Adult Learners

• Philosophy and Guiding Principles 
• Adult learners bring multiple roles, perspectives, and agendas with them to learning situations 
• Learners need affirmation of their individuality, diversity, and potential 
• Meaningful, long lasting learning originates in experience 
• Content and the process of acquiring it are equally important 
• Learning is lifelong 
• Effective learning is student-centered 
• Practice and theory together are an interactive process 
• Sound Practices 
• Stages of Learning at Cambridge College 
• Diverse Learning Structures 
• Structured courses 
• Group as curriculum 
• Self-directed and individualized learning 
• Incidental learning 
• Program Goals and Outcomes 

Philosophy and Guiding Principles

We at Cambridge College believe that people are always assimilating current learning experiences and becoming new beings. As educators, we empower adults to participate more effectively and become leaders in their communities, making meaningful, practical contributions to families, workplaces, and communities.

The Cambridge College teaching and learning model is derived from theories of adult learning and our extensive experience with adult students. The sound practices that guide all aspects of Cambridge College - admissions, learning environment, faculty selection, course offerings, assessment of learning, and support services - are derived from the lessons learned in the process of meeting our students' needs.

Adult learners bring multiple roles, perspectives, and agendas with them to learning situations

Adults expect education to support to their roles as individuals, family members, working professionals, and community members.

Learners need affirmation of their individuality, diversity, and potential

Each person can learn, has a preferred way of learning and thinking, and knows his or her life experiences. Each person has unique worth, experience, and capabilities. Highly diverse classes provide rich opportunities for learning; this is Cambridge College's strength.

Meaningful, long lasting learning originates in experience

Experience happens in a context; therefore in each classroom the group's needs, strengths, and interactions are the beginning of the curriculum. Interactive communication among students and faculty is most important. Learning is socially constructed and then is individualized by students for their own needs and competence. Further learning comes from the experience of putting theories into practice in their own lives.

Content and the process of acquiring it are equally important

A learning community provides the context for learning; being and feeling part of that community enhances learning. Learning is a flowing, organic process of structured and unstructured activities. The resulting learning has an emergent quality. The context and processes of learning, together with the skills and knowledge taught, produces competent performance.

Learning is lifelong

Learning how to learn empowers and motivates people to become life-long learners. Genuine learning experiences can transcend inequities, change and heal learners, and enable them to do the un-learning that is necessary for new learning.

Effective learning is student-centered

Instruction and learning begin with students' prior experiences and knowledge. Each one has a different starting point; instructors provide an entry point for each student. The outcomes and assessment of learning are negotiated so that they are meaningful to both learners and instructors.

Practice and theory together are an interactive process

Theories inform practice and practice modifies theory. No one theory completely informs the learning and teaching process, nor enhances learning for all. Multiple theories inform us about the complexities of each profession or field of study.

These guiding principles and beliefs shape all aspects of teaching and learning at Cambridge College, such as program planning and outcomes (what students need to gain from the learning process to be successful in their lives).

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Sound Practices

Our guiding principles and beliefs are translated into sound teaching practices and learning experiences for our adult students and support systems that meet their needs.

Because Cambridge College believes that each person can learn, entrance requirements are not critical and are not a barrier. Emphasis is on meeting high expectations by the end of each program, including knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values.

Because we observe that each person has a unique way of learning and thinking, faculty are expected to be familiar with different learning styles and practice varied strategies in the classroom to address them. They find out how the students in each class group learn and begin where they are and how they learn at present. Then faculty design learning activities accordingly. Learning activities may include lectures, group presentations, role playing, hands-on activities. Methods of inquiry may be Socratic, clinical, hypothetical, field-based; individual, or collective.

Each student's uniqueness, capabilities, and experiences are affirmed, making new learning possible, and genuinely inviting them to participate. Each student is expected to share their experiences with the group; to be a teacher and learner at the same time. Thus, learning becomes a collaboration among faculty and students, and the group functions as the curriculum.

As students are provided new experiences, they use their store of knowledge to interpret experience and to transform it into new knowledge, skills, or attitudes. The objective is to nurture and direct this growth in a supportive learning environment.

Because learning originates in experience, classroom experiences are created in which learning is student-centered and socially constructed. Individuals become linked with the socio-cultural world and individualize the learning for their own needs. In that sense, all learning is individual, but the group and the social constructs facilitate it.

Because adults come to learning experiences with multiple roles and agendas, they appreciate unfinished, emergent learning. Because adults expect education to support to their roles and agendas, Cambridge College academic programs are career-focused, supporting working adults' efforts to advance in their careers or change directions; improving their effectiveness as parents, employees, community members, and individuals.

Theory and practice are an interactive process in classroom discussions, blending academic theory, research, and current information with personal values, experience, and professional practice. Many faculty are practicing professionals in their fields, bringing both academic and professional perspectives to the classroom.

