Adult Learning & Adult Education

The further I progress into the Adult Education at Brock University, the more I discover about myself and my personal traits. Knowles, who is one of the forefathers of andragogy, proposed six assumptions about adult learners. I see myself in each of these traits.

Knowles states “the readiness of an adult to learn is closely related to the developmental tasks of his or her social role” (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 84). As many of my close friends and family know, I have always wanted to be a teacher. I originally went to Brock University as a Child and Youth major, however, switched programs following the conclusion of the first year of study to Business & Economics. While completing my undergrad I was a teacher’s assistant for first-year macroeconomics tutorials. For the time being, it satisfied my passion to teach. Following graduation, however, I found my career taking my further and further away from my love of teaching.

I knew that I loved adults, and I loved teaching.

While at a tradeshow for my past employer, I ran into an individual from Brock University who was promoting their Adult Education program. Although I didn’t act on this information immediately, I soon realized I was tired of waiting for my life to become what I wanted, and made my life become what I wanted.

I registered for Brock University’s Bachelor of Education in Adult Education the following year.

I was ready to learn.

While with my past employer, I worked with and helped small businesses. During this time I realized there was a need in the market for social media education. While Facebook Pages and Twitter were still new technologies to many businesses, I began designing and delivering social media training programs. Knowles states “there is a change in time perspectives as people mature-from future application of knowledge to immediacy of application” (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 84). Businesses knew that social media marketing was quickly becoming an important component to their marketing strategy.

There was an immediate need for social media training for businesses.

Then I realized:

Love of teaching adults + market need for social media training = business opportunity

As an internally motivated and self-directed individual, I combined these two components and launched my business January 2012 (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 84). The business focuses on providing private and group social media training for small and medium businesses. Furthermore, I have applied my past experience of working with small and large companies, to aid in the growth and development of my business (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 84).

Knowles’ assumptions of adult learning are at the forefront of my business’ decision-making process. While the Adult Education program was designed to help me become a better educator and instructor, I have also been personally enlightened about the type of person that I am and the business services I want to provide.