Information Literacy Guide for Adult Learners

Olgert Nazarko

The learner population, I will consider are adult learners. According to Badke adult learners are those who, in the midst of life and career, have returned to studies to improve, or qualify for advancement in their jobs [1]. They are willing to attend short but intensive programs. Adult learners are highly motivated and are not afraid of work.

According to Sarah Dahlen adult learners have the following characteristics [2]:

a.       Self-motivated and adult learners are more focused on the lifelong-learning process rather than on grades.

b.      Goal-driven or problem-centered and very focused on the immediate application of new knowledge.

c.       They benefit from connecting their new knowledge to their life experience.

d.      They come from a variety of backgrounds, often creating a multi-level classroom.

Adult learners have a tendency to define themselves based on their life experiences that is why Knowles proposes that educators use in classroom techniques such as discussion and skills practice [3].

Badke puts a face on the adult learner as he describes the characteristics of this demographic and discusses the struggles many learners face in returning to school. Some of the difficulties that adult learners face in nowadays are:

a.       Most of adult learners have been out of school for a long time and getting back to studies scares them a lot and raises a lot of obstacles for them to achieve educational goals. Starting gradually to introduce students to research is the best decision that the educators should consider when they design their courses. Different course levels should introduce and require specific strategies to engage adult learners into research. Educators should design their lessons to direct students to specific materials and provide expected outcomes. An example might be to use a specific article to complete the worksheet. Motivating students and foster positive attitude in classroom is extremely important for this category of learners.

b.      Adult learners in contrast with a 19 years old student have a lot of responsibilities in their life such as families, jobs, businesses or careers to keep up with. Managing time to fulfill every responsibility of the adult life and school assignment is not always easy. Educators can motivate students by including all classroom activities relevant and meaningful to their life and work experience.

c.       Dealing with research is a constant challenge for adult learners. This category can be considered has hard workers in terms of school assignment but they request everything to be relevant to their perspective career. Classroom activities should provide some scaffolding, but students should be allowed to conduct their own search strategies. Student should be able to start analyzing materials and using information in context. An orientation toward open-ended research will allows students to locate, evaluate, judge, adopt and use information to support their own learning.

d.      Many of adult learners are digital immigrants therefore they lack minimal computer skills and the world of learning has changed dramatically. Technology is integrated in every learning setting. Smart classroom might be a challenge to them when it comes to a class presentation.

e.       Many adult learners since have been out of school for a long time, are not familiar with online catalogs and databases that are required to conduct research. Educators should organize lessons in a way that includes research with emphasis on content. Adult learners should be able to conduct a variety of searches and find various information formats such as books, journals and conference papers.

Reference:

1.      Badke, William, 2008. Information Literacy Meets Adult learners. Online, Vol. 32, Issue 4, pp. 48, Jul/Aug2008.

2.      Sarah Dahlen, 2012. Seeing College Students as Adults: Learner-Centered Strategies for Information Literacy. The Journal of the New Members Round Table, Vol. 3, Number 1, October 2012.

3.      Knowles, M. S. (1980). The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to andragogy. Wilton, CT: Association Press.