What Are The Characteristics Of A Successful Adult Learner Enrolled In Tertiary Education In A Digital Era?
There are some individual characteristics that are very resourceful in the learning environment. Learners’ individual characteristics differ significantly. In other words, some learners uphold identifiable characteristics that act as driving factors towards academic excellence. Conversely, other learners’ characteristics are not oriented towards academic performance thus such learner’s tend to have poor performance. Thus, a successful adult learner possesses those qualities that are academic oriented. In order to create a solid foundation for academic success, a learner should have certain factors. These factors act as the main distinguishing characteristics between the performing and non-performing learners. The chief purpose for this paper, therefore, is to discuss the characteristics of a successful adult learner enrolled in tertiary education in a digital era.
The demands for tertiary education are such that a learner possesses and exhibits the qualities that are deemed success oriented. One of the characteristics of a successful adult learner is motivation. In general, motivation can be conceptualized as the reason(s) that influence certain behavior. Typically, motivation is driven by willingness and volition to do something. Further, motivation has to do with personal interest, pleasure and enjoyment. According to Abd-El-Fattah (2010), motivation plays a chief role in the commencement and maintenance of the academic efforts hence helping the learner to achieve his/her cognitive goals. In this case, motivation stresses two factors. That is, a learner has a particular goal to achieve and thus must express the intention to act so as to achieve the goal. In other words, motivation calls for commitment. A successful adult learner, therefore, must not only express his/her motivation towards achieving academic goals but also portray the intention to involve in the task fully. Sanacore (2008) also stresses on the importance of self motivation in learning. He argues that motivation is a wheel that can effectively transform the reluctant learners to inspired ones. In this sense, therefore, motivation can be used as a measure for learner’s success.
Learning in the 21st century has assumed a new face as opposed to the past centuries. Empathised by Bruce, Hughes and Somerville (2012) is the importance of information literacy. Information literacy according to them is essential in informed learning. Hence, successful learners gain information literacy from their experiences. The experiences referred to in this context are the ones experienced by a learner in three settings namely; community, educational and workplace setting (Bruce, Hughes &Somerville, 2012). The idea of information literacy advocates for the learner’s tendency to go beyond the basic information (mainly what is taught in the classroom context) to encompass other fundamental information external to the basic information. Bruce, Hughes and Somerville (2012) agree that there has been extensive use of information literacy not only in the tertiary education but also in preschool and secondary education. It is thus evident that learners are not limited by the generic information rather their exploration of the information literacy has yielded to the expansion of academic research across the world.
When Bruce, Hughes and Somerville (2012) talk about information literacy and informed learning, they put emphasis on the importance of using information to learn. In other words, a learner should focus on integrating and interacting with the information from the various settings aforementioned. Moreover, a learner should be aware of the various types of information that exist, how to use the information and how to incorporate different information to change the understanding about study or personal life. The knowledge about how to handle different information depends on a learner’s ability to develop information literacy. Essentially, information literacy helps a learner in developing skills of using information reflectively, effectively, critically, ethically and creatively (Bruce, Hughes &Somerville, 2012). Successful learners should be aware of what comprises the information within their context. Such knowledge not only shapes how they use the acquired information to learn but also how to engage, encounter and control it.
Additionally, the vast technological advancement has also played a key role in the learning transformation. Knowledge and experience are increasingly redefined in the new era of digital technology (Guerlac, 2011). In the same way, learners ought to transform to meet the demands of the modern education. Consequently, E-learning has been adopted as a major mode of learning in the tertiary education. As a matter of fact, Guerlac, (2011) contends that e-learning has received substantial demand in the past decades. It has highly been adopted in innovative related disciplines such as engineering, statistics, computer science, business and corporate training. As a result, it is inarguable that e-learning is a necessary undertaking that a successful adult learner must adopt. Since Guerlac, (2011) says that knowledge has been redefined such that learners ought not be preoccupied with making sense about history, thinking about the cultural heritage or fathoming the obscurity of the physical world, the learner’s focus must be oriented towards innovativeness. It can thus be interpreted that learners should focus o how to manage information and convert it into capital.
The modern education is increasingly transforming to accommodate the use of digital technology. According to Littlejohn, Beetham and McGill (2012) the digital era has led to changes in the entire milieu of study, research, individual thinking and creativity, people’s manner of thinking as well as enhancing self expression. This means that there is notable in the dissemination of knowledge mainly through teaching and researching. For this reason, learners ought to adjust with the changes in time. While creativity and innovativeness are key in the contemporary learning, learners should also base their learning on their interests, skills as well as on the felt needs. Innovativeness and creativity are some of the important ways through which the ensuing global issues can be overcome. Therefore Karakas and Manisaligil (2012) propose that learners have a greater task of molding their inner strength and ability for creativity. Additionally, they have also got a responsibility of fine-tuning their learning processes through planning, evaluation and implementation.
