This course aimed to help students answer the question “what is the purpose of education?” » As the course progressed, students were asked to think about how this applied to their professional experience. Since everyone brings a variety of skills, experiences, and backgrounds, this goal will obviously be different for each student. This article will focus on the purpose of education in the construction industry, particularly as it relates to heavy equipment operations. This article will discuss not only the purpose of education, but also the nature of learning, teaching models, as well as the applicability of online learning to this profession. The Purpose of Education Education in general can be characterized as growth in human knowledge and skills. , or attitudes (Knowles, Holton and Swanson, 2011). Essentially, education is the activity that people use to develop their own personal knowledge, skills, or attitudes (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2011). Education is more about the system in place to help bring about change, or in other words, education is the agent that helps bring about change, the teacher or educator (Knowles, Holton and Swanson , 2011). It is imperative that educators understand the importance they play in the role of education. Educators should keep three main elements in mind: self-reflection, student characteristics, and the nature of the content (CSU-Global, 2013). Although construction is considered a field in which a wide variety of individuals are generally not well educated and many of whom have been in trouble with the law, the education of these individuals remains a vital process for the industry and the businesses. The heavy equipment industry is one in which education is ongoing and is a necessity for...... middle of paper ......r attitudes.Works CitedColorado State University-Global Campus. (2013). Teaching overview. Module 1 of Foundations of Learning Theory, OTL-531. Evans, D.N. and Lang, H.R. (2006). Models, strategies and methods for effective teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Knowles, MS, Holton, EF, & Swanson, RA (2011). The adult learner (7th ed.). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Merriam, SB, Caffarella, RS, & Baumgartner, LM (2007). Learning as an Adult (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. O'Conner, G. (n.d.). The nature of learning. Retrieved from http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Class/est571go/learning.htmlSmith, R. M. (2008). Conquer content. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Worksheet Library. (nd). Direct teaching. Retrieved from http://www.worksheetlibrary.com/teachingtips/directinstruction.html