Adult Learning and Continuous Education

The science, practices, and methods of continuous learning and improvement in the workplace.

Marc Santini, Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) | Reading time: about 5 min

The Science of Adult Learning

Professional continuous learning is now a survival skill.

Technology is predicted to replace 25 percent of U.S. jobs, replacing routine tasks in nearly every field, sector, and discipline.⁽¹⁾  While continuous learning is part of our everyday lives, adult learning is required for success and career growth.

Members of the workforce have an average of 5 employers between ages 18 and 25.⁽³⁾ Professionals typically hold 7 jobs in the following 30 years, and many lack the basic foundational skills of the digital economy.^{(fig. 1)} The duration of employment requires professionals to acquire to new foundational skills and adapt to the current and changing demands of the marketplace ⁽²⁾ These skills include communication, analytical, and critical thinking skills ^{(fig. 2)}, the need for which has accelerated due to the COVID pandemic, changing the way we interact, learn, and work.⁽⁴⁾ Building a sustainable career now requires flexibility and self-directed lifelong learning.

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While education science researchers have defined learning in diverse ways,^(res.E) The Oxford English dictionary defines learning as “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.” The emergence of learning science has created richer definitions of learning that integrate the environmental, cognitive, and behavioral elements that impact learning.

Paraphrasing Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner, co-authors of “The New Social Learning,” define learning as “The transformative and cumulative process of taking in information, that when internalized and blended with experience, changes and builds on what we know and how we act. It’s based on input, process, and reflection. It is what changes us.”

Learner Variability

Learner variability research started in the 1960s. John Caroll’s model of school learning was an early attempt to identify and organize the primary variables associated with school learning. While Caroll suggested that factors outside of the domain of the learning environment should be ignored, it created a conversation among researchers that resulted in social and background factors being considered in learner variability. Digital Promise, a prominent research provider for today’s education science studies, built on the cumulative work on Variation Theory ^{(res. C)} beyond Caroll to the current day, created a global research project called the Learner Variability Project, and built upon that research to create models for both primary and adult learning. Digital Promise defines learner variability as “a term to describe all people engaging in learning activities and bring with them a unique constellation of abilities and experiences that matter when it comes to learning.”

Their Adult Learning Model, based on the Learner Variability Projects research, provides compelling evidence that that learner variability exists and plays a prominent role in learning for adults.

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“How do individuals learn to adapt, acquire new skills, and interpret information to achieve their personal and professional goals? … Adult learners, much like their younger counterparts, vary greatly in terms of their cognitive abilities, social and emotional considerations, and unique background situations. When taken together, along with content-specific factors, education and training programs can better target what each learner requires to best meet their potential.”  

Using research from the Learner Variability Project (LVP), various adult learning models have synthesized learning sciences research for adult learners, focused on critical and foundational skills.⁽⁵⁾  One prominent framework is the Adult Learner Model, developed by DigitalPromise.org. Synthesizing findings from higher education, workforce training, digital literacy, adult literacy, cognitive psychology, sociology, basic and continuing education, and language acquisition, the model is organized into four competency areas: literacies, cognition, social-emotional, and learner background: reveals how these categories interact to create a complex but meaningful picture of what digitalpromise.org describes as “The Whole Learner”, ^{(Fig. 3)} which describes all factors that impact an individual’s ability to learn.

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Using the factors included in figure 4 can inform instructional and product design strategies, and the development of effective learning tools tailored to both individuals and organizations. At the intersection of the four categories from figure one is the whole learner. 

Becoming a Whole Learner: Create Your Learning Strategy

Self-guided learning can be difficult, and often leaves you feeling exhausted. Exploration of learning styles, factors and strategies can be daunting. Use the guide below to create learning strategies that help you retain and internalize knowledge and move towards being a Whole Learner

Identify your Primary Learning Style

The popular VARK model suggests that the 4 primary learning styles are Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic.^{(res B)} Other models suggest other learning styles. Do some discovery and find a learning style you identify with, and the supporting learning techniques and practices. If you have not re-considered which learning style you naturally align with recently, review the definitions and be open to the idea that your natural learning style may have changed over time.

