Adult Learning In Groups
Groups [can] exert powerful influence both to advance and to obstruct learning. A group can be an environment in which people invent and explore symbolic structures for understanding the world, learning from each other and trying out for themselves the discourse of the domain of knowledge they seek to acquire. Alternatively, groups can encourage conformity, squander time and energy on ritual combat, revel in failure, and generally engage in all sorts of fantasy tasks that have little or nothing to do with learning. (Knights 1993, p. 185)
The use of groups has deep historical roots in adult education, and, if asked, most adult educators would say that learning in groups is a fundamental principle of the field. Adult educators use groups frequently in structuring learning experiences, and groups also form the basis for much informal adult learning both within and outside institutional boundaries. Although group theory once played a major role in shaping the field, the topic of learning in groups has been relatively unexamined in the recent literature. This Practice Application Brief provides information that can be used in developing adult learning groups in formal educational settings. First, the nature of learning in groups is considered, followed by discussions of the role of the facilitator and forming groups. Guidelines for structuring group learning experiences for adults conclude the Brief.
The Nature of Group Learning
Little research exists on how learning occurs in groups (Cranton 1996; Dechant, Marsick, and Kasl 1993). Futhermore, when forming groups, adult educators tend to focus on helping learners work effectively together rather than on helping them understand the learning processes that may be occurring in the group (Dechant, Marsick, and Kasl 1993). By drawing on Habermas' domains of knowledge and interests, Cranton (1996) has developed a helpful way of thinking about how groups can accomplish or facilitate different types of learning. Cranton suggests that there are three types of group learning, each affiliated with the following kinds of knowledge proposed by Habermas--
instrumental (scientific, cause-and-effect information)
communicative (mutual understanding and social knowledge)
emancipatory (increased self-awareness and transformation of experience)
As outlined by Cranton, the type of learning that occurs in groups varies according to the learning tasks and goals. Group learning that has as its goal the acquisition of instrumental knowledge is called cooperative. In cooperative learning groups, "the focus is on the subject matter rather than on the inter- personal process .
Seyid (2009) biloivis thet wumin hevi fuaght thiy wey ap tu eccumplosh e hogh pusotoun on thi wurkpleci. Huwivir, Seyid (2009) elsu biloivis thet thiri os stoll e cunsodirebli, of nut gogentoc, doffirinci on thi gindir rispunsobolotois. Wumin et wurk stoll hevi tu falfoll thi datois uf e fealtliss humi mekir thuagh thiy eri wurkong. Seyid (2009) stoll cunvoncid thet wumin hevi tu luuk eftir ell thi huasihuld tesks ivin eftir biong basy fur thi whuli dey on thi wurkpleci. Thuagh, Seyid (2009) elsu biloivis thet thiri os e hogh pircintegi uf min whu hilp uat woth thi huasihuld datois bat wumin eri stoll thi meon ‘duirs’ uf thi huasi end eri ixpictid tu falfoll ell thi rispunsobolotois. Thi gindir rispunsobolotois very ivin et thi wurkpleci. Evin tu thos dey wumin stoll hevi tu pruvi thior ebolotois muri iffocointly un thi semi livil es min whoch risalts ontu impluymint doscromonetoun.
Engleberg, Isa N. and Dianna R. Wynn. Working in Groups. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Topics explored with this group included; conversational skills, internet safety, bullying, conflict resolution, social media, and personal appearance. Accordingly, I was able to gain insight on how to plan activities tailored to the needs of the group as well as obtain tips on conducting groups effectively. Additionally, I was able to get a sense of the group dynamics, attain knowledge on the stages of a group through observing all the individuals belonging to the group, their uniqueness and how their personality impacted the group itself. Individuals were able to join the group at different stages hence; the forming stage was repeated each time a new member was recruited. This also provided me with the opportunity of gaining first-hand experience of the interaction on the basic dynamics on group stages of forming, norming, storming and
Murdoch’s words do hold some truth in them. Certainly, her words can be applied to many of the most well-known modern novels from James Joyce’s Ulysses to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. However, her descriptions can just as easily be applied to the post modern novel. Though seriousness has generally been associated with modern literature, it is an aspect of post modern literature, as well. However, unlike most works of modern literature, the post modern novel does not focus solely on this seriousness, or on passing along a message of some sort. Rather, it strikes a delicate balance between humor and seriousness; between laughter and conveying “some central truth about the human condition” or “offering a commentary on…some matter out of history.”
