by Jerry Curtis

Created on: November 20, 2008   Last Updated: January 23, 2009

As an adult who did not complete my education until later in life (i.e., a student) and as a former instructor and current tutor of adults (i.e., a teacher), I have a double perspective on adult learning. It is this: We adults may learn slower, but the learning seems to imprint more deeply. Likewise, teaching adults requires patience and a style that recognizes and takes advantage of the learning style of the older adult.

As a student about ten years ago, I completed my degree through evening courses. I was a working adult, so it was an investment in effort and stamina for me to extend my day. I took one or two college courses per semester and, where possible, I paired my courses together so that I would be taking one relatively difficult course with another not-so-challenging one.

Philosophically, as an adult college student, I quickly found that the key to completing the gauntlet of academic requirements leading to my degree was this: surrender to the process. If the process involved a particularly inept or unreasonably difficult professor, I simply gritted my teeth, stayed faithful to the syllabus, and did everything in my power to do what the instructor wanted me to do. Like the Borg said to that Star Trek captain, "Resistance is futile."

Two years after completing my degree, I latched on to an adjunct teaching job at a community college, where, because I was a certified Microsoft Office instructor, I was allowed to teach night courses in MS Software. It was here I encountered many willing, but "computer-challenged" adults who needed to upgrade their computer skills for professional or personal reasons.

One semester I taught an afternoon and evening class. It was during this double load that I quickly saw the difference between teaching relatively younger students (18-21) during the day classes and teaching the older (40+) adults in the evening. Younger minds tend to absorb information and instructions quickly. The younger generation I taught also was more computer-savvy. My older adult students, on the other hand, required a slower and more methodical approach. However, I observed that the typical younger student did not work particularly assiduously on my "easy" computer software course and would usually coast through with "low B" because they tended not to focus on course theory (quizzes and knowledge factors). My older students, who seemed to have more difficulty with the software steps, worked slower but seemed better at course theory.

Likewise, my typical

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