MOTIVATION FOR ADULT LEARNERS (motivation_for_adult_learners[1].doc)

ADULTS AS LEARNERS
Part of being an effective instructor involves understanding how adults learn best. Compared to children and teens, adults have special needs and requirements as learners. Characteristics of adult learners are:

1. Adults are autonomous and self-directed. They need to be free to direct themselves. Their teachers must actively involve adult participants in the learning process and serve as facilitators for them. Specifically, they must get participants' perspectives about what topics to cover and let them work on projects that reflect their interests. They have to be sure to act as facilitators, guiding participants to their own knowledge rather than supplying them with facts.
2. Adults have gathered a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education. They need to connect learning to this knowledge/experience base. To help them do so, they should draw out participants' experience and knowledge which is relevant to the topic.
3. Adults are goal-oriented. Upon enrolling in a course, they usually know what goal they want to attain. They, therefore, appreciate an educational program that is organized and has clearly defined elements. Instructors must show participants how this class will help them attain their goals.
4. Adults are relevancy-oriented. They must see a reason for learning something. Learning has to be applicable to their work or other responsibilities to be of value to them. Therefore, instructors must identify objectives for adult participants before the course begins. This need can be fulfilled by letting participants choose projects that reflect their own interests.
5. Adults are practical, focusing on the aspects of a lesson most useful to them in their work. They may not be interested in knowledge for its own sake. Instructors must tell participants explicitly how the lesson will be useful to them on the job.
6. As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect. Instructors must acknowledge the wealth of experiences that adult participants bring to the classroom. These adults should be treated as equals in experience and knowledge and allowed to voice their opinions freely in class.

MOTIVATING THE ADULT LEARNERS

One of the aspect of adult learning is motivation.

Motivation is the extent to which you make choices about goals to persuade and the effort you will devote to that pursuit.

There are two types of motivation:

1. Intrinsic motivation – intrinsically motivated activities are ones for which there is no apparent reward except the activity itself. People seem to engage in the activities for their own sake and not because they lead to an extrinsic reward.
2. Extrinsic motivation – extrinsically motivated behaviors, on the other hand, are carried out in anticipation of a reward from outside and beyond the self.

At least six factors serve as sources of motivation for adult learning:

1. Social relationships: to make new friends, to meet a need for associations and friendships.
2. External expectations: to comply with instructions from someone else; to fulfill the expectations or recommendations of someone with formal authority.
3. Social welfare: to improve ability to serve mankind, prepare for service to the community, and improve ability to participate in community work.
4. Personal advancement: to achieve higher status in a job, secure professional advancement, and stay abreast of competitors.
5. Escape/Stimulation: to relieve boredom, provide a break in the routine of home or work, and provide a contrast to other exacting details of life.
6. Cognitive interest: to learn for the sake of learning, seek knowledge for its own sake, and to satisfy an inquiring mind.

The best way to motivate adult learners is simply to enhance their reasons for enrolling and decrease the barriers (such as lack of time, money, confidence, or interest, lack of information about opportunities to learn, scheduling, and problems with child care and transportation). Instructors must learn why their students are enrolled (the motivators); they have to discover what is keeping them from learning. Then the instructors must plan their motivating strategies. A successful strategy includes showing adult learners the relationship between training and an expected promotion.

LEARNING TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTORS

Positive reinforcement by the instructor can enhance learning. Learning results from stimulation of the senses. For some people, one sense is used more than others to learn or recall information. Instructors should present materials that stimulates as many senses as possible in order to increase their chances of teaching success.

There are four critical elements of learning that must be addressed to ensure that participants learn. These elements are:

1. motivation
2. reinforcement
3. retention
4. transference

Motivation. If the participant does not recognize the need for the information, all of the instructor's effort to assist the participant to learn will be in vain. The instructor must establish rapport with participants and prepare them for learning; this provides motivation. Instructors can motivate students via several means:

1. Set a feeling or tone for the lesson. Instructors should try to establish a friendly, open atmosphere that shows the participants they will help them learn.
2. Set an appropriate level of concern. The level of tension must be adjusted to meet the level of importance of the objective. If the material has a high level of importance, a higher level of tension/stress should be established in the class. However, people learn best under low to moderate stress; if the stress is too high, it becomes a barrier to learning.
3. Set an appropriate level of difficulty. The degree of difficulty should be set high enough to challenge participants but not so high that they become frustrated by information overload.

In addition, participants need specific knowledge of their learning results (feedback ). Feedback must be specific, not general. Participants must also see a reward for learning. It can be simply a demonstration of benefits to be realized from learning the material. Finally, the participant must be interested in the subject. Interest is directly related to reward. Adults must see the benefit of learning in order to motivate themselves to learn the subject.

Reinforcement. Reinforcement is a very necessary part of the teaching/learning process; through it, instructors encourage correct modes of behavior and performance.

Reinforcement should be part of the teaching-learning process to ensure correct behavior. Instructors need to use it on a frequent and regular basis early in the process to help the students retain what they have learned. Then, they should use reinforcement only to maintain consistent, positive behavior.

Retention. Students must retain information from classes in order to benefit from the learning. The instructors' jobs are not finished until they have assisted the learner in retaining the information. In order for participants to retain the information taught, they must see a meaning or purpose for that information. The must also understand and be able to interpret and apply the information. This understanding includes their ability to assign the correct degree of importance to the material.

Retention by the participants is directly affected by their amount of practice during the learning. Instructors should emphasize retention and application.

After the students demonstrate correct performance, they should be urged to practice to maintain the desired performance.

Transference. Transfer of learning is the result of training -- it is the ability to use the information taught in the course but in a new setting.

Transference is most likely to occur in the following situations:

1. Association -- participants can associate the new information with something that they already know.
2. Similarity -- the information is similar to material that participants already know; that is, it revisits a logical framework or pattern.
3. Degree of original learning -- participant's degree of original learning was high.
4. Critical attribute element -- the information learned contains elements that are extremely beneficial (critical) on the job.

Although adult learning is relatively new as field of study, it is just as substantial as traditional education and carries and potential for greater success. Of course, the heightened success requires a greater responsibility on the part of the teacher. Additionally, the learners come to the course with precisely defined expectations. Unfortunately, there are barriers to their learning. The best motivators for adult learners are interest and selfish benefit. If they can be shown that the course benefits them pragmatically, they will perform better, and the benefits will be longer lasting.