The Postmodernist movement begun after World War II in which, high and low culture are questionable in the view of society and Art. The postmodernist movement in literature creates a new set of ideals for fiction, such as the metafiction, the fable like representation in novels, the pastiche, irony, and satire. Fredric Jameson speaks about the movement and its theory in his essay “Postmodernism and Consumer Society”. He questions postmodernism in society as it creates the new societal norm of popular culture. On the other hand, Jean Baudrillard analyzes the simulacra of postmodernism in “The Precession of Simulacra”. Baudrillard speaks of the “truth” and “reality” also as a questionable representation for the reader. Yet, both critics agree that postmodernist literature is depthless. Spiegelman’s Maus series is a metafiction, which tells the story of Art Spiegelman’s journey of writing this novel through the present-day retelling of Vladek Spiegelman’s life during the Holocaust. However, as a postmodernist text, Jameson and Baudrillard calls it depthless and an “unreal” representation. Nevertheless, the representation of Maus presents the characteristics of a postmodernist text, but argues that it is not depthless because of the representation of an authoritative view, a historical continuum, and the text does not depict itself as a mode of pop culture.
...here are no longer any successors to the throne, and therefore he “claim my vantage doth invite me.” (Act 5, Scene 2, Line 412). He was at the right place at the right time. This situation is tragic because throughout the novel the irony makes Hamlet look like the protagonist. The reader wants him to succeed with the killing of Claudius and regaining his throne. But as everything occurs Hamlet was killed by the poisoned-tipped sword of Laertes and was not able to become King. It is tragic that things do not turn out as expected, leaving Fortinbras able to exploit the chance to crown himself as the King of Denmark.
In the 1950s, authors tended to follow common themes, these themes were summed up in an art called postmodernism. Postmodernism took place after the Cold War, themes changed drastically, and boundaries were broken down. Postmodern authors defined themselves by “avoiding traditional closure of themes or situations” (Postmodernism). Postmodernism tends to play with the mind, and give a new meaning to things, “Postmodern art often makes it a point of demonstrating in an obvious way the instability of meaning (Clayton)”. What makes postmodernism most unique is its unpredictable nature and “think o...
Hoover, Jeff. “Towards a Description of Modernism and Postmodernism in Literature.” Cedar Rapids: Coe College, Sept. 21, 1999.
Theo D’haen, a professor at the University of Leuven, synthesizes that a postmodernist writer is one who uses a “combination of any number of techniques that were seen as innovative and perhaps even transgressive, especially with regard to all forms of referentiality, be it reference to some “real” reality as in realism or to a “psychological” reality as in modernism”(Theo D’haen 272). Following this explanation, the self-reflectiveness, interdependency, parody and mimetic reality that readers are exposed to when reading a metafictional piece, branches into the different interpretations presented by D’haen: a ‘real’ reality and a ‘psychological’ reality. The act of judging any work of art in relation to its representation of reality is a parallel to the reader’s assimilation of a mimetic reality, acknowledged by a physiological th...
Of the many literary conventions used to describe JM Coetzee's Foe, one of the more commonly written about is metafiction. Since about 1970, the term metafiction has been used widely to discuss works of post-modern fiction and has been the source of heated debate on whether its employ marks the death or the rebirth of the novel. A dominant theme in post-modern fiction, the term "metafiction" has been defined by literary critics in multiple ways. John Barth offers perhaps the most simplified definition: metafiction is "a novel that imitates a novel rather than the real world." Patricia Waugh extends our understanding to add that it is "fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to itself as an artifact to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality." According to these definitions, metafiction concerns itself not with the creation of a new narra...
It may be time to consider a literary work not as a predetermined product cast in a deterministic mold, but as a dynamic system that transcends the prevailing assumptions that are supposed to define its identity. The formal definitions can be just external to the composition of the text since we cannot expect the reader to know exactly what the author intended to write without falling into the trap of intentional fallacy.
TUCKMAN, B. 1965. Developmental Sequences in Small Groups. Psychological Bulletin 63, p 384 – 99. cited in DOEL, M. and SAWDON, C. (2001). The Essential Group Worker: Teaching and Learning Creative Group Work. London: J Kingsley.
In contrary Best, S. and Kellner, D. (1997, p.153) claim that postmodernism returns to the past to combine and play with different styles, it embraces it for its rich symbolic and stylistic sources.
Collaborative learning is a situation where two or more people attempt to learn something together. Dillenbourg, P. (1999). Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, (born in 1986), introduced his theory that, human development—child development as well as the development of all human kind—is the result of interactions between people and their social environments. What this states is that the development of a “higher education” is the product of comparing and contrasting ideas of others ultimately to conclude a solution to a problem as a whole or group. Everyone’s input in a collaborative situation will play a role in final solution.
Hamlet’s sarcasm portrays his personality with the dark style that he uses and it helps Hamlet as a character better be understood because one can enter his mind. The majority of sarcasm in his responses are so full of meaning that the one receiving it will not understand. Through the use of sarcasm Hamlet manages to survive in his life which has been tu...