Adult Learning Theories and their Role in Instructional Design, Curriculum Development and Educational Technology

Abstract

Modern lifelong learning, and especially when it involves technical issues, is absolutely necessary in any modern form of development and environmental protection. States and societies need to constantly focus on lifelong learning because it is the best investment that pays off in the short and long term. A critical stage was emergence of adult learning theories in learning process. Cognitivism, constructivism, Behaviorism and connectivism have been broadly applied in educational learning process to enhance the educational learning system according to the students capabilities and requirements. This study analyzed four adult learning theories namely constructivism, behaviorism, connectivism and cognitivism and their importance in lesson design, curriculum development and educational technology. The current review study's findings revealed that cognitivism, constructivism and behaviourism are foundations for syllabus development, instruction design and technology development. To incorporate technology into the learning process, the connectivism learning theory connects the learning theories of cognitivism, behaviourism and constructivism. The difficulties in putting learning theories into practice, as well as potential solutions, are addressed in this article.