Graduate Certificate in Adult Learning

To understand adult learning, one must ask and answer complex questions: Who is the adult learner? What is the social context of learning? What motivates adult learners? In this course, education professionals explore the theories and frameworks that inform the field of adult learning today. They identify, compare, and contrast foundational and emerging perspectives on adult learning with the aim of transforming theory into practice. They engage in an integrative course project through which they synthesize and apply various theories to real-world situations, including their own development; summarize how the idea of wisdom impacts their experiences as adult learners; interview an adult learner; and assess various perspectives in regard to educating diverse learners.

A number of best practices in adult teaching and learning have been identified based on decades of research and experience. Education professionals in this course examine these evidence-based practices to build their skills and gain strategies to facilitate learning in a variety of settings. They also explore promising new ideas and emerging trends in the field of adult learning.

Given the wide variety of settings in which adult learning takes place, it is no small challenge to plan and implement robust learning experiences that can be effectively evaluated. Education professionals in this course examine the ingredients essential to promote learning successfully, including multiple needs assessment models, approaches to program design, implementation strategies, and models of evaluation and assessment.

Research shows that adults learn best in a social environment. Through collaboration and idea exchange, a supportive "community of practice" is generated where learners co-create their experience in socially meaningful ways. This may take the form of discussions, peer-to-peer activities, small-group work, and student-centered assignments, among other approaches. Education professionals in this course examine the mechanics of collaboration and identify facilitation practices that lead to student success. Also addressed are issues of consensus and decision making, trust-building, collaborative teaching, and group process online.