches to adult learning and presents a comprehensive review of the research on how adults learn.
Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning A thoroughly researched and extensively documented book which efficiently outlines 20 years of studies on adult learning. Effective adulte learning practices are explained in from six categories, voluntary engagement,respect among participants, collaboration and negaotiation of needs, relective praxis, critical appreciation of diversity, and student empowerment of self improvement. Aside from the institutional mode of learning, external authority, set objectives, set teaching roles, prescribed evaluation, adult learning seeks to empower self directed learners with critical thinking modes. This latter kind of learning is not without risk. The risks of dillusion, professional incompetence, and the perils of playing close to a kind of classroom therapy. Nonetheless, adult students bring a wealth of experience (good and bad), maturity, problem posing, problem solving, and task focus to adult learning. Finally, adult learning will invariably be restricted by institutional contexts, evalution criteria, and contextual business norms.
