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Principles of Adult Instruction

In their latest book, Telling Ain’t Training, Harold Stolovitch and Erica Keeps (2002) summarize Knowles’s work into four key principles of adult instruction:

  1. Readiness
    		2. Training must clearly address learners’ needs so that they will be ready to learn.
  2. Experience  
    		3.  Training must respect and build on the life experience that learners bring to the learning session.
  3. Autonomy
    		4. Training must invite learners to participate in shaping the direction, content and activities of the learning experience.
  4. Action
    		5. The connection between the training and the application of what is learned must be clear.

Question:   Which of the following generic teaching strategies do these principles suggest would be the most effective with adult learners? (Check all that apply.)

Case studies Expert lecture
Role playing Simulations
Self-evaluation Class recitations

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