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Unit 1: Theories of Adult and Young Adult Learning

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Unit 1: Theories of Adult and Young Adult Learning

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What is Andragogy Adult Learning Theory?

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What is Andragogy Adult Learning Theory?

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Malcolm Knowles (1913-1977) was an influential American educator who popularized the term ‘andragogy’, the art and science of how adults learn. It describes the key characteristics of adult learners (as distinct from children ‘pedagogy’). It has become a highly influential adult learning theory and continues to shape learning design today.

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1.    THE NEED TO KNOW -  adults need to know why they are to learn; they learn what is important for them;

It is better if as educators, ask students why is important what they are about to learn and if is meaningful for them in real life situations. Explain or provide an outline of the learning expectations before the beginning of the class.

2.    THE LEARNERS' SELF-CONCEPT - adults choose what they want to learn, they are responsible for themselves, and they are independent learners;

Adult learners are more autonomous that children and most of the times they feel comfortable with this, besides the instructor must provide the necessary tools to help learners to be successful in their autonomous learning.

It´s important to educators, help learners to find out they own learning objective based in their needs, interests and experiences. Give up control to students of the course to stablish agreements to work on the course content in an equal teaching-learning relationship.

The adult experiences are a valuable source, collaborative activities should provide the opportunity for adults to demonstrate their capabilities

3.    THE ROLE OF THE LEARNER'S EXPERIENCE - to children, the experience is something that happens to them; to adults, is who they are; adults make use of their previous experience in the process of learning.
Encouraging learners to link learning with their experience detonates a better understanding of the learning material.

The course should considers group projects and interactive discussions, flexible content, involve learners asking them what activities they would like participate.

Interactive activities such conversations improve their learning experience.

The instructor should create a learning environment where students share their experiences and ideas. For example: Reflections from a journal, short writing activities that motivates reflection or memories are assessments that contribute to this.

4. READINESS TO LEARN - adults learn only these things which are useful and beneficial for either their professional or personal lives;

Adult learners need to apply what they have learnt as soon as possible. For this reason, educators must teach learners how to search information and get sources in order to solve tasks and learn independently.

Ask adult learner about specific experiences with topics related with the course content. A discussion panel and forum help to achieve this.

5. ORIENTATION TO LEARNING - adults are life-centred/problem-centred while children subject-centred/content-centred;

Learners wants to know how the knowledge address to the real life task and situations. The instructor should design activities that capture adult learners ‘attention and keep them engaged.

Authentic learning activities such as case studies,team problem solving and conducting interviews provide meaning.

6. MOTIVATION - it comes from internal motivators, such as the desire to increase job satisfaction, self-esteem, quality of life

The teacher should know or understand what motivates to adult learners, use this motivation to design the course and make the knowledge relevance according to their student’s motivation.

The instructor should be aware of providing a learning environment where adult learners feel valued, respected and appreciated

The use of games, simulate a podcast, social media and TIC´s, enhance students motivation

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Adult Learning Theory | Knowles' 6 Assumptions of Adult Learners

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TRENDS/THEORIES RELATED TO ADULT LEARNING

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TRENDS/THEORIES RELATED TO ADULT LEARNING

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1. Action Learning

An approach to working with, and developing people, which uses work on a real project or problem as the way to learn.

Participants work in small groups or teams or take action to solve a problem and learn how to learn from that action.

A learning coach works with the group in order to help them learn how to balance their work, with the learning from that work

2. Experiential Learning

Learning through experience results in actual physical changes in the brain so we may say that education is the art of changing the brain.

Learning never ends - we experience it all the time.

3. Project-Based Learning

In Project Based Learning, students work in groups to solve challenging problems that are authentic and often interdisciplinary. Learners decide how to approach a problem and what activity to pursue.

The learners gather information from a variety of sources and synthesize, analyze, and derive knowledge from it.

The learning is valuable because it is connected to something real and involves adult skills such as collaboration and reflection. At the end, the learners demonstrate their newly acquired knowledge and they ate judged by how much they have learned and how well they communicate it.

