Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach
The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults
Chapter One
Twelve Principles for
Effective Adult Learning
A principle, philosophers tell us, is the beginning of an action. As
I begin the action of designing a course, a seminar, or a workshop
for adult learners, I can make informed decisions that will work
for these learners by referring to certain educational principles. I
have discovered that these principles apply across cultures. In this
first chapter of the new edition, we will examine twelve basic principles
that are deeply interconnected, intrinsically related one to
the other. In Training Through Dialogue (Vella, 1995) I name fifty
such principles and practices that work to make dialogue education
effective.
Although these principles and practices have been tested in
community education settings, I believe they can also offer insight
into educational processes for teachers and professors in more formal
systems of education. As we shall see in the case studies that
follow, they have been proven to work under diverse and sometimes
extraordinarily difficult conditio ... read full excerpt from Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults, Revised Edition ebook
