Guided independent learning: a teaching and learning approach for adult learners
by Jeffrey Hsu; Karin Hamilton; John Wang
International Journal of Innovation and Learning (IJIL), Vol. 17, No. 1, 2015

Abstract: Adult learners bring life and work experiences into the classroom beyond those of the traditional undergraduate student. These same students, however, often lack a firm foundation in the college-level language arts, mathematics, humanities, et al. that help round out perspective and fine-tune critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Although adult students can draw upon a richer context when building new knowledge, they typically exhibit knowledge gaps that must be closed in order to successfully continue on to higher-level coursework. For this reason, courses should be designed and taught with their specific strengths and needs in mind. The development of a modular, hybrid online teaching approach incorporating and employing varying teaching approaches including andragogy, constructivism, collaboration, critical thinking, and other techniques and tools is described. The application of this method to courses in the context of a specialised adult learner programme is examined. The employment of this and related approaches, and the implications for adult learners and universities, is also examined.

Online publication date: Wed, 21-Jan-2015

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Innovation and Learning (IJIL):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com