Throughout the process, the teacher's role is to guide and advise, rather than to direct and manage students' work.

4. Self-Directed Learning

Self-Directed Learning is an example of informal learning. It is defined as the process in which individuals take on the responsibility for their own learning process by diagnosing their personal learning needs, setting goals, identifying resources, implementing strategies, and evaluating the outcomes.

Three main categories are involved in self-directed learning:

1. the goals

2. the process

3. the learner

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Difference between Pedagogy and Andragogy

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Difference between Pedagogy and Andragogy

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Origin: Both are originated from Greek verb “ago” but | Andragogy = Andras (man) + ago (guide) | Pedagogy =  paidi (child) + ago (guide)
| Definition | The techniques and practices used in teaching, especially for adults. | The techniques and practices used in teaching, especially for children.
| Focus | The focus of andragogical approach is on self-directed, cooperative and two-way learning process. | The focus of pedagogical approach is on one-way learning method where only the teacher shares his/her knowledge to the learners.  On a teacher’s methods of conveying knowledge to a student, who is reliant on the teacher’s methods and understanding.
| Reliance | The learners are comparatively less reliant on the teacher/facilitator for entire learning process. | The learners are relatively more/maximum reliant on teacher/facilitator for the entire learning process.
| Authority | The learners have more control on their learning experience, learning tools and techniques. | The teacher has more control on the learning experience, tools, techniques etc.
| Importance of Grades | Grades are mostly less important to the learners | Grades are mostly more important to the learners
| Learning Behavior | Profoundly involved not only in forecasting but also in estimating their learning, as they know what knowledge they want to acquire. | Here, the learner depends on his/her teacher throughout the entire learning process.
| The role of learners experiences | In this approach, the learners are expected to be experienced on the field of learning so that they can share their experiences, make the process more interactive and add diversity to their own learning. | In this approach, learners are expected to have less experience on a particular field. Moreover, their experience cannot be used as a learning resource.
| Orientation to learning | Learners following andragogical approach seek information that is useful in their personal and work lives. They expect their learning to be more focused on problems and solutions of real life so that the learning and education can enhance their lives in a more satisfying way. | Learners following pedagogical approach is more focused on the core subject matter and its meaning.
| Readiness to learn | Here, the readiness to learn among the learners is usually activated by the necessity to tackle certain situations of life and self-desire to be improve or develop his/her education, knowledge and skills. | Here, the readiness to learn among learners is activated in order to develop their knowledge and skills in a specific field.
| Motivation for learning | Motivation for learners to learn is mainly intrinsic factors such as; self-esteem, self-confidence, desire for the better quality of life, curiosity, self-development etc. | Motivation for learners to learn is primarily extrinsic factors, such as good grades, fear of failure etc.
| Nature | Andragogy is motivational approach | Pedagogy is more organized than andragogy due to the complication of the students.

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Characteristics of adult learning
The aim of adult education is the independent self-directed learner.
Adult learning is learner-centered
Adult learning is learner-centered. Adults focus on direct application. The interests of adults are their real needs. New learnings take on meaning as adults are able to relate them to their life experiences. Experienced adult educators, therefore, build into the design of their learning experiences provided for the learners to plan and rehearse how they are going to apply their learnings in their day-to-day lives or duties and combine training with transfer and application.

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Adult learners, often referred to as mature learners, are adults receiving education. Learners are generally considered adults if they are over the age of 25.

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Adult learners have life experience

The experiences gained are a valued source of knowledge to share.

Adult learners are driven to achieve their goals

The decision of the adult learner to achieve a goal is a powerful engine to get the most of their learning.

Adult learners are independent

Providing the opportunities to adult learners make and take decisions is part of their independency as learners.

Adult learning styles and techniques

Encouraging involvement and independence

Let students make decisions and listen to their input. Give them the chance to be part of the leaning process.

