Adult Learners and About Adult

¶ … adult learners and about adult learning does this particular author make?

This author circumscribes the adult learning process to the curriculum as the essential instrument in defining the framework in which the learning process takes place. First of all, the author claims that each teacher has to determine that type of learning process he wants to work with and, in this sense, customize his curriculum according to the fixed objective. The grand objective is obviously to transmit learning to the adult learners, but this is related to the philosophy of the teacher, to the values and beliefs he wants to pass on. In this sense, the curriculum will be determined exactly by these values and beliefs.

Another indirect claim deriving from this assumption is the fact that the adult learner is in a posture to absorb and differentiate among the things included in the learning process. The fact that the teachers present a certain perspective of things to the adult learners means that these learners have the capacity not only to mechanically learn the things, but to interpret them and, most likely, determine by themselves whether or not they want to embrace the view of the world as presented by the teachers. This is obviously different from the learning process in the case of children, where the absorption process is much surer.

Finally, another claim is that the learning process and curriculum can be either subject -- matter or learner -- driven. This obviously depends on deciding what the purpose of the learning framework is. One think is clear in the assumption over adult learners: their capacity to absorb and actually define their learning priorities make it possible for a learner-driven curriculum to exist, because they can actually determine what they want to learn.

2. How does this particular author support his/her claims?

The author uses several means to argue and support her claims. First of all, she bases most of her assertions of learning theories as the starting base of her descriptions and assumptions. For example, the learner-driven curriculum is drawn from the constructivist theory, a theory of learning. Building upon the basic premises of constructivism, she is able to create the claims on which her own framework for defining a curriculum is built.

On the other hand, she is also keen to structure her conception around the two fundamental elements in a learning process: the subject of the learning process and the participants in the learning process. Basing her assumptions on these elements means that she needs to look very closely at these elements and draw the initial claims.