COVID-19 has laid bare a long-standing challenge to America’s economic landscape: an underpaid, underappreciated, and underprepared workforce that has recently faced the harshest of economic blows. Part of the solution for economic justice is an education and professional development system that recognizes the unique backgrounds and needs of each adult learner.

In partnership with educators, researchers, and training providers, Digital Promise’s Learner Variability Project has developed an evidence-based Adult Learner Model.

The Adult Learner Model is not a curriculum. Instead, it can be used to supplement and support any program or edtech platform being used to provide rigorous instruction for adult learners. A key function of our Learner Variability Navigator (LVN) is the ease with which the web app can tailor instruction to meet the individual needs of each learner. Based on the factors a facilitator or product developer selects, connections are made to strategies that aptly consider those factors.

“When instructors, trainers, and edtech developers are designing learning experiences for adults, the strategies selected should build on the strengths of the individual learners, clearly support their needs in meaningful ways, and build on their lived experiences,” said Trisha Callella, product partnerships director for the Learner Variability Project. “The Adult Learner Model Strategies identify how to support the full diversity of adult learners aligned to selected factors.”

Read the full article about adult learners by Barbara Pape at Getting Smart.