Abd-El-Fattah (2010) model of self-directed learning is also an essential tool that describes some of the characteristics essential to an adult learner. One of the characteristics he describes is the learner’s ability for self-management. Self management points to the learner’s tendency to take control of the things that are helpful in learning. For instance, a learner takes control of the strategies of attaining some goals as well as managing the learning requirements. In addition, another factor that requires proper management is task control. Task control includes: resources, interdependency and proficiency. In reference to resources, Abd-El-Fattah (2010) stresses the importance of the learner to seek educational support from the relevant persons. Interdependence, on the other hand, has to do with the learner’s choices, integrity as well as the institution’s standards. The idea of self-management as is evident from Abd-El-Fattah (2010) revolves around the educative form of relationship between a teacher and a learner.
Self-monitoring is also essential in enhancing a learner’s success Abd-El-Fattah (2010). Self-monitoring has to do with the learner’s cognitive process which is essential in the mastery of the learning strategies and thinking. In this case, the learner understands him/herself through learning of new ideas and linking them with what was previously known (Karakas & Manisaligil, 2012). Generally, the assertion of the self-directed learner model is that the successful learners are aware and have the responsibility of monitoring themselves. Thus, self-monitoring are not only inquisitive in their learning but also explore new things. They are also willing to change, take pleasure in learning and also face and deal with challenges (Abd-El-Fattah, 2010).
Deriving from Shepherd and Nelson (2012) an adult learner in tertiary education has to deal with a wide range of challenges. Hence, building resilience among the learners is vital. Many of these challenges may emanate from the learning institution, personal problems/situational challenges or what Tattersall et al. (2005) term as dispositional barriers. Learners, thus, face challenges such as lack of transport, financial constraints and inadequate study time and old age. Nonetheless, Warschauer (2007) suggests that digital learning can help a great deal in resolving some of these challenges. Warschauer cites the advantage of digital learning as the autonomous learning. That is, people can study from anywhere and at their convenience. However, Warschauer does not rule out the possibility of student mentorship by teachers.
In conclusion, it is quite evident that a successful; adult learner has no option but must possess certain characteristics. Motivation, adoption and utilization of technology, development of information literacy, adaptation to the digital era, self-drive, self management and ability to deal with challenges are some of the qualities of a successful learner. Additionally, the academically successful learners have efficient and effective learning strategies. Using their knowledge and being self-motivated, the learners are able to scrutinize and make any changes to their learning strategies thus influencing their learning results. Learners’ success is also dependent on their ability to organize, take control, examine and even evaluating their own learning. The learners’ familiarity with their learning needs, selection of content, identification of both physical and human learning resources and creating of learning objectives has also significant contribution in learners success.
Abd-El-Fattah, S. M. (2010). Garrison's model of self-directed learning: preliminary validation
and relationship to academic achievement. The Spanish journal of psychology, 13(02), 586-596.
Bruce, C., Hughes, H., & Somerville, M. M. (2012). Supporting informed learners in the twenty-
first century. Library Trends, 60(3), 522-545.
Guerlac, S. (2011). Humanities 2.0: e-learning in the digital world. Representations, 116(1), 102-
127.
Karakas, F., & Manisaligil, A. (2012). Reorienting self-directed learning for the creative digital
era. European Journal of Training and Development, 36(7), 712-731.
Kenner, C., & Weinerman, J. (2011). Adult learning theory: Applications to non-traditional
college students. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 41(2), 87-96.
Littlejohn, A., Beetham, H., & McGill, L. (2012). Learning at the digital frontier: a review of
digital literacies in theory and practice. Journal of computer assisted learning, 28(6), 547-556.
Sanacore, J. (2008). Turning reluctant learners into inspired learners. The Clearing House: A
Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 82(1), 40-44.
Shepherd, J., & Nelson, B. M. (2012). Balancing act: A phenomenological study of female adult
learners who successfully persisted in graduate studies. The Qualitative Report, 17(20), 1-21.
Tattersall, C., Manderveld, J., Van den Berg, B., Van Es, R., Janssen, J., & Koper, R. (2005).
Self organising way finding support for lifelong learners. Education and Information technologies, 10(1), 111-123.
