What is Adult Learners

Adult learners are people who bring a great deal of experience to the learning environment. They expect to have a high degree of influence on what they are to be educated for, and how they are to be educated. They are active learners and participants who need to be able to see the application of new learning. Adult learners expect to have a high degree of influence on how their learning is evaluated and they expect responses to be acted upon when requesting feedback.

Students enrolled in at a post-secondary institution who did not attend college directly after graduating high school. This group of students often have families and are already in the workforce.

Self-directed, self-motivated, independent, autonomous, and life-long learners.

A term used to describe any person socially accepted as an adult who is in a learning process, whether it is formal education, informal learning, or corporate-sponsored learning.

These learners take a different approach to learning. They are aware of their learning style and how to effectively go out and find information and apply it to the desired situation. This comes from past experiences and growth.

“Any student, regardless of age, who has adult responsibilities beyond college classes, and for whom those adult responsibilities takes priorities in times of crisis” (National Academic Advising Association, n.d. AU15: The in-text citation "National Academic Advising Association, n.d." is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).

Anyone who falls into one of two classifications of adult—social and psychological. The social classification refers to individuals who are performing adult duties including professional roles, parenting roles and the like. Second, when individuals begin to see themselves as responsible for their own lives, they are considered psychologically an adult ( Knowles et al., 1998 ). An adult falling under either category has significant life experiences that will enhance learning as well as presuppositions that will shape thinking. In the context of this chapter an adult learner is a social or psychological adult who is a student in an online higher education program.

are people in the 35-37-year age range (Eduventures, 2008), those of us who were not born into the digital world but, at some point in our lives, adopted many or most aspects of the new technology. Compared with digital natives, Prensky (2001) named them Digital Immigrants.

Adult students in formal (or informal) education. In this chapter the term is used interchangeably with non-traditional students.

Mature students over the age of 18 years.

Older students who seek immediate transfer of knowledge to their daily lives.

Adults who are 25 years and over have some college experience, but no degree. In some institutions, this population may be called ‘stop-outs’ or ‘non-degree completers’.

Various defined, but generally indicates students beyond secondary education.

A term used to describe any person socially accepted as an adult who is in a learning process, whether it is formal education, informal learning, or corporate-sponsored learning.

Students from the age of 18.