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Malcolm Knowles Andragagy

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Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and andragogy. A champion of andragogy, self-direction in learning and informal adult education, Malcolm S. Knowles was a very influential figure in the adult education field. Here we review his life and achievements, and assess his contribution.

contents: introduction · malcolm knowles - life · adult informal education · malcolm s. knowles on andragogy · self-direction · conclusion · further reading and references · links

Malcolm Shepherd Knowles (1913 - 1997) was a, perhaps 'the', central figure in US adult education in the second half of the twentieth century. In the 1950s he was the Executive Director of the Adult Education Association of the United States of America. He wrote the first major accounts of informal adult education and the history of adult education in the United States. Furthermore, Malcolm Knowles' attempts to develop a distinctive conceptual basis for adult education and learning via the notion of andragogy became very widely discussed and used. He also wrote popular works on self-direction and on groupwork (with his wife Hulda). His work was a significant factor in reorienting adult educators from 'educating people' to 'helping them learn' (Knowles 1950: 6). In this article we review and assess his intellectual contribution in this area with respect to the development of the notions of informal adult education, andragogy and self-direction.

Malcolm Knowles - a life

Born in 1913 and initially raised in Montana, Malcolm S. Knowles appears to have had a reasonably happy childhood. His father was a veterinarian and from around the age of four Knowles often accompanied him on his visits to farms and ranches.

While driving to and from these locations, we engaged in serious discussions about all sorts of subjects, such as the meaning of life, right and wrong, religion, politics, success, happiness and everything a growing child is curious about. I distinctly remember feeling like a companion rather than an inferior. My father often asked what I thought about before he said what he thought, and gave me the feeling that he respected my mind. (Knowles 1989: 2)

Malcolm Knowles has talked about his mother helping him through her example and care to be a more 'tender, loving, caring person' ( op. cit.). His schooling also appears to have reinforced his 'positive self-concept'. Boy scouting was also a significant place of formation: 'the knowledge and skills I gained in the process of learning over fifty merit badges and performing a leadership role were as important in my development as everything I learned in my high school courses' ( ibid.: 4).

Malcolm Knowles gained a scholarship to Harvard and took courses in philosophy (where he was particularly influenced by the lecturing of Alfred North Whitehead), literature, history, political science, ethics and international law. Again, his extracurricular activities were particularly significant to him. He became President of the Harvard Liberal Club, general secretary of the New England Model League of Nations, and President of the Phillips Brooks House (Harvard's social service agency). Involvement in voluntary service for the latter got him working in a boys club. Knowles also met his wife Hulda at Harvard. Her father was a tool-and-die maker in Detroit's motor industry and an active unionist. 'As we talked', Knowles was later to write, 'it became clear that our values systems were identical' ( ibid.: 29).

Initially intending to make a career in the Foreign Service, Malcolm Knowles enrolled in the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy when he graduated in 1934 from Harvard. He passed the Foreign Service exam - but there was a three year wait for entry. Hulda and he had got married in 1935 and he needed a job. Knowles joined the new National Youth Administration in Massachusetts. His job involved him in finding out what skills local employers were looking for, establishing courses to teach those skills, and recruiting young people to take the courses. About three months into the work he met Eduard Lindeman who was involved in the supervision of training within the NYA. Lindeman took Knowles under his wing and effectively became his mentor. Knowles read Lindeman's Meaning of Adult Education: 'I was so excited in reading it that I couldn't put it down. It became my chief source of inspiration and ideas for a quarter of a century' (Knowles 1989: 8).

In 1940 Malcolm Knowles was approached by Boston YMCA to see if he would be interested in becoming director of adult education and organizing an 'Association School' for adults. He was drafted into the Navy in 1943, began to read widely around the field of adult education, and decided to undertake a masters programme at the University of Chicago when he was mustered out. To support himself through the programme he got a job at the Central Chicago YMCA as director of adult education. His adviser at the University of Chicago was Cyril O. Houle whose 'deep commitment to scholarship and his role in modeling a rigorous scholarly approach to learning' were of great importance. Knowles also fell under the influence of Carl Rogers. Early in his master's programme he had enrolled in a seminar in group counselling under Arthur Shedlin (an associate of Rogers). 'It was exhilarating. I began to sense what it means to get "turned on" to learning. I began to think about what it means to be a facilitator of learning rather than a teacher' ( ibid.: 14).

Malcolm Knowles gained his MA in 1949. His thesis became the basis of his first book Informal Adult Education published in 1950 (see below). In 1951 he became executive director of the newly formed Adult Education Association of the USA. He attended a couple of summer sessions of the National Training Laboratories (in 1952 and 1954) and was influenced by the thinking of their founders: Kenneth Benne, Leland Bradford and Ronald Lippett - and of Kurt Lewin. Hulda and their children were also involved in the seminars - and one fruit of this, in part, was Malcolm and Hulda's joint authorship of books on leadership (1955) and group dynamics (1959). Knowles spent nine years at the Adult Education Association, and as Jarvis (1987: 170) has commented, 'he was able to influence the growth and direction of the organization'. He also started studying for a PhD (at the University of Chicago). Significantly, he began charting the development of the adult education movement in the United States - and this appeared in book form in 1962. It was the first major attempt to bring together the various threads of the movement - and while it was not a detailed historical study (Jarvis 1987: 171) it was the main source book for more than twenty years. As Jarvis (1987: 172) has commented:

He saw that the movement was, in a sense, peripheral to the dominant institutions in society and yet important to it. He recognized that the very disparate nature of the movement prevented its being adequately coordinated from a central position. [This] ... free-market needs model of adult education provision ... is a position he ... maintained even after adult education became much more established and scholars were calling for a more centrally coordinated approach... [I]implicit within this position ... is perhaps one of the central planks of his philosophy; that adult education must be free to respond to need, wherever it is discovered.

