THE ALPINE MANUAL OF GOOD PRACTICE
Socrates Grundtvig Project


TEACHING, LEARNING AND ADULTS

  I Introduction

  II The comparative study based on the KOLB's Learning Style Inventory

  1) Analyses
2) Appendix
    
  III Comparative analyses of adult education programme descriptions

  1) Analyses
2) Appendix
3) Case studies
    
  Key messages

  Further reading

Table of Contents


 TEACHING, LEARNING AND  ADULTS
With the implementation of an international comparative analysis on different selected educational programmes for adults, this chapter focuses on the methods and methodology of teaching adults. The analysis is based on the experience of seven successful adult educational programmes from Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Results of the comparative study based on the Kolb Learning Style Inventory describe different learning methods. Differences between methods of teaching adults and younger students and the influence of social environment on different methods of teaching adults are analysed. The chapter describes the factors that have to be taken into consideration when planning adult educational programmes as well as the influence of settings and methodologies for an individual programme. We also show why it is important to know one's learning style and how one can promote problem solving with the learning cycle. Relations between the learning style, methodology used and the learning environment are analysed.