Malcolm S. Knowles (1913–1997)

My dissertation topic focused on informal learning. I wanted to know how extension educators were staying current in their discipline as well as learning how to be educators and use technology in their teaching. You could say that I was interested in self-directed learning. One of the concerns the educators also think about is how do they transform their students into lifelong learners. I am pleased to report that Malcolm Knowles's book, target="_top">Self-Directed Learning: A Guide for Learners and Teachers shares strategies for both learners and teachers. Read more… (meer)

Reading the sixth edition of "The Adult Learner" reminds us why the book justifiably carries the subtitle "The Definitive Classic in Adult Education and Human Resource Development"--and why a seventh edition is also available. It's thoughtful. It's thorough. It's engaging. It acknowledges its limitations. It surveys a variety of other seminal learning texts produced over a period of several decades and leaves us with nearly 40 pages of additional resources to explore. And, most importantly, it reminds us of how consistently we have identified and sought solutions to the challenges learners of all ages face and also reminds us how far we still have to go in effectively responding to those challenges. It offers an approach to learning that is compatible with what others, including Eduard Lindeman, Carl Rogers, and Robert Gagné, have written in their own classic works on learning. It's an approach that appeals to us at a personal level and that can easily be recognized in our own experiences and drive to remain immersed in learning. And it supports a wonderfully inspiring philosophy expressed by Canadian psychologist Sidney Journard in 1972 and included in "The Adult Learner": "Learning is not a task or problem; it is a way to be in the world" (p. 15)--words that might help all of us be more effective in our efforts to facilitate training-teaching-learning that produces positive results.… (meer)

The fifth edition is the best survey of the current state of adult learning on the market today. It updates Knowles’s original with current research. As I flip through the pages, I am struck at the number of marginal notes I took and sections I highlighted when I read this book in 2002. As an instructional designer, I keep it on my bookshelf at work, where it makes a handy reference when I need to explain just about anything to management. Although the book is for an academic audience and thoroughly documented, the text is very accessible.… (meer)