In 1959 Malcolm S. Knowles joined the staff at Boston University as an associate professor of adult education with tenure and set about launching a new graduate programme. He spent some 14 years there during which time he produced his key texts: The Modern Practice of Adult Education (1970) and The Adult Learner (1973). These books were to cement his position at the centre of adult education discourse in the United States and to popularize the notion of andragogy (see below). In 1974 he joined the faculty of the North Carolina State University where he was able to develop courses around 'the andragogical model' (Knowles 1989: 21). He also updated his key texts and published a new book on Self Directed Learning (1975).

Malcolm S. Knowles 'retired' in 1979 but continued to be deeply involved in various consultancies and in running workshops for various agencies (something he had begun much earlier in his career). He was also associated with North Carolina State University as Professor Emeritus. He had time to write further articles and books. Some nine years into his retirement he commented that he couldn't imagine 'a better, richer life' ( ibid.: 24). He died on Thanksgiving Day, 1997, suffering a stroke at his home in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Adult informal education

The notion of informal adult education had been around in the YMCA before Malcolm Knowles' book was published in 1950. In Britain Josephine Macalister Brew had published the first full-length treatment of informal education in 1946. However Informal Adult Education was a significant addition to the literature. Knowles was searching for a 'coherent and comprehensive theory of adult learning' - and the closest he could come to an organizing theme was 'informal' (Knowles 1989: 76). Later he was to comment that while this was surely 'an important component of adult learning theory... it was far from its core' ( op. cit.).

In focusing on the notion of informal education, Malcolm Knowles was pointing to the 'friendly and informal climate' in many adult learning situations, the flexibility of the process, the use of experience, and the enthusiasm and commitment of participants (including the teachers!). He didn't define informal adult education - but uses the term to refer to the use of informal programmes and, to some extent, the learning gained from associational or club life. He commented that an organized course is usually a better instrument for 'new learning of an intensive nature, while a club experience provides the best opportunity for practicing and refining the things learned' (Knowles 1950: 125). Clubs are also 'useful instruments for arousing interests' ( op. cit.). He contrasts formal and informal programmes as follows:

Formal programs are those sponsored for the most part by established educational institutions, such as universities, high schools, and trade schools. While many adults participate in the courses without working for credit, they are organized essentially for credit students... Informal classes, on the other hand, are generally fitted into more general programs of such organizations as the YMCA and YWCA, community centers, labor unions, industries and churches. (Knowles 1950: 23)

This distinction is reminiscent of that later employed by Coombs and others to distinguish formal from non-formal education.

Informal programmes, Malcolm S. Knowles suggests, are more likely to use group and forum approaches.

Several important differences are found between the interests in organized classes and the interests in lecture, forum and club programs. In the first place, the former are likely to be stable, long-term interests, while the latter are more transitory. In the second place, lectures, forums and club programs are more flexible than organized classes. In a program series the topics can range from pure entertainment to serious lectures, while an organized class is necessarily limited to a single subject-matter area. Third, the lecture, forum, and club types of programs generally require less commitment of time, money and energy from participants than do organized classes. As a result they are likely to attract people with somewhat less intense interest. (Knowles 1950: 24)

Malcolm Knowles was able to draw on material from various emerging areas of expertise. This included understandings gained from his time with Eduard Lindeman, Cyril O. Houle and others within the adult education field; his knowledge of community organization within and beyond the YMCA (and via the work of Arthur Dunham and others); a growing appreciation of the dynamics of personality and human development (via Carl Rogers and Arthur Sheldin); and an appreciation of groupwork and group dynamics (especially via those associated with the National Training Laboratories). He also had some insights into the relationship of adult education activities to democracy from his contact with Dorothy Hewlitt at the NYA (see Hewitt and Mather 1937).
Exhibit 1: Malcolm S. Knowles on informal adult education
The major problems of our age deal with human relations; the solutions can be found only in education. Skill in human relations is a skill that must be learned; it is learned in the home, in the school, in the church, on the job, and wherever people gather together in small groups.

This fact makes the task of every leader of adult groups real, specific, and clear: Every adult group, of whatever nature, must become a laboratory of democracy, a place where people may have the experience of learning to live co-operatively. Attitudes and opinions are formed primarily in the study groups, work groups, and play groups with which adults affiliate voluntarily. These groups are the foundation stones of our democracy. Their goals largely determine the goals of our society. Adult learning should produce at least these outcomes:

Adults should acquire a mature understanding of themselves. They should understand their needs, motivations, interests, capacities, and goals. They should be able to look at themselves objectively and maturely. They should accept themselves and respect themselves for what they are, while striving earnestly to become better.

