The Adult Learner: An Awakening

Abstract

This chapter reveals the story of how part-time adult learners disrupted the traditional university way of operating by putting into question almost universal assumptions about the process and outcomes of higher education. The emergence of andragogy (adult learning theory) popularized by Malcolm Knowles in the 1970s gave rise to innovative ways of educating. It set the stage for the creation of new types of campuses, including the first steps into online learning. Universities accommodated the adult learner by better meeting their instructional needs, altering class formats, delivery systems, and conceptions about what constitutes academic quality. The sheer size of the adult learner student population changed the structure and operation of many universities.