David Jones' Literature Review

Learning Styles and Environmental Influences of the Adult Learner

David M. Jones

Ball State University

Literature Review

EDAC 635

Professor: Bo Chang

Abstract

            The purpose of this review is to discover the most efficient ways in which to accommodate numerous adult learning styles in various learning environments. All of the research conducted for this assignment is focused on the effects that environments have on learning, and the ways that adults engage learning. This review will serve to provide a blueprint for understanding and developing critical aspects of instruction that will effectively engage students.

Learning Styles and Environmental Influences of the Adult Learner

            Adults that are re-entering education has been an ever increasing occurrence over the last half-century. Adult learners are unique, and separate from their younger counterparts in many ways. Adult learners are re-engaging in collegial learning with a goal in mind, and a definitive purpose. The Adult learner is different from younger students in many aspects. The adult learner has a wide array of life experiences from which to draw from. The adult learner is self-motivated, and in many cases, self-directing, and has many preconceived notions about how their learning should take place. In general, the adult learner will not learn in the same fashion as their younger peers. They will not perceive and interpret their learning environments the same way, either. These unique differences pose a curious and urgent barrier to over come in higher education: creating a learning environment that is conducive to effective learning in students of all ages, and developing instructional methods that build on a positive learning environment and reach individuals with a vast array of learning styles. Adult learners, their required learning environment, and effective teaching methods for reaching them have been examined under many microscopes, and a great deal of data has been amassed on the subject of the adult learner’s required learning environment, and effective pedagogical approaches to employ to reach this audience. I have sifted through the expansive collection of research, and carefully selected five articles that best represent the case of the adult learner, and the perfected learning environment.

The solution to the problems facing adult learners is not a simple one. Even though a tremendous amount of research on implementation methods, learning environment, and adult learners has already been conducted, further insight will be gathered from the fields of neuropsychology and pedagogical development to create a synthesis of information with which to fabricate an effective blueprint for facilitators to follow when creating material for, and instilling knowledge to, today’s adult learner.

General Themes

Theme 1: Adult learning, and how it is Impacted by the Environment

The world is an ever-changing, ever-evolving place in the universe. Daily we are inundated with environmental dangers: climate change, disease, famine, shortage of natural resources, and the like. For the first time in 1972, the United
Nations organized in Sweden the first ever space for open debate on the environment, the Conference on the Human Environment. It acknowledged that the
environment affects people’s well being and that its destruction is harmful to
the physical, mental, and social health of humankind. (Hemmings, 2005) This acknowledgement brings one issue to the forefront: If we are to effectively facilitate learning in adult students, we must understand, and incorporate the environmental variables present into our proposed learning agendas. As humans, we seek to find shelter, warmth, wealth, progeny, and security, if any of these notions are threatened by specific environmental roadblocks, these issues must be exposed and addressed before learning and engagement can take place.

Theme 2: The Attitudes Towards Learning and the Perception of the Learning Environment

It is no mystery that adult learners feel differently about their learning environment, and have differing attitudes towards learning than their collegiate counterparts. Many adult learners have preconceived notions of how to interpret the college learning environment, and whether these perceptions are false, or accurate, they posses great power over the motivation for learning. Some of the key differences of adult learners is that they are autonomous and self-directed;
they have a lot of life experiences and knowledge;
they have a more life-, task-, or problem-centered orientation to learning;
they are generally motivated to learn due to intrinsic factors (Radovan & Makovec, 2015). To this end, teaching the adult learner is not merely relegated to getting the physical learning environment; in order to effectively reach the adult learner, facilitators must recognize and address these differences effectively.

Theme 3: Teaching to the Unique Learning Styles of Adults

Each learner has a unique and specific style of learning. If you have a classroom of fifteen students, chances are that you will have fifteen different learning styles present that require specific criteria to be met in order for effective learning to take place. It has been said that learning does not completely take place in the hearing of information, but when the student ponders the information and organizes it in his/her own way a deeper understanding of the subject matter can be reached. The first step to reaching out to differing learning styles is to be aware they exist in the first place. The journal referenced for this theme draws upon the Dunn and Dunn Model, which emerged from cognitive-style theory, brain-lateralization theory, practitioners" observations and experimental studies. According to Dunn, Thies, and Honigsfeld, learning style is a biological and developmental set of personal characteristics that make the identical instruction effective for some students and ineffective for others. The Dunns define style as the way individuals begin to concentrate on, process, internalize and retain new and difficult academic information (Honigsfeld & Dunn, 2006).

