Essay Sample on Adult Education and Educational Experience

Introduction

The topic that I am currently attempting to learn is the role of self-regulated learning in adult education. Fundamentally, adult education is a developmental learning that adopts all forms of educational experiences required by both men and women according to their varying interests and needs. On a broader note, the programmes offered include the mass literacy, functional literacy, extramural programs, the correspondence courses, women education, and remedial education among others. As such, adult education has played a crucial role in increasing both the knowledge and skills of adult learners regarding various aspects of their lives. While it is evident that adult education is essential, the inclusion of self-regulated learning makes it even more critical and further easier for teachers to achieve their objectives. The adults often struggle tremendously to articulate their knowledge or transfer the domain-specific knowledge to a new setting. The goal of self-regulated learning is, therefore, to enhance the visibility of these learning strategies and eventually get automated for the adult learner.

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My primary motivation towards learning this topic were mainly the inspiring classroom lectures and the guided discussion amongst the students. The classroom lectures provide an opportunity to read, research and understand various course elements, most of which can be applied to gain a better understanding of the issues that happen within our society. I am, therefore, interested in learning about the impact that self-regulated learning has on adult education.

Phases of the Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) Approach to Education

According to Cetin (2015), self-regulated learning consists of three stages. These phases include forethought, performance, and self-reflection. These phases are more sequential. It means that the regulated learner follows these phases whenever they earn something (Cetin, 2015). The forethought phase is, therefore, a preparation step for self-regulated learning. This phase reveals the significant difference that exists between self-regulated learners and those who are not. It is based on the fact that the learners who are not self-regulated begin their learning without aforethought.

Performance is the next phase and involves an actual learning process. In this stage, the learner gets an opportunity to manage their learning through a process of self-control (Wolters & Hussain, 2015). Notably, restraint involves the development of strategies such as self-monitoring, which is valuable in the provision of feedback for the self-control process. As such, the learner becomes able to redevelop and modify their learning strategies.

The last stage is known as self-reflection. Fundamentally, this involves two main processes which include self-judgment and self-reaction (Cetin, 2015). A self-regulated learner in these stages, therefore, becomes able to self-evaluate themselves through analysis of things such as thinking about what caused the success or failure of learning. Additionally, with the self-evaluation, the self-regulated learner can diagnose whether they achieved their learning objectives or not (Lin-Siegler, Dweck, & Cohen, 2016). Most importantly, they can determine the level or degree of self-satisfaction.

Benefits and Challenges Associated with Self-Regulated Learning

Just like any other type of learning, self-regulated learning has several advantages in addition to the challenges. The benefits, in this case, refer to the good things associated with self-regulated learning while problems relate to the negative influences of self-regulated learning. One advantage of self-regulated learning is that students are in control of their learning process and therefore they can manage time more effectively. Secondly, the students feel a sense of achievement and fulfillment when they accomplish goals they have set for themselves and therefore are more likely to establish a more challenging objective in future (Cetin, 2015).

The challenges of self-regulated learning also exist. Firstly, only a small number of students can become excellent self-regulators. This reason is based on the fact that there is a considerable lack of instructional processes that enhance self-regulated learning in the lives of the students. As such, no students can demonstrate the elements that support self-regulation. The past experience of failure and reduced self-efficacy further reduces the abilities and desire of the students to self-regulate. As such, individuals who want to demonstrate self-regulation learning must use a well-structured mechanism, which mostly involves the adoption of the elements that constitute to self-regulation learning. As such, they will be able to achieve their goals, which could be simple or complex, and which could be easily converted into successful outcomes.

Application of Self-Regulated Learning in Adult Education

Good self-regulators have embraced the skills and habits to become efficient learners through exhibiting proper learning strategies, efforts, and persistence. The instructors must, therefore, have a better understanding of how to promote and train these skills to adult education students. The integration of this learning helps teachers to prepare learners for lifelong learning as well as the critical capacity aimed at transferring skills, knowledge and the abilities from one setting to another. Teachers can therefore apply self-regulated learning techniques by allowing students to demonstrate it in classrooms. These should be followed by a debriefing, which can make visible the difference that exists between the declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge to enable one make explicit points regarding ways of transferring the knowledge gained to academic tasks.

References

Cetin, B. (2015). Academic Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning in Predicting Academic Achievement in College. Journal of International Education Research, 11(2), 95-106. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1060062.pdf

Lin-Siegler, X., Dweck, C. S., & Cohen, G. L. (2016). Instructional interventions that motivate classroom learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 295. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000124

Wolters, C. A., & Hussain, M. (2015). Investigating grit and its relations with college students' self-regulated learning and academic achievement. Metacognition and Learning, 10(3), 293-311. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11409-014-9128-9