The Adult Learner… Wait, I Can Support Adult Learners?

  The Adult Learner… Wait, I Can Support Adult Learners?

 Adult learning is something we are all engaging in during this course. We have all had some form of motivation to continue learning, although that motivation may be different for each person. As for myself, I am taking this course as I would like to be a literacy specialist, and I have recently accepted the position of first grade team leader. As I work towards becoming a literacy specialist and take on this leadership role, I will be responsible for teaching, mentoring, and supporting other adult educators. As I prepare for these roles, I have reflected on my learning experiences as a learner, and I have thought deeply about a course I took early in my career called, Champion the Whole Teacher. In this course, we embarked on a learning journey about taking care of ourselves while being educators. One aspect I recall was the emphasis on identifying our motivation and self-directedness, which I would use to support other adult learners.

    What I believe is the most important part of adult learning is the motivation to learn. As Knowles discusses, there has to be an internal motivation to learn and a readiness to learn and engage in adult learning (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p. 193). First I would establish a community of inclusion that promotes respect for all learners and their desire to learn. I would also develop the attitude that we are all here to learn something new to grow our practice in education, showing understanding that we all have areas for growth and the intrinsic motivation to be successful. Lastly I would encourage learners to think critically about the meaning of their learning because these conditions support adult motivation and engagement (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, 170-179).

    To support adult learners, such as the other teachers on my team, I would incorporate self-directed learning by challenging them to select a topic they are uncomfortable teaching and create a six-step process as described in Adult Learning: Linking Theory to Practice (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p. 222). This experience allows participants to have choice in their learning topic but also how they want to measure and track their progress and success. I would also allow participants to work together if they shared the same goals. Learning is collaborative as participants engage their prior knowledge, absorb new information, discuss the meaning they have constructed and apply it to their goal (Schmidli, 2022).

    Through supporting adult learners' motivation and supporting them in self-directed learning, the learner will connect deeper to their learning and experiences as it resonates with their goals.


Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2014). Adult learning : Linking theory and practice (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Brand.

Schmidli, L. (2022). Absorb, do, connect framework. L&S Instructional Design Collaborative. https://idc.ls.wisc.edu/ls-design-for-learning-series/absorb-do-connect-framework/

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