Adult learning theory and technology-based instructional design

Technology Challenges Explanation

Initiating technology into the curriculum means more than just "making it work." The ideals of adult learning theory can be used in designing technology-based instruction to make it more helpful. Teachers or facilitators should be in a position to structure lessons which are part of a relevant learning environment for adult students. Integration of technology into the curriculum has been given a priority in higher education. As this has taken place, institutions are faced with the many issues that bound making the lessons thrive technologically. Faculty must spend time getting familiar with how to use the technology and making certain that adequate institutional support is present to make the technology work. It is, thus, easy for the instructional design of such curricula to be put on the side while we get technology issues "under control." It is necessary for learning institutions to concentrate on learning theory in the design of instructional technology so that they can craft lessons that are not only technology-effective but that are evocative from the learner's perspective.

How technology supports and facilitates instructions

Under the more typical educational model it is assumed that the student will just learn what they are told, however, adults are accustomed to understanding what they do in life. They want to know the rationale to learn something or how it will benefit them. One way to assist students make out the worth of the lessons is to ask the student, either online or in an initial face-to-face meeting, to do some reflection on what they anticipate to learn, how they might use it in the future or how it will aid them to meet their goals. Lawler (1991) recommends that these goals and expectations can be used all through the program to emphasize the importance of learning activities. The design of technology-based lessons can integrate not only the students' unique reflections but can importune feedback about the bearing of the ongoing learning process right through the course. It is now upon the instructor to evaluate these reflections and to fine-tune the technology or propose an individual lesson structure to more successfully meet student needs. Knowles, et al. (1998) underline that "adults resent and resist situations in which they feel others are imposing their wills on them." Notwithstanding their need for independence, earlier schooling has made adults dependent learners. It is the work of the adult educator to move adult students away from their old habits and into new patterns of learning where they become self-directed, taking conscientiousness for their own learning and the direction it takes. Technology is an ideal alleyway for the facilitation of self-direction. It becomes exceptionally significant for those who are designing technology-based adult learning to use all of the potentials of the technology including branching, the ability to skip sections a student already understands, and compound forms of presentation of material which can support people with various learning styles.

Adults become set to learn something when, as Knowles (1980) explains, "they experience a need to learn it in order to cope more satisfyingly with real-life tasks or problems." It is imperative that lessons formulated in technology-based opportunities should, where possible, be solid and relate to the needs and future goals of the students. An instructor can encourage students' readiness by designing experiences which conjure up situations where the student will encounter a need for the knowledge or skill presented and this can be effectively done using technology. It should also be noted that adults are life, task or problem-centered in their course to learning. They want to see the applicability of what they are learning to their life, a task they need to perform, or to solving a problem. Technology-based instruction will be more effective if it encompasses real-life examples or circumstances that adult learners may come across in their life or on the job. While adult learners may respond to exterior motivators, internal priorities are more significant. Incentives such as improved job satisfaction, self-esteem and quality of life are vital in giving adults a purpose to learn. If any of these can be related as part of technology-based instruction adults will act in response more positively.

Conclusion

Arguments for the use of technology repeatedly include statements about its flexibility and the ability of the learner to move through lessons any time, anywhere, and at their own pace. These opinions also include rational explanations of how a learner may acclimatize the lessons or material to cover what they need to learn and purge the material that is not appropriate or that they have already learned. To get a feel for to the needs of adult students, these definitions of technology-based learning must be utilized to make its design interactive, learner-centered and to smooth the progress of self-direction in learners. If these guiding principles are followed, the instruction that is developed will be not only technologically workable but also effectual from a learner's perspective.