This unit will provide an opportunity for you to think about some of the influences exerted by society on adult learning.

Introduction

For anyone working with adults in a learning situation, it is useful to explore some background information to establish a context for learning. This unit will provide an opportunity for you to think about some of the influences exerted by society on adult learning.

In addition, the unit will help us clarify who the adult learner is - characteristics, preferences etc.

What is presented here is a beginning for your learning about this topic. The web links are good resources, but don't forget about libraries and print resources too. I look forward to your questions and comments.

Change seems to be the only constant in our lives today. For years futurists such as Alvin Toffler and John Naisbitt have been warning us about Future Shock, a Third Wave, a Power Shift, Megatrends, and a Global Paradox. How we prepare for and react to change may determine our success in the future.

The future, change, and especially demographic projections impact our audience of adult learners. No where is that more obvious to us then recent publicity about aging baby boomers.

Merriam and Caffarella suggest that there are three areas of social and cultural influences on adult learning and learners.

All these factors are changing our definitions of teaching and learning as well as helping us identify the learning needs of adults.

For additional information on these issues, check out these sites.

http://nces.ed.gov/ - National Center of Education Statistics
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/index.html - US Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/ - Office of Educational Research and Improvement
http://www.ncpa.org/pd/social/social1.html - National Center for Policy Analysis