Adult Learners’ Preferences in Institutions of Higher Learning: A Case of Africa International University (AIU), Kenya (Published)
The adult learner emerges in the education system as a new breed of learner that the traditional education system had not anticipated. This poses challenges to the traditional education system as student preferences of various learning styles may shift depending on the learning situation. This paper is a call for lecturers in institutions of higher learning to develop teaching strategies that match the learning preferences of post-graduate students for enhanced learning. Descriptive survey design which used the cross-sectional approach to data collection was adopted. The population constituted all the 397 post-graduate students at Africa International University out of which a sample of 199 participants from the post-graduate Diploma, Masters’ level and Doctoral programmes was obtained. Data collection was done using a questionnaire guide and analysed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). A modified version of the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales (GRSLSS) was used to measure the learning preferences. The findings revealed that majority of the students preferred participant, both independent and dependent and collaborative learning. Learning preferences vary according to the learning situation and the teachers’ style. The paper recommends exposure to various learning strategies by lecturers.
Keywords: Adult Learning, GRSLSS, Learner Preferences, Post-graduate