Types of Learning Experience of Adult Learners

Abstract

Often those who participated in educational programs improved their reflective thinking and imaginative insights by applying their existing experience, and that ah led to a change in meaning scheme or meaning perspectives. Learners' changes lead to either personal development or social action, Which were represented by different types of learners' learning experience. This paper aims at illustrating a diversity of learning experience of adult learners present after they participated in a series of educational programs. Specifically, this paper intends to apply the subtle components of Mezirow's transformative learning to portray adults' learning experience. The components of transformative learning that identified in this paper represents of learners' experience, reflective actions, development, and social contexts. Based on the four components of transformative learning, this paper identifies three themes and eight sub-themes as bases to interpret the types of learners' learning experiences. The themes and sub-themes include (1) shaping working life: advancing and broadening working knowledge toward the future, identifying working outlook; (2) identifying self and life: learning care of self, realizing the meaning of life, and sustaining relationships with family or friends; (3) increasing social interaction: caring for and to others, serving others, and appreciating the community. Based on theses themes, this paper presents seven learners' learning experiences. The evidences represent affluent learning experiences among seven learners. At first, they all represent learning experiences in shaping working life. Four of seven learners anticipated advancing and broadening their working knowledge toward future, and the rest three learners expected to identify working outlook. Secondarily, the evidences that interpret seven learners' selves and life are less than that they present in shaping working life. One of seven cared and made confident to self through educational programs. Three of them paid great price for realizing the meaning of their lives. Two of them (one already presents caring of self) thought that they benefit though intimate relationship with classmates. Thirdly and finally, the seven learners seldom reflected their learning in interaction with others within a cultural and social context. Only one of seven learners represents his concerns to share his idea with general public audience. Speaking to reflective actions and changed perspectives, the seven learners showed their reflective action including the rage from high to low level of reflection, or transformed perspective in shaping working life. Six of seven learners had rare evidences to reflect and change perspectives in identifying self and life. Only one learner tried to share his ideas with others in order to increasing social interaction.