Adult Learning

Adult learning is a complex subject that in recent years has become more of a necessity than a personal pursuit. There are three factors present in the American society today that necessitate the need for adult learning. These factors are: Dramatic changes in demographics, the global economy, and technology. (5) Demographics are concerned with growth and development of adult learners and emerging groups of learners with special needs. There are more adults in our society than ever before and the population will continue to age and increase in the number of older adults. This fact along with the growing cultural and ethnic diversity existing in America today, although, provides many benefits for the society by mixing talents from many lands, but it also, requires a certain amount of familiarization and education to minimize the risks involved by diversification.

The second factor influencing the need for adult learning is the global economy. The birth of global interdependent economy has led to changing work practices, which require different kinds of preparation and training. The emphasis has been shifted to improved product and service quality, having more educated workers with more responsibility and stronger team work. This has resulted in control of education shifting more to business. More and more companies opt to provide work place literacy programs, training and development packages, and encouraging their employees to learn how to learn, to keep up with a constantly changing global service based economy. Ethnic make up and increased number of women in the work force are also contributing factors for adult learning. (5)

The third factor that should be considered is the explosion in the information technology sector. With the development and advancement of computers within the last decade or two, an environment has been created in which the settings for a formal training session, has been outdated. The society is experiencing an increase in