Introduction
Great Tread designs, markets, and manufactures custom safety floor matting from their corporate offices and manufacturing plant located in Tyler, Texas. Great Tread serves their national and international accounts and employs 875 people. The company garners a sizeable market share of this ever growing and demanding industry. Great Tread designs, manufactures, markets, and sells safety mats, anti-fatigue mats, logo mats, interlocking flooring tiles, and Waterhog™ mats, and bonded rubber mulch for their national and international clientele.
Alpha Consulting Company is a company that improves the training and development process through analyzing the learning needs of the trainees and the systematic development of learning materials and products. The philosophy of Alpha Consulting is to design effective, meaningful training programs while improving the delivery of instruction. There are three aspects of the training that the company oversees, (1) instructional goals, (2) strategy and medium, and (3) the evaluation processes. The Alpha Consulting provides effective and efficient training programs for a range of clients, which includes everything from small businesses to industry giants. With these three key aspects, Alpha Consulting specializes in customized strategic plans that are designed to provide optimal learning outcomes.
Problem
Great Tread recently underwent sweeping changes in the marketing department and is now predicting a twenty-five percent increase in revenue for 2014, due to upcoming contracts and number of contracts still in the negotiation phase. Due to the volume of said contracts, Great Tread decided to conduct an extensive internal audit in an effort to identify strengths and weaknesses and add...
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... the social. Copenhagen: Roskilde University.
Grow, G. (1991). Teaching learners to be self-directed: A stage approach. Adult Education Quarterly, 41(3), 125-149.
Huang, H.M. (2002). Toward constructivism for adult learners in online learning environments. British Journal of Educational Technology, 33(1), 27-37.
Knowles, M. (1980). The modern practice of adult education: Andragogy versus pedagogy. Rev. and updated ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Cambridge Adult Education.
Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in Adulthood: A comprehensive guide. (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Reiser, R. A., & Dempsey, J. V. (2007). Trends and issues in instructional design. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. http://psychsoma.co.za/.a/6a00d83420c4f053ef010535ca953c970b-pi http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow/SSDL/Apply.html
Merriam, S.B., Caffarella, R.S. &Baumgartner (2007) Learning in Adulthood: A comprehensive guide, san Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass
Title of the article: The relationship between adult students' instructional technology competency and self-directed learning ability in an online course.
Tusting, K. & Barton, D. (2006). Models of adult learning: a literature review: Institute of Education University of London: National Research and Development Centre for adult literacy and numeracy.
Andragogy popularised by Malcolm Knowles in the 1980’s is the concept that he described as the “the art and science of helping adults learn” (Knowles, 1980), he helped the theory of learning to focus on the learners experience, whilst failing to analyse the nature of that experience (Jarvis, 2010). Knowles theories differentiated between adult and child learning and explored the idea that andragogy was different to pedagogy in five main ways. The adult learner needs to be more responsible for the learning and that it should be self-directed. They also have a wealth of knowledge and life experience to draw on to inform their learning. A readiness to learn, a thirst for knowledge as they have made the choice to learn in their area. Adult learners tend to be more problem centred learners and less likely to be subject focused, Adults are motivated to learn. (Jarvis, 2010).
Knowles, M. S. (1980). The Modern Practice of Andragogy: From Andragogy to Pedagogy. New York: Follett.
This readiness to learn is a direct result of life experiences. Fourth, there is a change in time perspective as people mature from future application of knowledge to immediacy of application (Merriam et al., 2007). Thus, an adult is more problem centered than subject centered in learning. Lastly, adults are motivated to learn by internal factors rather than external ones (Merriam et al.,...
Self-directed learning does improve as a person matures. There is a lot of debate on how self-directed learning really affects adult learning. “Self-directed learning appears to be at a juncture in terms of which direction research and theory building should take in order to advance our understanding of this important dimension of adult learning.” (Merriam, 2001, p. 10) Adults going back to college might struggle at first to get back into the habits of studying, writing papers, and etc. At this point in their lives they want to be successful. These adults will be more independent, take control of their learning and be self-directed so they can succeed.
Knowles, M., Holton, E., & Swanson, R. (2011). The adult learner. (7th ed.). Burlington, MA: Taylor and Francis.
As an educator, it is my role to teach as well as learn. The role of a teacher allows me to experience both Andragogy and Pedagogy. “Andragogy” is “the art and science of helping adults learn "where as “Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching children” (Knowles, 1984, p. 13). In my profession, it is a daily task to teach concepts to children. Children are generally, teacher directed learners meaning, they are always looking to the teacher to guide them in their learning. They seek out answers and need direction to what they will be learning and what activities are provided to solidify the learning concept. This is quite different than the self directed, or the adult learner. According to Caruso (2011), adults learn by performing in their own environment and problem situations. Children’s learning is enhanced by rewards and punishments. To recognize their acquired learning and also to encourage them to learn more, they are provided with rewards like high grades and verbal praise. Adults are more goal-oriented. Their readiness allows them to immediately apply their learning to achieve their goals.
The facilitation of this model allows adult learners to be active and self-directed in their learning.
Many more adults are returning back to school in order to pursuit a degree or to resume with their unfinished studies. Whichever the case may be, adult education has become more popular now days than it was 20 or 30 years ago and as the result many more schools are creating programs that focus more on andragogy (adult education) teaching programs. In which the adult student can learn by applying some of the most important principals of adult learning, making the learning experience more enjoyable, practical and convenient to the student.
The adult learning process is much more than the systematic acquisition and storage of information. It is also making sense of our lives, transforming not just what we learn but the way we learn and it is absorbing, imagining, intuiting and learning informally with others.
This paper will review Hase, S., & Kenyon, C. journal “From andragogy to heutagogy.” They discussed Knowles (1970) suggestion an important change in the way in which educational experiences for adults should be designed. They demonstrated the difference between the notion of andragogy and heutagogy. Furthermore the transformation from the theory of pedagogy to andragogy and now towards truly self-determined learning called heutagogy. This paper will exemplify the many benefits of both andragogy and heutagogy.
I've just changed completely from when I first (entered school). I used to take this little African body and force it into this European square peg. And you know, it didn't work. I kept trying to do it and trying to change who I was and tried to fit in. . . . When I finally decided to be the person that I am, I started feeling more comfortable. (Taylor 1995, p. 84).
Wiggins, G., & Mctighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.