Contemporary Theories of Learning

This tenth anniversary edition of Knud Illeris’s classic 2008 text is an updated and definitive collection of today’s most influential learning theorists, now containing additional chapters from John Hattie and Gregory Donoghue, Sharan Merriam, Gert Biesta and Carolyn Jackson. This book brings together world-renowned experts, who each present their understanding of what learning is and how human learning takes place, addressing the social, psychological and emotional contexts of learning.

In this clear and coherent overview, Professor Knud Illeris has collated chapters that explain both the complex frameworks in which learning takes place and the specific facets of learning. Each international expert provides either a seminal text or an entirely new précis of the conceptual framework they have developed over a lifetime of study, such as adult learning theory, learning strategies, and the cultural and social nature of learning processes.

Elucidating the key concepts of learning, Contemporary Theories of Learning provides both the perfect desk reference and an ideal introduction for students; it is an invaluable resource for all researchers and academics involved in the study of learning, and provides a detailed synthesis of current learning theories… all in the words of the theorists themselves.

Knud Illeris is Professor Emeritus of Lifelong Learning at Aarhus University, Denmark, and founder of Simonsen & Illeris Educational Consultancy. He is internationally acknowledged as an innovative contributor to learning theory and adult education. He has been an honorary professor at Colombia University in New York and is a member of The International Adult Education Hall of Fame. He is the author of numerous books, including Understanding Learning and Motivation in Youth (2018); How We Learn, 2nd edition (2017); Learning, Development and Education (2016); Transformative Learning and Identity (2014); and The Fundamentals of Workplace Learning (2011).