Knowles’ concept for andragogy incorporated four assumptions: maturity, allowing a person to move from dependent to self directing learning, adults accumulating experiences that they use as resources for learning, adults learning relying on their social culture and adults learning that is problem centered opposed to subject centered. From these assumptions, Knowles felt that successful adult learning programs could be established. His premise was that adult learners are “self-directed” and have the desire to take part in their own learning experiences, (Merriam, Carrafella & Baumgartner, 2007). In other words, andragogy focus the learning experience on the adults learning process instead of the content. Since inception, andragogy has taken on a broader meaning than adult learners, but now the term defines alternative to pedagogy and is linked to learner-focused education for all ages, children to adults.
The Adult Learning Theory COLL100 D143 American Military University Amy Peterson The Adult learning theory is a topic that depicts how adults adapt to life circumstances and styles of learning from childhood to adulthood. The basic grasp of how our minds works and operate under different situation and life demands. It is my in-depth interest in this topic that prompts me to do further research into this topic. To gain the knowledge and insight of how we obtain new challenges and develop our own style learning helps society move toward the Adult Learning Theory. In How Adults Learn, Marcia says, “people can learn from the moment of birth.
Education has traditionally been associated with young children and youth but the twenty first century has turned the tables on the concept of education by incorporating a revolutionary term called “ Adult learning” . It is a known fact that humans learn through out their life span but a conscious learning process is termed as education and when Adults involve themselves in the process of learning it is called training or Adult learning. The main features which define adult learning are -: 1. Adults learn best when they determine for themselves what ,how and when they should learn unlike a school defined curriculum designed by a board and compulsorily taught and tested by a system. 2.
Therefore, the student was viewed as an adult learner. Honey and Mumford (1989) describes learning styles as activist, reflector, theorist and pragmatist. The author’s student’s preferred learning style was examined by using Honey and Mumford learning style questionnaire for much more effective learning to take place and this showed that the learner is an activist who thrives on the challenge of new experiences and learns by active experimentation (Kolb, 1984). The student was required to adopt a reflective learning style for more successful and efficient
But study has shown that every adult learner have their preferred styles of learning. Adult learners are the age group of 25 and older from different cultural backgrounds that do have diverse responsibilities and job experiences. Adult learning theory: andragogy is very important; it’s very hard at the same time. The reason for that is; because as adult they need to be able to see the relevancy of what they are learning. IMPORTTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF ADULT LEARNER To better understand the adult learning theory, one must understand some of the important characteristics of the adult learners.
ASSIGNMENT 501 ASSIGNMENT 501 The principles of Andragogy (How adults learn) The principles of Andragogy (How adults learn) Assignment 501: Andragogy According to Malcom Knowles, an American educator well known for the use of the term Andragogy in association to the adult education. Andragogy is the art & science of adult learning, therefore Andragogy refers to any form of adult learning whereas Pedagogy refers to child learning. Knowles (1970) suggested that there were obvious differences in characteristics between adults and child learners, Knowles stated that adult learners are internally motivated, they have their own needs and are more goal orientated, they also have a vast amount of experience in life and also work which can be valuable in learning, adults are more practical and have the ambition to complete tasks rather than just learning a subject, and adults like to have their contributions valued. Knowles (1978:56) writes that “It is my own observation that those students who have entered a professional school or a job have made a big step toward seeing themselves as essentially self-directing. They have largely resolved their identity-formation issues; they are identified with an adult role”.
What are some of the barriers & problems faced by adults when returning to formal education and learning? How can they be overcome? Introduction The focus on this essay will be about the barriers and problems faced by adults, when they return back to formal education and learning, the question is how can they overcome this? The most essential part of adult education is by engaging in a continuous learning in order to remove barriers to their learning skills, for this, Merriam & Brockett (1997) defined adult education‘ as activities intentionally designed for the purpose of bringing about learning among those whose age, social roles, or self-perception define them as adults." Adult education may also be designed for those that did not have the opportunity to attend formal education when they were young or due to one reason or the other they have decided to upgrade their educational qualification by going back to study and can be able to develop their ethical minds for the fact that the ethical minds, according to Gardner (2011) ‘falls within the province of adolescences and adulthood’ and developing ethical minds is a way of overpowering powerful habit of unschooled mind.
Enlisted below is the broad classification of adult learning process into various sub-concepts such as:- • Firstly, Androgogy that is the art and science of making adults learn by an educator. • Secondly, Self-directed approach that is the need of individual to manage her or his own learning • Thirdly, Transformational approach or the psycho-cultural and cognitive restructuring of an individual due to experiences • Lastly, the class, gender and ethnicity learning that accentuate the impact of societal factors on learning. Androgogy It can be defined as the approach to become self-reliant, autonomous and self-directed by the means of experiences. It is not qualified by mission and vision but academic learning including reflection, critique
Teaching Critical Reflection The ability to reflect critically on one’s experience, integrate knowledge gained from experience with knowledge possessed, and take action on insights is considered by some adult educators to be a distinguishing feature of the adult learner (Brookfield 1998; Ecclestone 1996; Mezirow 1991). Critical reflection is the process by which adults identify the assumptions governing their actions, locate the historical and cultural origins of the assumptions, question the meaning of the assumptions, and develop alternative ways of acting (Cranton 1996). Brookfield (1995) adds that part of the critical reflective process is to challenge the prevailing social, political, cultural, or professional ways of acting. Through the process of critical reflection, adults come to interpret and create new knowledge and actions from their ordinary and sometimes extraordinary experiences. Critical reflection blends learning through experience with theoretical and technical learning to form new knowledge constructions and new behaviors or insights.
Albert Einstein once said that the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. I believe the concept of learning and teaching, similar to the world around us, should not be a rigid entity, rather a fluid one with the ability to transform and adapt to the scenario or context. A more modern paradigm of learning envisions the institution of learning itself as a learner- over time it continually learns how to produce more learning with each graduating class, each entering student (Barr & Tagg, 1995). This study has two intertwined objectives, to illuminate education as a transformative endeavour and to discuss the theoretical and philosophical elements of critical perspectives of curriculum and pedagogy. Furthermore, the application and implications of critical curriculum and pedagogy will be revealed and debated in order to fully deconstruct meaning of the aforementioned intentions.