Adult Learning Exhibit

What is Adult Learning?

It would seem pretty self-explanatory but adult learning is often centered around perspective transformation and is driven by personal motivation more often than when compared to the often extrinsically motivated nature of pedagogy.

What motivates adult learners?

One of the coolest things about being adult learners is that we get to pick and choose our own [educational] adventures! We get to self-direct our goals, and self-manage our activities and levels of involvement based on what we find interesting or what fuels our passions. Is it sometimes toward a vocational end? Sure, but it can be rewarding to have agency over the learning experiences you are subjected to.

Another thing that might influence or inspire our studies as adults is the importance of being able to critically evaluate information from the web. Considering the ease of publishing information online (this blog being no exception), educators and experts can help learners in distinguishing between credible sources and misinformation, which has become increasingly challenging. Merriam and Bierema share in Adult learning : Linking theory and practice (2013), "The 2012 Horizon Report ( Johnson, Adams, & Cummins, 2012) notes that with this shift, the importance of digital media literacy is increasing in every discipline." Learners must develop a suite of skills for discerning the credibility, relevance, and accuracy of digital information. By honing these critical evaluation skills, learners can make informed decisions about the reliability of online sources, enabling them to sift through the abundance of information available on the web more effectively.

For myself, I find it very rewarding to learn about things that interest me, and I'm fortunate that so many things absolutely fascinate me!

Did you know that I was a Certified Pool Operator (CPO)? I took the class in 2018 and the certification expired in 2023 but it was a fun and interesting experience. You might be asking yourself why I, an IT Systems Engineer at a community college with no swimming pool would want to become a CPO, buckle up because... well it's the law and I'm driving. 

In March of 2018 I attended a Southwest Michigan Business Officials (SWMBO or "Swim-bo" we called it) conference, every single attendee was entered for a drawing, and I won a gift certificate (the amount eludes me). I'm not sure what I can do with this gift certificate until I check their website and it looks like I can sign up for various classes, mostly accounting which is not my preference. Then I spot the CPO class and decide that's a great way to spend two days. When I get there the instructor's name is Gill (he was great) everyone else seems pretty familiar with the order of operations so I'm just taking cues from the others and listening intently. At the end of the second day we take our exam and Gill was about to welcome a grandbaby so we all worked together to make the training as short as we needed.

This learning experience was a lot of fun for me as someone who was not in an industry that required this training, and honestly it seemed fun for everyone else too. 

Adult Learning Meme Board

References

Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2013). Adult learning : Linking theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
Quartermus, K. (2015, February 17). That’s not how this works!! Esurance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq_1l316ow8

Levy, S. (Director). (2013). The Internship [Film]. 20th Century Studios.

Reddit User. (2021, January 9). When you’re level 100 doing a level 15 quest. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/ku3z37/when_youre_level_100_doing_a_level_15_quest/?rdt=46620