Adults should develop an attitude of acceptance, love, and respect toward others. This is the attitude on which all human relations depend. Adults must learn to distinguish between people and ideas, and to challenge ideas without threatening people. Ideally, this attitude will go beyond acceptance, love, and respect, to empathy and the sincere desire to help others.

Adults should develop a dynamic attitude toward life. They should accept the fact of change and should think of themselves as always changing. They should acquire the habit of looking at every experience as an opportunity to learn and should become skillful in learning from it.

Adults should learn to react to the causes, not the symptoms, of behavior. Solutions to problems lie in their causes, not in their symptoms. We have learned to apply this lesson in the physical world, but have yet to learn to apply it in human relations.

Adults should acquire the skills necessary to achieve the potentials of their personalities. Every person has capacities that, if realized, will contribute to the well-being of himself and of society. To achieve these potentials requires skills of many kinds-vocational, social, recreational, civic, artistic, and the like. It should be a goal of education to give each individual those skills necessary for him to make full use of his capacities.

Adults should understand the essential values in the capital of human experience. They should be familiar with the heritage of knowledge, the great ideas, the great traditions, of the world in which they live. They should understand and respect the values that bind men together.

Adults should understand their society and should be skillful in directing social change. In a democracy the people participate in making decisions that affect the entire social order. It is imperative, therefore, that every factory worker, every salesman, every politician, every housewife, know enough about government, economics, international affairs, and other aspects of the social order to be able to take part in them intelligently.

The society of our age, as Robert Maynard Hutchins warns us, cannot wait for the next generation to solve its problems. Time is running out too fast. Our fate rests with the intelligence, skill, and good will of those who are now the citizen-rulers. The instrument by which their abilities as citizen-rulers can be improved is adult education. This is our problem. This is our challenge.

Malcolm S. Knowles (1950) Informal Adult Education, Chicago: Association Press, pages 9-10.

Malcolm Knowles saw that the quality of the experiences people members have in the government of their own groups 'influences the skills and attitudes they will carry into governing their nation' ( ibid.: 124). However, this interest was in many respects secondary to the possibility of making 'clubs, groups, and forums effective instruments of adult education' (1950: 123). For all the talk of 'laboratories of democracy', he didn't fully grasp the significance of association. This may, in part, derive from the limited extent to which he experienced adult education as a social movement. Earlier figures like Lindeman and Tawney were deeply involved in progressive politics and activities. It is difficult not to escape the conclusion that even at this stage Malcolm Knowles was more concerned with establishing the claims of adult education as a separate area of professional activity and with individual learning, than with fundamental social change.

Malcolm S. Knowles on andragogy

Knowles was convinced that adults learned differently to children - and that this provided the basis for a distinctive field of enquiry. His earlier work on informal adult education had highlighted some elements of process and setting. Similarly, his charting of the development of the adult education movement in the United States had helped him to come to some conclusions about the shape and direction of adult education. What he now needed to do was to bring together these elements. The mechanism he used was the notion of andragogy.

While the concept of andragogy had been in spasmodic usage since the 1830s it was Malcolm Knowles who popularized its usage for English language readers. For Knowles, andragogy was premised on at least four crucial assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners that are different from the assumptions about child learners on which traditional pedagogy is premised. A fifth was added later.

1. Self-concept: As a person matures his self concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being

2. Experience: As a person matures he accumulates a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning.

3. Readiness to learn. As a person matures his readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social roles.

4. Orientation to learning. As a person matures his time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem centredness.

5. Motivation to learn: As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal (Knowles 1984:12).

Each of these assertions and the claims of difference between andragogy and pedagogy are the subject of considerable debate. Useful critiques of the notion can be found in Davenport (1993) Jarvis (1977a) Tennant (1996) (see below). Here I want to make some general comments about Malcolm Knowles' approach. (The assumptions of the model and its overall usefulness are further explored in the article on andragogy).

First, as Merriam and Caffarella (1991: 249) have pointed out, Knowles' conception of andragogy is an attempt to build a comprehensive theory (or model) of adult learning that is anchored in the characteristics of adult learners. Cross (1981: 248) also uses such perceived characteristics in a more limited attempt to offer a 'framework for thinking about what and how adults learn'. Such approaches may be contrasted with those that focus on:

an adult's life situation;

changes in consciousness (Merriam and Caffarella 1991).

Second, Malcolm Knowles makes extensive use of a model of relationships derived from humanistic clinical psychology - and, in particular, the qualities of good facilitation argued for by Carl Rogers. However, Knowles adds in other elements which owe a great deal to scientific curriculum making and behaviour modification (and are thus somewhat at odds with Rogers). These encourage the learner to identify needs, set objectives, enter learning contracts and so on. In other words, he uses ideas from psychologists working in two quite different and opposing traditions (the humanist and behavioural traditions). This means that there is a rather dodgy deficit model lurking around this model.

