E-learning designed for adult learners
When designing courses for adult learners, it’s helpful to understand adult learning principles. This will ensure learners want to complete our courses and that the course creates more value.
The work of Malcolm Knowles on adult learning in the 1970s has been instrumental to the field. He identified the following six adult learning principles:
Adults are internally motivated and self-directed.
Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences.
Adults are goal oriented.
Adults are relevancy oriented.
Adults are practical.
Adult learners like to be respected.
Let’s look at each of these theories and how we can apply them to create effective e-learning.
Principle 1: Adults are internally motivated and self-directed
Adult learners tend to “resist learning when they feel others are imposing information, ideas or actions on them” (Fidishun, 2000).
Actionable advice to avoid this:
Create interactive activities that make learners find the answers and think for themselves.
Try not to lock down the navigation – this may frustrate adult learners. It’s best to allow learners to choose the order in which they view content and complete e-learning modules.
Ask learners about their thoughts and opinions.
Develop rapport with learners to encourage them to ask questions and explore the topic.
Principle 2: Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences
Adults have a wide and varied range of knowledge and experience that they bring to a course. It’s important to draw on this experience in an e-learning course in the following ways:
Create interactive scenarios that assume some background knowledge.
Make the e-learning course adaptive to the learner’s pre-existing knowledge level, through opportunities to jump ahead or by providing extra information where required.
Ask the learners reflective questions in a discussion forum, encouraging them to draw on their pre-existing experiences.
Group activities are a good way to get learners to share their experiences with each other.
Principle 3: Adults are goal oriented
Adult learners like to know how they will benefit from doing a course.
Show learners how the course will benefit them at the outset.
Ask them what changes they want to see in themselves or at work.
Give immediate feedback as part of your interactive activities to help learners get a sense about how they are progressing toward their goals.
Acknowledge goal completion through messages or notifications on completion of a module or the course.
Awarding certificates and even badges in course completion can give the learner a sense of completion and satisfaction.
Principle 4: Adults are relevancy oriented
Adult learners need to see the relevance of what they are learning to their own situation.
Use scenarios that learners would realistically face in their workplace.
Don’t waste the learner’s time with unnecessary content.
Provide choice where possible, so that learning can reflect learner knowledge and interests.
Use reflection to help learners understand relevance for themselves.
Ensure your learning activities are as realistic as possible – blended courses combining online and face-to-face sessions are a great way to achieve this for hands on topics.
Principle 5: Adults are practical
Adults like to apply their knowledge to practical situations.
The course should be focused on practical activities and advice that learners can implement immediately.
There should be plenty of interactivity in e-learning courses, such as interactive scenarios, questions, polls, quizzes, surveys, challenges, discussions, and projects.
Write in a very clear, precise and direct way to further highlight the relevance of the points you are making.
Principle 6: Adult learners like to be respected
This last principle is a good way of summarising all the six adult learning principles.
Acknowledge the experience that the learner brings to the course.
Encourage self-directed learning.
Ensure feedback is constructive and that it respects the learner.
Ensure quality graphic design – use attractive fonts, colours, and imagery.
Don’t restrict the navigation or repeat warning messages.
Don’t narrate on screen text word for word.
Take an interest in your learners.
Continuously exploring delivery approaches that utilise each of these adult learning principles is a major step towards creating effective e-learning.