Structural
scheme of adult education and adult learning
Andragogy
and its Contributions to Higher Education
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.
School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Post 297
“Knowles’ theory of Andragogy is an
attempt to develop a theory specifically for adult learning” (Andragogy (Malcolm Knowles), 2015). In higher
educational contexts and teaching scenarios, it has been well understood that
working adult students (WASs) and traditional learners cannot be taught in the
very same way. “Knowles emphasizes that adults are self-directed and expect to
take responsibility for decisions” (Andragogy
(Malcolm Knowles), 2015). Those decisions Knowles talks about are
connected to how they perceive themselves in term of knowledge and abilities,
self-concept, expectations, needs, and attitudes towards their academic life
and how much they have learned empirically at their workplaces. “Adult learning
programs must accommodate this fundamental aspect” (Andragogy (Malcolm Knowles), 2015) of Andragogy to their study programs
and to the corresponding training that needs to be provided to their faculty
members.
As pointed out before, faculty members
need to comprehend that WASs are quite different from the regular traditional
learners. “Andragogy makes the following assumptions about the design of
learning: (1) Adults need to know why they need to learn something, (2) Adults
need to learn experientially, (3) Adults approach learning as problem-solving,
and (4) Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value” (Andragogy
(Malcolm Knowles), 2015). This is the way WASs are expecting to be
taught by their instructors, and to better understand the relationship of these
four assumptions, the infographic summary below has been prepared.
The idea behind this simple
infographic summary is to always keep in mind the four basic principles in
WASs’ education. “Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of
their instruction” (Andragogy [Malcolm Knowles],
2015). Opposed to the common belief where the traditional learners do not get
“involved” in how they are going to be taught, WASs have an active
participation on “the planning and evaluation of their instruction” since they
come to class ready to acquire knowledge that can be quite practical for their
day-to-day office tasks. WASs also contribute with the expansion of contents
that courses in higher education offer due to the concrete needs that they have
in their corporate positions; besides, they also participate in the ways they
can be graded to demonstrate how they can handle new information but applied to
their current jobs. This is quite different to what we commonly expect from the
traditional students who lack this dynamism imported to class by WASs.
Understanding
the Working Adult Learners,
Created by Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano
[Click picture to enlarge.]
[Click picture to enlarge.]
“Experience (including mistakes)
provides the basis for learning activities”
(Andragogy [Malcolm Knowles], 2015). Comprehending the prevalent dynamism in
WASs’ way of learning, any knowledge-building activity needs to be rooted in
their empirical experience(s) gained while at work. Since WASs’ maturity allows
them to self-direct them and self-control their learning in terms of content
and time, they need to be provided the chance to exercise their horizontality
in learning. Problem-based and project-based tasks are ideal for them
especially when learning activities are addressing common problems faced by
them while doing what it is expected from them but efficiently and effectively.
And as noted before, WASs come to class with empirical skills developed at work
and that need to be transformed into competencies, and all these can be
achieved by allowing them to exercise their prior knowledge in what they are
accustomed to doing.
“Adults are
most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to their job
or personal life” (Andragogy [Malcolm Knowles], 2015). WASs greatly rely on
their former working experiences to deal with the content of courses, projects,
and so on. If course learning is aimed at interesting them, it needs to be
grounded on hands-on experiences that have a direct impact on what they do at
work, either by clarifying them processes or by giving them extra ideas of how
to face those processes. WASs want to see that what they learn have an
immediate use in what they have to perform at work. Traditional learners are
not exactly made this way, and they simply received knowledge to be later on
used in their future jobs sience they lack “immediate relevance” to their lives
or even studies. These learning experinces targeted at helping WASs develop
themselves are not quite productive for traditional learners whose expectations
are merely in the creation of skills that can be used in their future
positions.
Finally,
“adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented” (Andragogy [Malcolm Knowles], 2015). WASs use
new information to carry out tasks more efficiently at work, not later on in
life. That is why they need to be challenged with problems they may face
regularly at work; in this way, they can come to exercise all they have gained
in their workplaces to find sensible solutions to what they are confronted
with. WASs come to our classrooms with lots of empirical knowledge and skills
developed solely at work and that –by means of our guidance- need to become
competencies. Content orientation in teaching is not for these kinds of
learners; it works pretty well with traditional learners. However this latter
type of students need to be also taught in this way, too.
The true
Andragogic facilitator needs to “design didactic situation that allow adults to
meet new self-realization possibilities”
(Laureate Education Inc., n.d.). If this is not properly met,
dissatisfaction is going to be present in every WAS in a higher education
classroom. “The Andragogic Facilitator will accept and value every student as a
complete person, will respect their ideas and thoughts” (Laureate Education
Inc., n.d.). This respect for the kind of individual each WAS is can provide
the instructor with room to successfully create a learning community where the
exchange of data and the sharing of experiences can help each and every one
(including the instructor) with real-life experiential learning activities to
be later on adopted and adapted to enhace their working perfomance to more
efficient standards.
References
Andragogy
(Malcolm Knowles). (2015). Retrieved from InstructionalDesign.Org:
http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/andragogy.html
Laureate Education Inc. (n.d.). Understanding the Working
Adult Student. Obtenido de Laureate Faculty Development: http://global.laureate.net
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
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