Third, it is not clear whether this is a theory or set of assumptions about learning, or a theory, or model of teaching (Hartree 1984). We can see something of this in relation to the way Malcolm Knowles defined andragogy as the art and science of helping adults learn as against pedagogy as the art and science of teaching children. There is an inconsistency here. Hartree (1984) then goes on to ask: has Knowles provided us with a theory or a set of guidelines for practice? The assumptions 'can be read as descriptions of the adult learner... or as prescriptive statements about what the adult learner should be like' (Hartree 1984 quoted in Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 250). This links with a point made by Tennant (1988) - there seems to be a failure to set and interrogate these ideas within a coherent and consistent conceptual framework. As Jarvis (1987b) comments, throughout his writings there is a propensity to list characteristics of a phenomenon without interrogating the literature of the arena (e.g. as in the case of andragogy) or looking through the lens of a coherent conceptual system. Undoubtedly Malcolm Knowles had a number of important insights, but because they are not tempered by thorough analysis, they were a hostage to fortune - they could be taken up in an ahistorical or atheoretical way.

Self-direction

In its broadest meaning, 'self-directed learning' describes, according to Malcolm Knowles (1975: 18) a process:

... in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes.

Knowles puts forward three immediate reasons for self-directed learning. First he argues that there is convincing evidence that people who take the initiative in learning (proactive learners) learn more things, and learn better, than do people who sit at the feet of teachers passively waiting to be taught (reactive learners). 'They enter into learning more purposefully and with greater motivation. They also tend to retain and make use of what they learn better and longer than do the reactive learners.' (Knowles 1975: 14)

A second immediate reason is that self-directed learning is more in tune with our natural processes of psychological development. 'An essential aspect of maturing is developing the ability to take increasing responsibility for our own lives - to become increasingly self-directed' (Knowles 1975: 15).

A third immediate reason is that many of the new developments in education put a heavy responsibility on the learners to take a good deal of initiative in their own learning. 'Students entering into these programs without having learned the skills of self-directed inquiry will experience anxiety, frustration , and often failure, and so will their teachers (Knowles 1975: 15).

To this may be added a long-term reason - because of rapid changes in our understanding is no longer realistic to define the purpose of education as transmitting what is known. The main purpose of education must now to be to develop the skills of inquiry (op cit).

Malcolm Knowles' skill was then to put the idea of self direction into packaged forms of activity that could be taken by educators and learners. He popularized these through various books and courses. His five step model involved:

1. diagnosing learning needs.

2. formulating learning needs.

3. identifying human material resources for learning.

4. choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies.

5. evaluating learning outcomes.

As Merriam and Cafferella (1991: 46) comment, this means of conceptualizing the way we learn on our own is very similar to much of the literature on planning and carrying out instruction for adults in formal institutional settings. It is represented as a linear process. From what we know of the process of reflection this is an assumption that needs treating with some care. Indeed, as we will see, there is research that indicates that adults do not necessarily follow a defined set of steps - but are far more in the hands of chance and circumstance. Like Dewey's conception of reflection an event or phenomenon triggers a learning project. This is often associated with a change in life circumstances (such as retirement, child care, death of a close relative and so on). The changed circumstance provides the opportunity for learning, the way this is approached is dictated by the circumstances. Learning then progresses as 'the circumstances created in one episode become the circumstances for the next logical step' ( op. cit.). Self-directed learning thus, in this view, becomes possible, when certain things cluster together to form the stimulus and the opportunity for reflection and exploration.

However, once we begin to take into account the environment in which this occurs then significant concerns arise with Malcolm Knowles' formulation. Spear and Mocker, and Spear (1984, 1988 quoted in Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 46-8) found that 'self-directed learners, rather than pre-planning their learning projects, tend to select a course from limited alternatives which happen to occur in their environment and which tend to structure their learning projects'. This is of fundamental importance. It is in this light that Brookfield's (1994) question is pertinent: 'What are the essential characteristics of a critical, rather than technical, interpretation of self-directed learning?' Two suggest themselves:

self-direction as the continuous exercise by the learner of authentic control over all decisions having to do with learning, and

self-direction as the ability to gain access to, and choose from, a full range of available and appropriate resources.

Both these conditions are, he argues, as much political as they are pedagogical and they place educators who choose to use self-directed approaches in the centre of political issues and dilemma.

There are also further problems with Malcolm Knowles' approach that he shares with other writers. These include issues arising out of the use of 'humanistic psychology'; questions around the notion of selfhood (and the cultural specificity involved); and the research base for explorations. These are reviewed in the article on self-direction).

Conclusion

Malcolm S. Knowles was responsible for a number of important 'firsts'.. He was the first to chart the rise of the adult education movement in the United States; the first to develop a statement of informal adult education practice; and the first to attempt a comprehensive theory of adult education (via the notion of andragogy). Jarvis (1987: 185) comments:

As a teacher, writer and leader in the field, Knowles has been an innovator, responding to the needs of the field as he perceived them and, as such, he has been a key figure in the growth and practice of adult education throughout the Western world this century. Yet above all, it would be perhaps fair to say that both his theory and practice have embodied his own value system and that is contained within his formulations of andragogy.