Identify Influencing Factors

Using figure 3, identify which learning factors are in your sphere of control, and identify which impact your ability to learn the most. While some of these are behavioral and habitual changes, many factors are related to the learning environment and to your strongest learning styles. To improve the results of continuing education, work towards creating a learning environment that is well-suited to your strengths and weaknesses, and work on the behavioral factors known to influence learning, such as improving sleep hygiene or reading up on background materials before learning sessions. Understanding each factor separately gives us the ability to focus on the improvement of the factors within our control, improving the efficacy of your learning efforts. Use the Vark Learning Strategies and Learning Variability Project’s Adult learning model navigator to understand the influencing factors and strategies to improve. ^{(res. A, res. B)}

Identify and Experiment with Learning Techniques
Many learning techniques are tried and true, but the not all techniques work well for all people. Find techniques that support your learning style you have not used or not used recently and try them. As we grow, change, and adapt to new environmental factors in the digital landscape, you may have misconceptions about your learning style. Experiment with practices and techniques to supplement learning outside of your learning style, as well as techniques that have not worked for you in the past.

Commit to improving your learning

Just as you commit to attending learning sessions, make a commitment to improve your learning. This may mean additional time for preparation, researching learning techniques, intentionally practicing learning techniques or that bolster your learning factors, or following up after your learning session to see if you retained information.

Leverage Spaced Interval Learning and Repetition

Spaced Interval Repetition is a proven, evidence-based learning technique that leverages the psychological spacing effect.⁽⁷⁾ In a review session, more difficult concepts or content are reviewed more frequently and easier and more familiar concepts or content are reviewed less frequently. Spaced Interval Learning, also leveraging the spacing effect, defines the optimal time in days between review sessions. The spaced interval learning periods are 1 day, 7 days, 16 days, and finally, 35 days from the point of when the information is first received. 

The importance of Adult Learning requires analytical and critical thinking skills, soft and hard skills, and the digital literacy needed to show value in the marketplace. Because building a sustainable career now requires self-directed lifelong learning, the tools of education science are critical to optimizing the way we maintain our value. Learners now have access to the results of over 100 years of research studies, learning models, and theories that can be leveraged to accelerated learning and improve our knowledge. As the necessity and Professional learning has become critical, so have the tools learners can use to support unlimited career growth. 

Learning Style Resources

References

• Muro, M., Maxim, R., & Whiton, J. (2019). Automation and Artificial Intelligence: How Machines are Affecting People and Places. Brookings. Retrieved from: https://www brookings edu/research/ automation-and-artifcial-intelligence-how-machines-afect-people-and-places/
• Burning Glass Technologies. (2019). The New Foundational Skills of the Digital Economy Developing the Professionals of the Future. Retrieved from: https://www burning-glass com/wp-content/uploads/ New_Foundational_Skills pdf
• Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. (2019, August 22). Number of Jobs, Labor Market Experience, and Earnings Growth: Results from a National Longitudinal Survey. [Press release]. https:// www bls gov/news release/pdf/nlsoy pdf
• Jobs for the Future. (2020). Career Navigation Technology That Workers and Our Economy Need. Retrieved from: https://www jf org/what-we-do/impact-stories/jfabs-acceleration/ career-navigation-technology-2020/
• The Essential Skills Program. (December, 2020). The Ten Essential Skills. Retrieved from https://essential-skills org/
• National Skills Coalition. (2020). Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: A Call for Action, Equity, and Accountability. Retrieved from: https://www nationalskillscoalition org/resources/publications/fle/ NSC-Skills-for-an-Inclusive-Economic-Recovery-web-Sept-2020 pdf
• Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Über das Gedächtnis. New York, NY: Dover.