Adults need to be involved in the planning & evaluation of their instruction: Explain using your experience?

Question

Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for learning activities.

Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to thier job or personal life.

Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented

Answer 1

I don't accept your premise that adults need to be involved in the planning & evaluation of their instruction, on 2 counts. First, what is the experience of the student? A beginning student may have no knowledge of the subject and no knowledge of the best teaching medthods. That student should have nothing to say about the planning of the course.

My 2nd objection to that premise is that the word "involved" is too vague to have any real meaning.

You say that adults are most interested in------------. My, you take a lot on yourself, don't you! At 63 y/o, I am certainly an adult, and that certainly is not true for me.

My last objectain is your 3rd premise, that adult learning is problem centered rather than content centered. What drivel! you must have recently taken a course in "adult education" that was developed by some empty headed person that accepted the latest fad in education. Now you want to show off what you learned.

If a person wants to learn how to problem solve, let them take a course in problem solving! A course in accounting should teach the content that an accountant needs to know. A course in Algebra should contain and teach the content of Algebra.

I heard some college professor being interviewed about the
"problem-centered" approach to teach small children how to add and subtract. Again, drivel! It's a waste of time. People like this professor and like you, who swallow what they say, without thoroughly chewing it and spitting out the nonsense in it, are why our children cannot read or add any more.