Adult learners at Continuum are generally part-time students with diverse skills and backgrounds. Adult learners appreciate when they can draw on their experiences and they learn best with real-world problem-based curricula.
Top reasons UW Continuum students pursue a certificate program:
- Advance their career
- Broaden their skill base
- Make a career change
UW Continuum Students (Video Length 2:28)
Adult Learning Principles
- Adults are intrinsically motivated and self-directed
- Prior knowledge, experiences, and beliefs can help (or hinder) how adult students organize and connect information.
- Adult learners are goal oriented and learn best when learning objectives are clearly communicated
- Adults learn better with relevant and practical applications, and they engage in activities when related to their learning goals
- Adult students develop proficiency when they can acquire and practice integrating different skills
- Adult students need a respectful and flexible learning environment, and appreciate targeted and frequent feedback
- Students learn more when they are actively engaged with the content rather than passively absorbing information (Utilize Active Learning)
- Adult learning tapers off after about 30 minutes of sustained attention, they require breaks to assimilate information
- Students produce more meaningful work when they collaborate with others in a productive manner on well-designed tasks
Motivating Adult Learners (Video Length 0:56)
Resources
UWPCE Adult Learning Tools and Templates
Updated 06/13/22