Warschauer, M. (2007). The paradoxical future of digital learning. Learning Inquiry, 1(1), 41-49.
To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:
My Assignment Help. (2018). Characteristics Of A Successful Adult Enrolled In Tertiary Class. Retrieved from https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/characteristics-of-a-successful-adult-enrolled-in-tertiary-class.
"Characteristics Of A Successful Adult Enrolled In Tertiary Class." My Assignment Help, 2018, https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/characteristics-of-a-successful-adult-enrolled-in-tertiary-class.
My Assignment Help (2018) Characteristics Of A Successful Adult Enrolled In Tertiary Class [Online]. Available from: https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/characteristics-of-a-successful-adult-enrolled-in-tertiary-class
[Accessed 22 January 2021].
My Assignment Help. 'Characteristics Of A Successful Adult Enrolled In Tertiary Class' (My Assignment Help, 2018) <https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/characteristics-of-a-successful-adult-enrolled-in-tertiary-class> accessed 22 January 2021.
My Assignment Help. Characteristics Of A Successful Adult Enrolled In Tertiary Class [Internet]. My Assignment Help. 2018 [cited 22 January 2021]. Available from: https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/characteristics-of-a-successful-adult-enrolled-in-tertiary-class.
MyAssignmenthelp.com has become one of the leading assignment help provider in New York City and Boston. We provide top class auditing assignment help. Not only auditing, but we also cover more than 100 subjects and our writers deal with all types of assignments with utmost expertise. To make writing process faster and accurate, we have segmented our assignment experts' teams as per their expertise on writing different types of assignments. We guaranteed that students who buy our assignment online get solutions worth their investment.
Answer Reflective journal The paper will evaluate different facts regarding why the communication skills is consideredas being one of the difficult processes especially for people from different cultures. As I belong to a different country which means a different culture, language, and a different living style therefore,I have facedcommunication problems during the first year of my college in Dublin. Due to this problem, I was unable to make ...
Read MoreAnswer: Importance of the project Business management is a set of doable that must be performed before initiating the project for achieving better results. This report will discuss about issues and problems that Coca Cola faces while performing business management. This report will also discuss about the opportunities Coca Cola will enjoy during their expansion. SMART objectives of Coca Cola is also discussed in this report. SMA...
Read MoreAnswer: Introduction 3D printing refers to the process of creating 3D solid objects from digital files. The development of a 3D printed object is usually obtained by use of the additive process. In this process an object is developed by laying down successive layers of material until the object is created. All this layers can be seen as individual thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object. How 3D printer works The proces...
Read MoreAnswer: This Assessment Booklet provides you with information and your assessment tasks for this unit. A requirement of your qualification, from which the unit of competence is taken, is the application of the concepts you have been learning.The assessment activities are an important part of your course as they provide an opportunity to apply what you have been learning and they give both you and your trainer feedback on your progress. ...
Read MoreAnswer: Introduction Organizational theories are the approaches which can be used for analyzing the organization. Organizations can be defined as the people’s social units which are developed and managed to fulfill a requirement or to practice the mutual objectives. Some of the scholars claim that arguments among different organizational theories indicate the competition level of these theories. Some authors suppose that these theories ...
Read MoreJust share requirement and get customized Solution.
Orders
Overall Rating
Experts
Our writers make sure that all orders are submitted, prior to the deadline.
Using reliable plagiarism detection software, Turnitin.com.We only provide customized 100 percent original papers.
Feel free to contact our assignment writing services any time via phone, email or live chat. If you are unable to calculate word count online, ask our customer executives.
Our writers can provide you professional writing assistance on any subject at any level.
Our best price guarantee ensures that the features we offer cannot be matched by any of the competitors.
Get all your documents checked for plagiarism or duplicacy with us.
Get different kinds of essays typed in minutes with clicks.
Calculate your semester grades and cumulative GPa with our GPA Calculator.
Balance any chemical equation in minutes just by entering the formula.
Calculate the number of words and number of pages of all your academic documents.
Our Mission Client Satisfaction
I had issues with my assignment and on top of that I have other commitments that hinders me from completing my assignment, therefore I engaged myassignmenthelp 2 days shy of the due date and I am impressed with the results that I obtained. Therefore,...
Australia
Thank you for reworking this order, the outcome is much better than the first produced and i look forward continue working with you.
Australia
the assignment was up to the mark. the team have done a great job. There should be more discount for loyal customers.
Australia
was on time for my assignment due, it was clear and straight to the point, it had enough detail to know what was happening and which question was being answered
Australia