Gender Impact on Adult Education

Abstract

As society becomes more pluralistic, it behooves adult education to understand how gender intersects adult education so that equitable means of learning and teaching can empower all adults. In order to address gender issues in technology-enhanced adult education, the contributing factors of developmental learning need to be examined. Gendered learning has both biological and social constructs, which impact experiences in adulthood. Adult education needs to help learners re-negotiate their personal and social identities. In the process, educators can help students learn different ways to interact socially as well. Several gender-linked issues impact adult education; for example teaching across generations has a new twist because of socially-contextualized technology. In providing distance education, adult educators need to incorporate gender-sensitive resources, learning activities, technical issues, student-teacher relations, and assessment. Twenty-first century trends of changing economies, global interaction and interdependent literacies can help both genders learn optimally.