“Andragogy is based on a number of assumptions about the adult learner. The European…meaning “the scientific art of helping adults learn”…” (Merriam, Caffarella and Baumgartner, 2007, p. 84) Adult learners must have the ability to direct themselves, to to be accepted as their peers, to have their experiences recognized, to have the help and respect of instructors, staff and colleagues. Adult students do not learn the same things as younger students because past experience and knowledge have provided a great wealth of adult informational wisdom. Adult learning is directly related to the knowledge acquired by adult students. TRADITIONAL LEARNING CONTEXT How to learn from a single lecture? This question has been asked many times but just as often, there is no real answer. Personally, I am not a lecture learner and struggled in a few of my undergraduate courses. I was attending Henderson Community College and to cover all of my general education needs, I had to take two history courses. I had decided to take summer classes, via an online format, so that my family and I could camp and vacation during the summer. The course I struggled with the most could have been described as non-traditional and traditional. This particular history course, Kentucky History, was taught at Eastern Kentucky University and featured two one-hour live seminars per week. During the live seminars, the instructor lectured continuously, there was no interaction between the student and instructor, nor any visual aids of any kind. For a good hour I had to sit and listen to a lecture from an instructor who had a strong southern accent. The real purpose of the courses was never clear to me...in the middle of the article......I hadn't found it yet.CONCLUSIONThe difference between a traditional learning environment and a learning environment for adults is vast. The traditional learning environment will typically take place in a physical institute; whereas an adult learning environment can take place in any higher learning capacity. As I described my own situation, I took an online course and was still immersed in a lecture environment. The classroom environment is teacher-centered, unlike the adult learning environment which is more student-centered. Finally, the adult learning environment is based on the individual adult, their way of seeing things, their past experiences, their motivations to learn and their own initiative. Works Cited Merriam, SB, Caffarella, RS and Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning as an Adult: A Complete Guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.