It seems as if every time I come up with a new, brainy idea, I find out that someone else already had the idea. Sometimes the originator turns out to be the leading authority on the topic.
I thought I had original thoughts about adult learning until I ran into a renowned American educator named Malcom Knowles (1913-1997). Knowles developed an entire set of concepts that describe the fundamental differences between teaching adults and teaching children. He even gave his adult-learning principles a name—andragogy—to distinguish them from the principles of pedagogy.
I think I’d have come up with a better name, but I can’t argue with Knowles’ Five Basic Assumptions about Adult Learners…