Before designing a training course, trainers should ask themselves: How do adults learn? There are a variety of theories, postulations and “laws” on the matter. The ones outlined below share common themes. Andragogy and its core message is the platform upon which the others are built. Silverman’s Principles develops it further. Kingsland’s Personality Spectrum delves down into the personality types of people who favour one approach or style of learning over another. The Laws of Learning provide an overriding framework for a trainer to follow.
Andragogy
Andragogy is a philosophy of adult learning espousing the belief that adults must have a hand in structuring their learning process. Malcolm Knowles’ model is its spine, incorporating the three following tenets: adults must have a vested interest in learning; they need to be self-directed; and they need to draw on their experience in learning situations.
Silverman’s Principles
Building on the Andragogical approach, Silverman formulated a learning theory with eight or nine core principles:
- Learners learn from what they do
- Reinforce correct responses immediately
- Reinforce frequently to improve learning
- Practice what you learn in a variety of settings
- Motivation and reward influence performance of the learned behaviour
- Learning with understanding is more permanent and transferable than rote learning
- People learn best at their own pace; and 8. different kinds of learning require different training processes
Kingsland’s Personality Spectrum
Kingsland in his Personality Spectrum theorises that learning is composed of Thinking (Cognitive), Feeling (Affective) and Doing (Behavioral) components. People display all three patterns of association with new information and experiences, but to varying degrees. In other words, some may use a more Cognitive approach to learning, while others may take a more Affective approach. Kingsland’s Spectrum includes seven styles of learning. Each style reflects a certain mix of Thinking, Feeling and Doing, in different amounts. The seven styles are: reactive, proactive, holographic, adaptive, communal, functional and molecular.
The Laws of Learning
Lastly, the Laws of Learning are a set of five principles identified by psychologists. These are:
- The Law of Intensity – arranging material into a meaningful sequence speeds up learning
- The Law of Contiguity – learning needs to take place within a certain time frame relative to when you need to put it into practice
- The Law of Exercise – the learner must practice what has been learnt
- The Law of Effect – reinforce learning so that it ‘sinks in’
- The Law of Facilitation and Interference – where one act of learning assists (Facilitation) or hinders (Interference) another act of learning. In other words, previously learned responses affect the current learning situation.
The theme that runs through all these theories should be at the core of training course design: learner experience contributes to the learning process; practice reinforces it; and students won’t be invested in course content unless they can see relevance to themselves.
Source
- Garavan, Thomas N., Hogan, Carole, and Cahir-O’Donnell, Amanda. (2003) Making Training and Development Work: A Best Practice Guide. Oak Tree Press: Cork, Ireland.
Lory Manrique-Hyland - Lory Manrique-Hyland, Novelist ("Revolutions" Lilliput, 2004), trainer & contributor on parenting for a national Irish newspaper.
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