Much of his writing was descriptive and lacked a sharp critical edge. He was ready to change his position - but the basic trajectory of his thought remained fairly constant throughout his career. His focus was increasingly on the delineation of a field of activity rather than on social change - and there was a significantly individualistic focus in his work. 'I am just not good', he wrote, 'at political action. My strength lies in creating opportunities for helping individuals become more proficient practitioners' (Knowles 1989: 146).

Further reading and references

Knowles, M. S. (1950) Informal Adult Education, New York: Association Press. Guide for educators based on the writer's experience as a programme organizer in the YMCA.

Knowles, M. S. (1962) A History of the Adult Education Movement in the USA, New York: Krieger. A revised edition was published in 1977.

Knowles, M. S. (1970, 1980) The Modern Practice of Adult Education. Andragogy versus pedagogy, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall/Cambridge. 400 pages. Malcolm Knowles altered the subtitle for the second edition to From pedagogy to andragogy. Famous as his statement of andragogy - however, there is relatively little sustained exploration of the notion. In many respects it is a 'principles and practice text'. Part one deals with the emerging role and technology of adult education (the nature of modern practice, the role and mission of the adult educator, the nature of andragogy). Part 2 deals organizing and administering comprehensive programmes (climate and structure in the organization, assessing needs and interests, defining purpose and objectives, program design, operating programs, evaluation). Part three is entitled 'helping adults learn and consists of a chapter concerning designing and managing learning activities. In the second edition there are around 150 pages of appendices containing various exhibits - statements of purpose, evaluation materials, definitions of andragogy.

Knowles, M. S. (1973; 1990) The Adult Learner. A neglected species (4e), Houston: Gulf Publishing. 2e. 292 + viii pages. Surveys learning theory, andragogy and human resource development (HRD). The section on andragogy has some reflection on the debates concerning andragogy. Extensive appendices which includes planning checklists, policy statements and some articles by Knowles - creating lifelong learning communities, from teacher to facilitator etc.

Knowles, M. S. (1975) Self-Directed Learning. A guide for learners and teachers, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall/Cambridge. 135 pages. Programmatic guide that is rather objective oriented. Sections on the learner, the teacher and learning resources.

Knowles, M. S. et al (1984) Andragogy in Action. Applying modern principles of adult education, San Francisco: Jossey Bass. A collection of chapters examining different aspects of Knowles' formulation.

Knowles, M. S. (1989) The Making of an Adult Educator. An autobiographical journey, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 211 + xxii pages. A rather quirky series of reflections on becoming an adult educator; episodes that changed his life; landmarks and heroes in adult education; how his thinking changed; questions he frequently got asked etc.

References

Brew, J. M. (1946) Informal Education. Adventures and reflections, London: Faber.

Brockett, R. G. and Hiemstra, R. (1991) Self-Direction in Adult Learning. Perspectives on theory, research and practice, London: Routledge.

Brookfield, S. B. (1994) 'Self directed learning' in YMCA George Williams College ICE301 Adult and Community Education Unit 2: Approaching adult education, London: YMCA George Williams College.

Candy, P. C. (1991) Self-direction for Lifelong Learning. A comprehensive guide to theory and practice, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Carlson, R. (1989) 'Malcolm Knowles: Apostle of Andragogy', Vitae Scholasticae,8:1 (Spring 1989). http://www.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Knowles.html

Davenport (1993) 'Is there any way out of the andragogy mess?' in M. Thorpe, R. Edwards and A. Hanson (eds.) Culture and Processes of Adult Learning, London; Routledge. (First published 1987).

Hewitt, D. and Mather, K. (1937) Adult Education: A dynamic for democracy, East Norwalk, Con.: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Jarvis, P. (1987a) 'Malcolm Knowles' in P. Jarvis (ed.) Twentieth Century Thinkers in Adult Education, London: Croom Helm.

Kett, J. F. (1994) The Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties. From self-improvement to adult education in America, 1750 - 1990, Stanford, Ca.: Stanford University Press.

Knowles, M. S. and Knowles, H. F. (1955) How to Develop Better Leaders, New York: Association Press.

Knowles, M. S. and Knowles, H. F. (1959) Introduction to Group Dynamics, Chicago: Association Press. Revised edition 1972 published by New York: Cambridge Books.

Layton, E. (ed.) (1940) Roads to Citizenship. Suggestions for various methods of informal education in citizenship, London: Oxford University Press.

Lindeman, E. C. (1926) The Meaning of Adult Education (1989 edn), Norman: University of Oklahoma.

Merriam, S. B. and Caffarella, R. S. (1991) Learning in Adulthood. A comprehensive guide, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Tennant, M. (1988, 1996) Psychology and Adult Learning, London: Routledge.

Yeaxlee, B. (1929) Lifelong Education. A sketch of the range and significance of the adult education movement, London: Cassell and Company.

Links

To cite this article: Smith, M. K. (2002) 'Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and andragogy', The encyclopedia of pedagogy and informal education, www.infed.org/thinkers/et-knowl.htm.

