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Short essay about the history of education
Strengths of self directed learning
Short essay about the history of education
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Introduction
The role of education will always be to convey knowledge to a variety of generations, providing students the skills to adapt appropriately to social changes and preparing them for lifelong learning. Modern education focuses on learners understanding their own educational needs. Zmeyov (1998) points out that the shift into modern education is due to increased adult education. Unfortunately, adults do not learn effectively with the educational framework of teaching younger generations, otherwise known as pedagogy. This resulted in principles and theories developed specifically for the adult learner, otherwise known as andragogy. Once andragogy was developed as a learning theory for adults, several more learning theories fell into
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An early pioneer in SDL was Houle (1961) with the first inclusive theoretical development provided by Tough (1967), although Knowles (1980) had a contributing hand to it as well. “Self directed learning should have as its goal the development of the learner’s capacity to be self directed” (Merriam, 2001). Two more important goals for self-directed learning include transformational learning and social action promotion. A concern that experts had with andragogy was its lack of context for the learning, and as a result, there are opinions that SDL needs to demonstrate a social context and less focus on the …show more content…
The Socratic method of teaching experientially is attributed to the philosopher Socrates. Many learning theories such as these last the ages and simply evolve and adapt based on the equally evolving social needs combined with technological enhancement. Dewey is a founding philosopher of the pragmatic (progressive) educational philosophy from the turn of the twentieth century. The decades that followed demonstrates a strong development in the promotion of experiential learning, which is yet another important adult learning theory that was not discussed in this paper. However, Dewey focused on practical problem solving and experience reflection, which is a strong component in all the adult learning theories.
Still other classics are early influencers of adult learning theories with Kolb’s experiential learning, Tough’s self directed learning, and Mezirow’s transformative learning, yet these individuals cannot be considered the single contributor of any one of the learning theories. We cannot put all adult learning in a box since each individual has a personalized history that often influences how a learning method impacts the student. Each theory has benefits and drawbacks depending on the needs for a certain environment, individual or
Merriam, S.B., Caffarella, R.S. &Baumgartner (2007) Learning in Adulthood: A comprehensive guide, san Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass
There are various teaching perspectives used by educators such as the nurturing perspective and the social reform perspective. The social reform perspective is effective for adult learners as it involved the transformational learning as well as a critical reflection (Nesbit, 2005). The perspective depends on experiences that help transform the beliefs of an individual from old ways of understanding to new perspectives. The purpose of adult education mainly focuses of providing learning experiences that help them achieve a certain goal. Therefore, the transformational phases differ depending on the individual objectives or achievements. The perspectives also help in critical thinking and reflection that supports the transformational learning
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).
What is andragogy? Andragogy consists of a theoretical model of six assumptions that was developed by Malcolm Knowles in order to “distinguish adult learning and adult education from other areas of education” (Mirriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 83). And so, andragogy might also be defined in terms of the efforts of “multiple researchers and scholars” (Henschke, 2011, p. 35) searching for a way to “establish andragogy as a proven theory and strong method for teaching adults” (Henschke, 2011, p. 35). But why is the topic of andragogy important for both adult learners and teachers? It is important because in order to effectively teach adult learners we must first “be cognizant of the differences which adult students bring to the classroom” (Schultz, 2012, p. 1) and to also understand that among adult learners, there exist “varying expectations and reasons for learning” (Schultz, 2012, p. 1). Andragogy is more¬over important to adult learners and teachers because both “learners and educators alike can use [it] to strengthen the learning transaction” (Mirriam et al., 2007, p. 84). With this brief definition of andragogy, along with the corresponding reason for its importance in mind, what now follows is what this paper is going to be about. The topic of this paper is an evaluation of whether or not the traditional learning environment is conducive to learning for adult learners as opposed to the andragogical environment. And the dual purpose hereof is to first briefly relate my own personal experience in a traditional learning context (under the heading of a ‘Traditional Learning Environment’), and then to reflect upon whether or not that traditional context (this time under the heading of ‘Andragogy Reflection’) i...
This essay is to consider and discuss how I might apply the theories of Malcolm Knowles, in my own current or future training work. The essay will include a brief biography on Malcolm Knowles, and his theory on adult education / learning andragogy, to include definitions of andragogy and pedagogy, which has been the mainstay of all education theory for hundreds of years.
