Help young adults direct their learning | Winnipeg Free Press - Columns

Photo: Phyllis Reid-Jarvis

"Adults are self-directed learners. Learning development experts have been reminding us for decades that the vast majority of what adults learn — as much as 70  per cent — is self-directed" reports Phyllis Reid-Jarvis, director and executive coach at Ultimate Potentials. 

Taking a casual, friendly approach to teaching and coaching young adults will help them learn from the interaction.
Photo: DREAMSTIME.COM

Parents influence learning, as do friends, managers, team members and, of course, other people with special expertise. 

If you are an educator, you are in the five per cent of the population that influences learning. Talk about pressure — our young adults spend much of their waking time with you.

One of our sons gets frequent yet gentle reminders that adults are mostly self-directed learners that, based on choices they make, adults have no one to blame but themselves.

What our young adults decide to learn and apply in their lives is all up to them. So, if our young adult children are in control of all they learn, how do we as parents — who can influence learning — do just that?

I read a fascinating article just recently by Pat McLagan, who has spent the better part of 30 years studying this topic. 

She suggests we do a number of things differently, but one that stood out for me is built on the fact that everything is changing around learners… that learning is the main process for dealing with this change and that it, too, must change.

Below is how I unpacked this and apply not only to my own young adults but to the adult learners with whom I work: 
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Source: Winnipeg Free Press