© Mark K. Smith 2002

Last Updated on April 4, 2013 by infed.org

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Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and andragogy

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contents: introduction · malcolm knowles - life · adult informal education · malcolm s. knowles on andragogy · self-direction · conclusion · further reading and references · links Malcolm Shepherd Knowles (1913 - 1997) was a, perhaps 'the', central figure in US adult education in the second half of the twentieth century.

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Ashley Ludman, OTR and ERYT, is co-owner and director of Seaside Yoga. She has been leading yoga teacher trainings and retreats since 2002. Ludman has over 500 hours of study in Anusara Yoga and was one of 50 teachers chosen by John Friend to study advanced therapeutics and adjustments in October, 2007.

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Ashley Ludman, OTR and ERYT, is co-owner and director of Seaside Yoga. She has been leading yoga teacher trainings and retreats since 2002. Ludman has over 500 hours of study in Anusara Yoga and was one of 50 teachers chosen by John Friend to study advanced therapeutics and adjustments in October, 2007.

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Powerpoint poster templates for research poster presentations

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Research and scientific posters from Powerpoint. Free research poster templates.

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Reflection Journal

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Penzu is a free online diary and personal journal focused on privacy. Easily keep a secret diary or a private journal of notes and ideas securely on the web.

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Since Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams first experimented with the idea in their Colorado classrooms in 2004, flipped learning has exploded onto the larger educational scene. It's been one of the hottest topics in education for several years running and doesn't seem to be losing steam.

Basically, it all started when Bergman and Sams first came across a technology that makes it easy to record videos. They had a lot of students that regularly missed class and saw an opportunity to make sure that missing class didn't mean missing out on the lessons. Once students had the option of reviewing the lessons at home, the teachers quickly realized the shift opened up additional time in class for more productive, interactive activities than the lectures they'd been giving.

And voila: a movement began.

A 2014 survey from the Flipped Learning network found that 78% of teachers said they'd flipped a lesson, and 96% of those that tried it said they'd recommend it.

What is a flipped classroom?

Once a new idea becomes a buzzword, pinning down the definition can become a tad more challenging. The flipped learning network has developed what they hope will be seen as the definitive definition:

"Flipped Learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter."

That gets the idea across, but it's a bit of a mouthful. The gist, in somewhat simpler terms, is that it's about moving the more passive elements of learning (watching a lecture, reading a chapter, etc.) outside of the classroom, so that more class time is available for interactive, hands-on learning.

Most people hear "flipped learning" and picture kids watching videos at home, but proponents of it suggest that it doesn't have to be exclusively about videos. Teachers are encouraged to give students options - some students will still learn better by reading a textbook chapter, but others will benefit from videos, audio files, or any other type of material you can find or create that covers a given topic.

The Benefits of Flipping Your Classroom

For a veteran teacher, flipping the classroom means completely re-thinking how to do the job you've done a certain way for years. And it comes with some extra work. That being the case, why would any teacher bother?

1. Flipped learning keeps students more engaged.

The flipped classroom model addresses how students learn best. We all know how hard it can be to stay focused during a long lecture, even if it's on a subject we're especially interested in. Discussions and hands-on activities tend to keep students' interest. While you work with students directly as they explore the concepts they're learning in class, you can provide immediate feedback that helps them improve their learning as they go.

2. Teachers provide more personalized attention.

Students don't all learn at the same pace and in the same ways. That's always been a complicating factor in teaching. The question of how to meet thirty or more unique students at their own levels is one that keeps teachers up at night.

The flipped classroom model gives teachers more opportunities to work directly with students. They can therefore clearly see when an individual student is having trouble with a concept and work with them directly to get through it. The increased interaction with students in the classroom will help teachers gain a clearer idea of the different learning styles of their students, so they can tailor their instruction to the needs of each one.

3. Students can work at their own pace.

A student sitting in a lecture, diligently taking notes will almost certainly miss one thing the professor says while writing down another. And that's still a vast improvement over the student whose mind wanders so they don't catch much of anything.

If they're watching a video at home instead, they have the power to pause the lecture while they write something down, and rewind and re-watch a particular part they didn't fully understand the first time. If they feel they could really use a second viewing to better understand the concept, they have that option. They have more power over the way and process by which they study and learn.

Examples of Flipped Classrooms

As in most things, there's no one right way to flip a classroom or lesson. But knowing how other teachers have done it can help give you ideas about what will work best for you.

The Backwards Classroom

Stacy Roshan's classroom is probably the closest to what most people think of as a "flipped classroom" of those on our list, although she's referred to it as the " backwards classroom " herself. She flipped her classroom largely to help reduce the anxiety she saw students experience in her AP Calculus class whenever she'd introduce complicated new concepts.

For homework, her students watch videos she's recorded in advance that cover the concepts explored in each chapter of her textbook. They spend their time in class doing the types of math problems that students have traditionally done as homework. If they have difficulty working through a problem, the teacher's right there for them to ask for help.

She does have to spend a lot of time creating those videos, but is happy enough with the results of using a flipped model that she's been at it for over four years now and is taking the time to experiment with new ways to make it better, like including embedded quizzes in the videos that students watch at home.