Theme 4: Shifting the Focus of Content Delivery from Content Based to a Learning Centered Model

Nearly every college student has encountered the traditional approach to learning and instruction. This method, often involves large classrooms packed with students, a professor that reads of the power points and conducts a one-sided lecture that is build only to listen to, and not interact with, and the expectation that all knowledge can be quantified by a students performance on a traditional exam. In reality, the true measure of learning is a more complicated matter. To learning is to take information that has been presented, make sense of it for ones self, and reorganize the information in a way that makes sense to the individual. There is no test that can put a value on this level of understanding; only through involved discussions can the facilitator gain an insight into what knowledge has been learned by the individual. Teachers and students alike are discovering what cognitive research of the past decade has shown; a world of difference exists between rote recall of facts and a deeper understanding of the principles underlying facts and processes (Jungst, Hall, Hall, Licklider, & Wiersema, n.d.).

Theme 5: Using Freudian Concepts to Improve the Scholarship of Teaching

Sigmund Freud was a pioneer of psychoanalytical research and examination. Freud was a proponent of digging deeper into situations in search of hidden meaning. The quotation most often attributed to Freud—“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”—underscores his recognition that not all thoughts, feelings, or behavior reveal deeper, hitherto un-elicited, psychological processes. The proviso, however, is that one cannot confidently say that this particular cigar is “just” a cigar without further exploration and analysis (Knight, 2012). Building on this notion, in order for educators to overcome the barriers presented by differing perceptions of the learning environment, they must seek to gain a deeper understanding of the hidden psychology of learning styles.

Implications

The themes presented in this review can, if properly applied, improve teaching effectiveness to levels not previously attained. The first suggestion that I can offer is to consider and educate yourself in the environmental variables that affect the adult learners in your charge. These can range from the world environment to the direct learning environment encountered by the student.  The second suggestion is to understand the different learning styles of your students, and adjust the presentation styles to satisfy these needs. This will ensure that you are able to adequately reach each student. The third suggestion that I would like to propose is to look beyond the norm when contemplating issues related to adult learning. Do not be afraid to question the norm, ask why or why not, or engage your learning audience in an organic, and conversational fashion. These interactions will force you to engage the students on a personal level, and as such, you will gain a deeper insight into their perceptions of learning. The forth suggestion is to engage in conversation directly with each of your students. Engaging in organic, focused conversation can provide great insight into perceptions, and reluctance towards learning. The best way to engage in these conversations is to create a casual environment in which the student feels comfortable. This is often achieved by sitting on a desk to engage conversation as opposed to standing behind the lectern. The fifth and final suggestion is to create an environment in which the student and teacher are perceived as equal. The notion that students exist on a level below teachers serves as a great barrier to effective learning and instruction.

Reflection

Highlights

My research yielded a great deal of information in regards to adult learning and the perception of the learning environment, but the concepts that stood out from the rest were those related to shifting instruction from a content centered approach to one that is more learning-centered, and the use of psychoanalytical research and techniques to design lecture material and delivery methods that cater to the adult learner in various learning styles.

Process

I completed this assignment using BSU’s online library resource to locate journal articles that directly apply to my topic of focus: adult learning and learning environments. I used Mendeley software, which is free to all college students, to organize, highlight, review, and cite all of the articles that I chose for this review. This program cut the time spent organizing my research in half, and made the process much more enjoyable!

Tables

Table 1. Summary of the literature review 


The Main Themes in the Literature	Application of Main Themes in Practice
Theme 1: Adult learning, and how it is Impacted by the Environment	Understand the environmental variables facing your students
Theme 2: The Attitudes Towards Learning and the Perception of the Learning Environment	Understand the perception of learning that your students employ, and work to move them in a positive direction
Theme 3: Teaching to the Unique Learning Styles of Adults	Gain an in-depth understanding of the different adult learning styles
Theme 4: Shifting the Focus of Content Delivery from Content Based to a Learning Centered Model	Make learning the focus of instruction, rather than telling the students what they should know
Theme 5: Using Freudian Concepts to Improve the Scholarship of Teaching	Dare to question the norms, and come up with your own methods of facilitation

References

Hemmings, J. (2005). Do the write thing. Embroidery, 56(MAY.), 16–18. http://doi.org/10.1002/ace

Honigsfeld, a, & Dunn, R. (2006). Learning-style characteristics of adult learners. Delta Kappa ….

Jungst, S. E., Hall, B., Hall, N. B. L., Licklider, B. L., & Wiersema, J. A. (n.d.). Centered Paradigm in Their Higher Education Classrooms.

Knight, M. (2012). The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(3), 235–236. http://doi.org/10.1177/1080569912458079

Radovan, M., & Makovec, D. (2015). Adult Learners’ Learning Environment Perceptions and Satisfaction in Formal Education—Case Study of Four East-European Countries. International Education Studies, 8(2), 101–112. http://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v8n2p101