“In its broadest meaning, ’self-directed learning’ describes a process by which individuals take the initiative, with our without the assistance of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identify human and material resources for learning, choosing and implement appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes.” (Knowles, Holton, Swanson, 2011, p. 18)
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)
Experience and Education portrays John Dewey’s critical analysis of the traditional and progressive education system. He believed that people, no matter their age, did not have an empty mind, waiting to be filled with the knowledge schools offered. Alternatively, he pushed a method of learning where students organized information based on facts by expanding on previous knowledge; such a situation implies that teachers must create an environment as to foster such an experience. Thus, the challenge they face was due to a lack of a strong philosophy of experience in their approach to education.
Andragogy, made famous in the United States by Malcom Knowles in 1967, is the art and science of teaching adult learners as opposed to pedagogy which is the art and science of teaching but not distinguishing what age group (Rachel, 2002). Knowles implemented andragogy through the use of a learning contract, in which learning objectives, strategies and resources, achievement, and methods for evaluation are all determined by both the learner and instructor (2002).
The Andragogical model is characterized by six assumptions that have emerged from research. The first assumption titled, “the need to know” describes the idea that, “Adults need to know why they need to learn something before undertaking to learn it” (Knowles, Holton & Swanson, 2015, p. 43). “The learner’s self-concept”, describes the second Andragogical model assumption as, “Adults have a self-concept of being responsible for their own decisions, for their own lives” (Knowles et al., 2015, p. 44). The third assumption of the Andragogical model is “the role of the learners’ experiences”. Knowles et al. (2015), describe this as, “Adults come into an educational activity with both a greater volume and a different quality of experience from that of youths” (p. 44). “Readiness to learn” describes the fourth Andragogical model assumption as, “Adults become ready to learn those things they need to know and be able to do in order to cope effectively with their real-life situations” (Knowles et al., 2015, p. 45). The fifth Andragogical model assumption is “orientation to learning”. Knowles et al. (2015), describes this level as, “Adults are motivated to learn to the extent that they perceive that learning will help them perform tasks or deal with problems they confront in their life situations” (p. 46). “Motivation” describes the sixth level
Hase, S., & Kenyon, C. (2000, pg 2) suggests that we should now be looking at an educational approach where it is the learner himself who determines what and how learning should take place. This form of learning is called heutagogy. Heutagogical “the study of self-determined learning,” (pg 2) this “approach recognizes the need to be flexible in the learning where the teacher provides resources but the learner designs the actual course he or she might take by negotiating the learning,” stated by Hase, S., & Kenyon, C. (2000, pg 2, 6). With this form of learning adults are accountable for their own learning with a little bit of assistance from a facilitator or instructor. Adults can utilizes not only the aptitude to be self-directed but also their competence to incorporate their everyday experiences in to their
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...
Professor Ozuah mentioned that Edward C. Lindeman wrote lengthily about this subject of andragogy. Lindeman in 1926 stated that the way adults learned was by attacking the problem and thinking of ways to solve the situation not by what academic subject it fell under. Lindeman also stated that adults get self-gratification by solving a problem and coming up with a way to master the obstacles. (Ozuah) I do agree with both Professor Ozuah and Edward Lindeman. I know I feel better about my approach to teach when I watch my students use their intuition that the height of the building they just calculated with a protractor, straw, and tape measure doesn’t seem
The importance of experience in education has always been the subject of philosophical debates. These debates between empiricists and rationalists have been going on for quite some time. Rationalists are of the view that knowledge acquired through senses is unreliable and learning can only be done through reasoning. On the other hand, empiricists believe knowledge is acquired through empirical impressions and concepts that cannot be learnt without being experienced (Evans, 1992, p. 35). This debate was however resolved by Kant who argues that both experience and rationality are necessary in learning. John Dewey was an American philosopher of the twentieth century and he also contributed to the debate on the learning process. In his book Experience and Education, Dewey (1938), he stated, “the belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative” (p. 25). This famous quote has been evaluated and referred to regularly in the debate on learning through experience.
The facilitation of this model allows adult learners to be active and self-directed in their learning.