The Faux Flipped Classroom

One of the common criticisms leveled at flipped learning is that it depends on a certain amount of privilege: what about all the students who don't have a computer at home to watch videos on? Tracey Gillies addresses this concern with what she calls the "faux flipped" classroom.

Students who don't have a computer at home can watch the assigned video in class. Gillies' classroom is full of students each doing their own thing - watching a video, working out problems, taking quizzes, or posting or commenting on an online discussion board to get input from other students. Each of them is able to work on an assignment for as long as they need in order to master it, and then move on.

And Gillies is there to work with anyone who needs her help, at whatever point in the process they are at.

An Evolved Flipped Classroom

Shelley Wright embraced the flipped classroom back in 2011 and wrote a post about her experiences with flipped learning so far. But she followed it up a year later with a new post about how her flipped classroom had turned into something else - not a reversion back to the traditional way, but a more evolved version of the student-centered classroom she was seeking by flipping her lessons.

As students in her classroom became better at taking the lead on finding valuable resources and pursuing learning their own way, she shifted her focus to helping them with the process of learning how to learn better on their own rather than teaching about the subjects directly.

Her lesson to other teachers interested in flipped learning seems to boil down to: don't think it's all about the videos, they can be a part of it or not. It's about shifting from passive learning to active learning, in whatever way works for you and your students.

The Tools of Flipped Learning

A comprehensive list of every possible tool educators could use to flip a classroom would require a book (and probably still miss some), but we wanted to address a few resources that are common in flipped classrooms.

Of course, familiar tools like YouTube, Evernote, Google Drive, and blogging platforms can play a role as well, but here are a few more specifically suited to flipped learning.

To create videos for students to watch at home, you'll need easy-to-use screencasting software. Camtasia isn't the only one on the market; you can find a list of some of the other screencasting tools you can use here (including some free ones). We're highlighting Camtasia, because the company has optimized the tool for flipped classrooms.

Using Camtasia is fairly intuitive for new users. It allows you to record either your screen, or yourself. And, in one of the features that most sets it apart, it allows you to add interactive elements to your video. You can include quizzes throughout a video to test students' comprehension of what they've just seen, and you can include links out to any additional materials you want them to read or view. It does cost $75 if you're buying the Mac version, and $179 for the PC version, so it's a bit of an investment. But there are volume discounts that may help out if enough teachers in one institution are interested in exploring the flipped classroom.

Part of the appeal of flipped classrooms is that all that extra class time provides more opportunities for collaboration amongst students. Wikispaces is a great tool for encouraging and enabling that collaboration. It's free, unless your school is interested in purchasing a more secure version of the product.

The free version provides a lot of useful features though. You can give students assignments through the wiki, for both individual and group projects. You can load content for them to review and comment on, start discussions (or let them do so), and track how engaged different students are with the content you've assigned. It's plenty useful for non-flipped classrooms as well, but can help students collaborate and interact more both within and outside of the classroom, so lends itself especially well to the challenges of flipped learning.

EdModo is one of the most commonly used education tools in the world and can even claim the title of largest K-12 social network. It enables a lot of the same kind of tasks that Wikispaces does: loading content and assignments for your students to access, and allowing students to share discussions and comments, for instance. But it adds a much larger social element since you can interact with other students and educators beyond your own classroom. That means you can tap into the content and lessons beyond those you've developed and students can seek out insights beyond those their own classmates have.

The tool also provides analytics that help you spot who needs help with what so you can make your class time more productive. And students can access everything loaded to Edmodo on mobile devices as well as desktops, so they can do their learning wherever works best for them.

Like WikiSpaces and Edmodo, Moodle has the functionality to serve as the platform for a flipped classroom. Teachers can load resources, including any relevant ones they find shared by other teachers in Moodle, to create the assignments and curriculum for each class.

Conveniently, an educator from Northwest Regional ESD created a course on how to flip a class using Moodle within Moodle itself. So you can learn about some of the best practices and processes, while also seeing an example of what a course in Moodle looks like at the same time. You can load all the content related to each module, divide it according to topics, and include a variety of content formats.

The last resource on our list is less about providing or organizing content and assignments for your students, and more about actively soliciting their feedback. If the goal of a flipped classroom is to make the learning experience more student-centered, then it makes sense to regularly check in with them.

You can use Poll Everywhere both for occasional quizzes to see how students are doing throughout a class period and to solicit input from the class on which concepts to focus on and how to address them. If you have three ideas for activities students can do together to explore a particular concept, make them choices students can vote on. You can group the students according to their preferences, or focus on the winning option for activities that involve the whole class.

Additional Helpful Resources

As you've noticed by now, this is a big subject. You can find a lot more to learn and say about flipped learning than we've covered here. If you want more information before trying the flipped classroom out, here are some helpful places to start:

In Conclusion

The flipped classroom may not be for everyone. It involves some extra upfront work and just might not mesh with the teaching style of every educator out there. But enough of the teachers that have tried it are having success that you may find it worthwhile to experiment with flipping a lesson or two to see what happens. You might just become a convert.
Editor's note: This article is a revision and combination of several older Edudemic articles, updated and re-analyzed to reflect the latest innovations.

