Andragogy Personal Reflection
Introduction
Malcolm Knowles introduced the term andragogy to the field of educational research in 1968, and he ultimately identified six underlying assumptions about adult learners (Merriam, Caffarella, and Baumgartner, 2007, p. 84). While it may seem obvious now that adult learners have different needs and motivations, it had not been previously delineated or identified as such. The phrase ‘non-traditional student’ has long been used to describe adults who return to an educational setting after they have been out of high school for a few, or many years. A non-traditional student is often one who has not entered college immediately following high school graduation, might have dependents, is financially independent, is working full or part-time, and who, in many cases, is highly motivated to pursue an education with a very specific goal in mind (Palatnick, n.d.). This group of adult learners comprises the subject of andragogy.
Traditional Learning Environment
The phrase traditional learning generally refers to an on-ground, face-to-face classroom setting, with a teacher lecturing from the front of the room. When I attended graduate school, 25 years after graduating from college, my program included weekend-intensive sessions once a month, held at a local college campus. We stayed in the dorms and met throughout the weekend to complete a large portion of one graduate course, which was followed by at-home assignments. One course was taught by a professor who lectured exclusively as his method of teaching. There was little interaction, and no media used. The class met for three hours on Friday evening, six hours on Saturday, and three hours on Sunday morning, for a total of 12 hours of lectures in...
... middle of paper ...
...ppened precisely because the group was comprised of adult learners who were self-directed, highly motivated, with broad experience and skills, ready to work and anxious to learn. We met all criteria identified in Knowles’ assumptions about adult learners simply because that is what we were, and his assumptions accurately describe the characteristics of this group.
Works Cited
Hoffman, B., Ed. (2011). Andragogy. Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Retrieved from: http://eet.sdsu.edu/eetwiki/index.php/Andragogy
Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Palatnick, F. (n.d.). Definition of non-traditional students: A paradigm change. Retrieved from: http://www.evolllution.com/opinions/definition-of-non-traditional-students-a-paradigm-change/
Adults are self-motivated. They learn best by building on what they already know and when they are actively engaged (Lindeman, 2010). The approach of adult education revolves around non-vocational ideals and is based on experience rather than subjects (Lindeman, 2010). It helps adults gain knowledge about their powers, capacities, and limitations (Funnell et al, 2012).
Essex, Belinda and Sean O’Toole. “The Adult Learner May Really Be a Neglected Species.” Australian Journal of Adult Learning (2012) Print.
Adult students' participation and persistence in educational activities ranging from adult literacy to doctoral programs is a complex phenomenon involving an array of factors. Adults are often affected by situational factors beyond their control—job, health problems, financial problems, legal problems, personal or family problems (Belzer 1998). Likewise, dispositional factors such as expectations, self-esteem, level of family support, and past educational experience, can be barriers to participation (Hubble 2000). Institutional factors such as red tape, program fees, scheduling, and procedures can either help or hinder participation (Quigley 1998). In fact, adult students who drop out are often actually "stopping out"—that is, interrupting their studies but planning to return (Frank and Gaye 1997)—or attending other institutions (Hoffman and Elias 1999).
Enhancing commerciality to acquire a better job position, teaching your children of the importance of education through example, and an increasing in personal satisfaction and enrichment are all outcomes of going back to school. An environmental fear of campus life is a real thing for adult learners. In 2013 there were 8.2 million adult students compared to the 12.2 million students under the age of 25. The rates of increase for adult students are expected to increase higher than students less than 25 years of age according to the national center for educational statistics. The demand for MBAs and the attendance of professional schools is increasing. A master’s degree is almost mandatory in order to obtain a 6-figure career. The support of family members helps whenever the overwhelming feeling of loneliness begins to creep in. My son telling me he’s proud of me nearly brought me to tears and so I encourage everyone thinking about going back to school to dive
Mirriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A
Knowles collected ideas about a theory of adult education from the end of World War 2, when he was introduced to the term “androgogy”. In 1966, Knowles meet Dusan Savicevic in Boston, U.S.A. Savicevic shared the term androgogy with Knowles and explained how it was used in the European context. .In 1967, Knowles made use of the term “Androgogy” to explain his theory of adult education. Then after consulting Merriam-Webster he converted the spelling of the term androgoy to andragogy and continued to make use of the term to explain his collection of ideas about adult learning. (Sopher 2003).
Merriam, S.B., Caffarella, R.S. &Baumgartner (2007) Learning in Adulthood: A comprehensive guide, san Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass
One theorist that is relevant to this study is Malcolm Knowles’s theory of adult learning. Though Malcom Knowles may not be the first one to introduce adult learning, he was the one that introduced andragogy in North America. (McEwen and Wills 2014). Andragogy means adult learning. The core concept of Knowles’s Adult learning theory is to create a learning environment or awareness for adults to understand why they learn .Knowles developed six main assumptions of adult learners. Those assumptions are the need to know, self- concept, experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning and motivation. (McEwen and Wills, 2014)
Knowles, M., Holton, E., & Swanson, R. (2011). The adult learner. (7th ed.). Burlington, MA: Taylor and Francis.
Billings, & Halstead, 2017.The curriculum preparation for adult learning is constructed in such a way to enhance individual learning through effective strategies. In the loud-cloud system of GCU commonly build on adult learners to involve in critical analysis to strengthen
As we know, human being keep learning though all their lives, Sometimes I am thinking how we adult learning. In this book, I found them--some related concepts about adult learning and ways to Self-Direct Learning(SDL). Before reading this book. I already knew what is the adult learner is. In China, students who are over 18 years old are the adult in General Principles Of the Civil Law. In some perspectives, University education can be called adult education. It is new for me to learn this knowledge, so I chose the first eight chapters of the textbook.
Prior Experience- Adults have a lot of previous experiments which may help them understand situations better, or it may make them biased toward learning new material, ideals or strategies.
Teaching the adult student is a great and unique responsibility; Andragogy preaches that teaching the adult learner takes a certain skill set and approach in order to be highly effective. The adult teaching theory and approach is based off the characteristics of the adult student. Andragogy views the adult learner as a very highly motivated student, a student ready and prepared to learn, and a student that comes to class with expectations of learning (Knowles 1984, pg12). With such a capable learner in the classroom the teacher must make the necessary adjustments. When teaching the adult learner, the teacher will have respect for their students and respect the fact that each student will have their own individual learning style. The teacher will also allow the adult student to experie...
Adult learning does not occur in a vacuum. What one needs or wants to learn, what opportunities are available, the manner in which one learns-all are to a large extent determined by the society in which one lives. Whenever adults are asked about their learning, they most often mention education and training programs sponsored by the workplace, colleges and universities, public schools, and other formal organizations. They first picture classrooms with “students” learning and “teachers” teaching in a highly structured format. Yet when we ask these same adults about what they have learned informally over the last year, they typically respond with descriptions of learning activities outside these formal settings. They discuss, for example, remodeling a house, which has involved everything form reading and talking...
The ideas established within the andragogical model offer suggestions and focus points to support the development of engaging and meaningful learning experiences for adults. In order to connect the andragogical assumptions with my reflections and further my thinking on professional development, I will first outline my memories and thoughts on each of the andragogical assumptions. Then, using my learning experiences as a guide, I will discuss how the professional learning opportunities at my school will change as a result of new understandings of adult