Because theories inform practice and practice modifies theory, learning processes are as important as the content. Learning processes affirm previous experience or create cognitive dissonance. Through sharing experiences and reflecting on them in a supportive classroom, students can transcend experiences of inequity, pain from previous failures, limitations, and the past itself. As cognitive dissonance is resolved, students learn and grow.

For such learning to occur, the following developmental stages within learners must be recognized and addressed.

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Stages of Learning at Cambridge College

First, learners seek something - content, skills, and a degree. Therefore, Cambridge College programs clearly spell out what is offered, what is expected, and the outcomes - skills, knowledge, procedures, level and nature of competence.

Second, learners look for affirmation and acknowledgment of their past experiences. Therefore programs have a place where this happens and processes that make it happen (e.g., the seminars). For our adult learners, the content, setting, mastery, and level of competence and performance expected are vitally important.

Third, students look for the relevance of new learning, and connect it with their previous learning and current needs as a person, as a professional, and as a member and leader of a family and community. These needs are met by many varied courses taught by faculty who are experts in their subject areas and also in the learning needs of adult students. Students, perceiving their instructors as knowledgeable, often identify with these mentor/teachers who help them in the transformation process.

Fourth, learners identify with the new knowledge, skills and processes and begin to master them. They internalize and apply these new experiences to their various roles and responsibilities.

Finally, students take charge of their own learning and recognize the need for lifelong learning. They plan for further learning to answer many new unfolding questions. Students become their own teachers, identifying learning needs and garnering resources inside and outside the community to address them. When this stage of learning is reached, learning has transcended the past and the present, Cambridge College's ultimate objective.

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Diverse Learning Structures

Learning begins with experiences; reflecting on experiences transforms them into knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, beliefs, and competent performance. Learning is individual but the context is social. Therefore, learning experiences and settings at Cambridge College are carefully planned.

Structured courses

Some courses have predetermined objectives, outcomes, and methods of assessment. The faculty instructor is an expert authority on the well-defined, pre-determined content that students are to acquire. There is a “finished” quality to this knowledge.

Group as curriculum

An on-going professional seminar is a hallmark of each degree program at Cambridge College. The seminars and courses in appropriate subjects are designed as group learning structures.

Each member of the class is an active contributor to the learning and teaching process; the instructor facilitates and organizes the discussion. The instructor helps draw hypotheses and theories from the group's experiences and knowledge and connects them with recognized academic theories, principles, and knowledge. The instructor probes for depth and reasoning behind ideas, and suggests new experiences and further learning.

Group learning by students in the process of becoming has a spontaneous, unfinished or emergent quality.

"Each of us has things to teach and things to learn; none of us knows what all of us know."

In a group learning setting where adults come with many experiences, the collective knowledge is so vast that the interactions and synergy result in learning that is more than the sum of the constituents. The faculty make that synergy possible and also maintain the individuality of each learner.

The objectives and content reflect the group and its concerns. The outcome is only partly predetermined, but the process for determining the content is defined; the methods of assessment are value-free and nonjudgmental; and the process is more important than the content.

Self-directed and individualized learning

Each degree program requires students to complete a final project in an area of their own interest. The student determines the content of the project and negotiates the outcomes and methods of assessment.

During the process, students develop a high level of life-long learning skills. They identify an area of learning emerging from interest, utility, or challenge, to answer questions related to personal or professional concerns. They explore their prior experiences and learning, integrate their learning from courses, jobs, and other settings, and evaluate their need for more learning. Students gain new knowledge, and become and perceive themselves as competent. They experience success, recognize their self-worth, and desire to learn more.

Incidental learning

A great deal of learning is unplanned, unstructured, and has a quality of chance. The College provides many opportunities for these chances to multiply, such as workshops, colloquia, community gatherings, information sessions, orientations, celebrations, graduations, chance meetings and conversations with faculty, guests and other students

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Program Goals and Outcomes

Cambridge College is a learning community in which adult learners experience educational practices that honor and empower them. Cambridge College develops and enhances skills, competencies, attitudes, values and habits of mind which enable the learners to competently meet personal needs and professional challenges. Our academic programs stir and excite the emotions, curiosity, and intellect to render them life- long learners. Learners will:

• Discover their strengths and unique ways of learning and thinking.
• Gain the skills, knowledge, and perspectives to make sense out of experience and the larger world as an individual, professional, and community member; and build on this understanding to become a lifelong learner
• Be affirmed as individuals and professionals
• Work effectively with people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs, effectively helping them realize their potential.
• Acquire content and skills in their area of study, and meet professional standards in the field
• Have an ongoing network of relationships with fellow learners and faculty

Cambridge College, therefore, aspires to be a visionary organization and learning community. Many of our students report that the dynamic learning process at Cambridge College has transformed their professional and personal lives. Click here to request the Cambridge College Course Catalog

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