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The Teacher's Guide To Flipped Classrooms

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Since Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams first experimented with the idea in their Colorado classrooms in 2004, flipped learning has exploded onto the larger educational scene. It's been one of the hottest topics in education for several years running and doesn't seem to be losing steam.

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Pay less for domain names. Bulk pricing and private domain name registration options. Transfer domain names risk-free.

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The American Holistic Nurses Association

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The American Holistic Nurses Association

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The American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) is a non-profit membership association serving members and chapters across the U.S. and abroad. AHNA is the definitive voice for holistic nursing and promotes the education of nurses, other healthcare professionals, and the public in all aspects of holistic caring and healing.

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The American Nurses Association (ANA) represents America's registered nurses (RNs). We promote high nursing quality, address nursing ethics & other workplace concerns, address the latest nurse issues and nursing news, and lobby for healthcare reform.

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Certification for Nurse Educators (CNE) FAQs

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In order to meditate properly, it helps to define what meditation actually is. Meditation defined by a registered hatha yoga instructor in this free yoga video.

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College of Nursing and Health Professions

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March 10, 2018 - Philadelphia, PA & Via Live Webcast
November 10, 2018 - Philadelphia, PA & Via Live Webcast
March 9, 2019- Philadelphia, PA & Via Live Webcast

Philadelphia Location - Drexel University Center City Campus

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
The Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) exam is offered by the National League for Nursing (NLN) Academic Nurse Educator Certification Program. According to the NLN, the CNE certification recognizes excellence in the advanced specialty role of the academic nurse educator. This Review for Certification: CNE nursing continuing education program was developed by Drexel University, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Division of Continuing Nursing Education. This program will provide a review of the core competencies for nurse educators, which is the basis for the certified nurse educator exam.

TARGET AUDIENCE:
Registered Nurses and all nursing faculty.

PROGRAM TOPICS:

CNE Exam Overview

Facilitate Learning

Technologies to Support the Teaching-Learning Process

Clinical Teaching

Facilitate Learner Development and Socialization

Use Assessment and Evaluation Strategies

Participate in Curriculum Design and Evaluation of Program Outcomes

Pursue Continuous Quality Improvement in the Academic Nurse Educator Role

Engage in Scholarship

PROGRAM SCHEDULE:
8:00 a.m. - 6:15 p.m.

Testimonials

"The conference covered key highlighted Topics, which was great! Great practice questions!"
- D. Green, Wilmington, DE

"Excellent program. It provided direction in which to study for the exam as well as personal professional growth."
- Anonymous

Fees
$265 Tuition Includes:

Comprehensive Program Book with all handouts.

Continental Breakfast

Contact Hour Certificate.

Philadelphia Hotel and Travel Info

This course will be held at Drexel in Center City Philadelphia, NOT on Drexel's main campus
Three Parkway Building, 1601 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102

Discounted Hotel Rates - Drexel University has discounted rates with hotels in Philadelphia. Please visit our list of Hotels with Drexel University Discount Rates. Please note: discount rates based on availability.
Map of Preferred Hotels of Drexel University
Sheraton Downtown - 0.2 miles/3 minutes
Windsor Suites - 0.3 miles/7 minutes
Hampton Inn - 0.3 miles/6 minutes
Home2 Suites - 0.5 miles/10 minutes
Sonesta - 0.6 miles/13 minutes
Loews Hotel - 0.6 miles/13 minutes
Union League -0.6 miles/12 minutes
Club Quarters -0.6 miles/ 13 minutes
Click on image to enlarge.

Directions to Drexel's Center City Campus

Speakers
Linda Wilson, PhD, RN, CPAN, CAPA, BC, CNE, CHSE-A, ANEF, FAAN

Ruth A. Wittmann-Price, PhD, RN, CNS, CNE, CHSE, ANEF

Accreditation

Outcome:
To enable the nurse to demonstrate competence through success on the CNE certification exam.

Overall program objective:
Discuss key topics which are examined during the CNE certification exam.

Contact hours:
8.5 Continuing Nursing Education contact hours will be provided.
You must attend the entire program to receive credit.

Accreditation:
Drexel University (DREXEL) College of Nursing and Health Professions, Division of Continuing Nursing Education is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

DREXEL also has provider status with California BRN: Provider #CEP13661.

Disclosure statement:
All planners and presenters at nursing continuing education activities are required to disclose to the audience any significant financial relationships with the manufacturer(s) of any commercial products, goods or services. Such disclosures will be made in writing in the course presentation materials.

Commercial support:
No commercial support was received for this program.

Unrestricted Educational Grant:
No unrestricted educational grant was received for this program.

Register

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Review for Certification: Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) - College of Nursing and Health Professions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) exam is offered by the National League for Nursing (NLN) Academic Nurse Educator Certification Program. According to the NLN, the CNE certification recognizes excellence in the advanced specialty role of the academic nurse educator.

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The American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses represents the interests of over 55,000 nurses who practice in preanesthesia and postanesthesia care, outpatient surgery, and pain management.

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Patient and Self Care