What are some effective ways to build relationships with adult learners?

1 Respect their experience

Adult learners bring a wealth of knowledge, skills, and perspectives to the learning environment and should be recognized and valued for their contributions. To build relationships with them, you need to respect their experience and create opportunities for them to share it. Ask open-ended questions that elicit their opinions, insights, and stories, provide feedback that acknowledges their strengths while challenging them to grow, and create opportunities for peer learning and collaboration that leverage their diverse backgrounds and expertise.

3 Accommodate their diversity

To build relationships with adult learners, you must consider their diverse learning styles, preferences, and abilities, as well as their life situations and responsibilities. To accommodate this diversity, you should offer a range of learning formats, modes, and resources that suit their ways of processing and expressing information. Additionally, it's important to adjust your communication style and frequency to their preferred channels and times. Finally, you should provide options for completing assignments and meeting deadlines that respect their individual circumstances and needs.

4 Engage their emotions

Adult learners are not only rational and cognitive beings, but also emotional and affective ones. To build relationships with them, you need to engage their emotions and create a positive learning climate. Show enthusiasm, passion, and humor in your teaching and interactions. Additionally, build trust, rapport, and respect with your students by being authentic, empathetic, and respectful. Moreover, foster a sense of community, belonging, and support among your students by facilitating social interactions, feedback, and recognition. This will help to ensure that adult learners feel connected, inspired, and empowered by their learning experience.

5 Empower their autonomy

Adult learners are self-directed and independent, so it is important to build relationships with them by empowering their autonomy and fostering a learner-centered approach. Invite their input and feedback on the course design, content, and delivery. Additionally, provide clear learning outcomes, criteria, and rubrics to enable them to monitor and assess their own learning. Furthermore, encourage adult learners to explore their own interests, questions, and challenges while pursuing their own learning paths and resources. By doing so, you can create an environment that allows them to feel in control of their learning process.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?