The Types of Adult Education
If you are an adult looking to pursue post-secondary or graduate level education, you can choose from the various available options. Going back to college will help you develop new skills, abilities, and knowledge. Check out these options.
- Self-directed learning
You acquire abilities, skills, and knowledge via personal research, application, study, and assessment.
Advantages of self-directed learning
l Learning is self-paced
l There is no cost of formal tuition
l It is flexible
l You have lots of freedom
l It might take longer than other methods to complete the learning process
l There isn’t any knowledgeable or objective measure of expertise. Education involves making and correcting mistakes. When there is no accurate assessment, errors might be overlooked entirely.
l Learning might not be thorough enough and systematic
l You need to practice proper self-assessment, high levels of persistence and objectivity
l You don’t get any support or direction. So, difficult courses/ abilities/ skills might be abandoned because of lack of support.
Disadvantages of self-directed learning
- Instructor-led courses
These are formal courses offered by educational institutions.
Advantages of instructor-led courses
l Learning is guided, assessed and corrected
l Courses are developed in a systematic manner
l Courses can be learned in a shorter period because of the scheduled classes and course timeframe
l Peer-to-peer interaction promotes learning and professional networking
l High cost
Disadvantages of instructor-led classes
- Online or distance education
Here, you learn from the comfort of your day-to-day activities.
Advantages of online and distance learning
l Course instructor availability
l Schedule flexibility
l Formal assessment and evaluation
l Even though the instructor is available to offer guidance, most of the course is self-taught
l There is minimal interaction between the learners and the instructors. Therefore, you have limited opportunities for making professional networks
l Although formal evaluation exists, you might not receive feedback. Thus, there is a need for a valid error correction procedure for learning to proceed smoothly.