Active learning

The learning process should be surrounded by interactive activities where adult learners solve problems.

Drawing on their life experience

Using the adult learners’ experiences is a useful source to apply it in the teaching and learning processes.

Taking a varied approach

It is important to consider the use of different and vary of teaching methods due to the differences in adult learners’ needs and characteristics. This variation would make the learning process enjoyable and meaningful.

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Unit 2: Learning Styles, Principals, and Motivation in A&YAs

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Unit 2: Learning Styles, Principals, and Motivation in A&YAs

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The learning styles are visual, auditory, read or write, and kinesthetic (VARK).

The four Adult learning styles are:

Step learner. Needs follow steps and is practical when learning.

Talk learner. Verbal communication is essential to learn.

Research learner. Focuses more on reading and knowing the general goal to learn.

Create learner. Producing and creating are ways to learn.

As educators we should consider that learners constantly change and a variation of activities would match to the different learning styles.

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Biological/natural style elements
They are particularly active in the development and acquisition of new learning material.
Layers:

1.Brain Dominance: The analytic information processing is sequential to the holistic simultaneous information processing, and the holistic spontaneous thinking style predominates from the reflective thinking style.

2. Sensory Modalities: This group
is divided into auditory
preferences, visual, tactile and kinesthetic elements in their occurrences of
flexibilities, preferences and non-preferences.

3. Physical Needs: These
include preferences, non-preference, and flexibilities for movement; food
intake and oral stimulation; and for certain times of the day.

4. Environment: Preferences for sounds and music; room temperature; and study area.

Non-preferences
become weaknesses when they have to be used over longer periods of time.

Preferences then become personal strengths when they can be used in
difficult learning situations.

The significance of conditioned/learned/acquired elements:

5. Social Aspects: Are
the aspect which learners prefer to study, the social interactions and the
subjects related to the learning process.

6.Attitudes: This
is about persistence, conformity, responsibility, the need for structure/guidance and
variety. The acquired learning attitudes, the reactions of a student to 'the system' as a
whole and show in which social setting someone can learn best. These elements
are not stable, they change several times in the course of life.

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Adult Learning Theory:

Adults can adjust their thinking based on new information. They possess the necessary set of experiences needed to undergo a significant thought transformation.

This theory revolves around two specific focuses: instrumental learning and communicative learning. The first relates to task-oriented problem solving, while the second emphasizes how people communicate their feelings, needs, and desires.

Self-Directed Learning

Adults must exercise control over learning decisions. Educators may act as supporting guides. Students must be ready to self-regulate and self-evaluate their learning goals.

Experiential Learning

It is a hands-on approach, with actual experiences needed to make sense of new information. Adults will rely on real-world learning experiences to initiate reflection, review, and abstract thinking.

Project-Based Learning

This adult learning theory revolves around the concept of “learning by doing.” Learners must demonstrate their knowledge by completing a project or overcoming an obstacle.
Action Learning

Learners need to exercise their critical thinking skills to isolate the problem and identify the solutions needed to resolve it. This theory can facilitate learning in a group setting.

Cooperative and Collaborative Learning

It relies on collaborative skills, direct interaction, interdependence, personal accountability, and group interaction.

Discovery Learning

It is up to the student to discover new information, correlations, and truths. Instead of absorbing recited information, learners should seek out original answers to their questions.

Elaboration Learning

The model suggests that information should be presented in a specific order, from the most rudimentary to the most complex. The idea is to help learners recognize connections between interrelated ideas.
Social Learning

The concept emphasizes the importance of observing, modeling, and imitating others’ behaviors and emotional reactions.

Individualized Learning

Learners must be able to navigate topics independently to fully understand the ideas they involve.

Behaviorism

All learning experiences as responses to external stimuli. Learners, in this case, can be considered “blank slates,” who may develop specific behaviors based on their interactions with the environment.

Cognitivism

Asserts that individuals actively partake in learning.

Constructivism

Learners process new information through individual experiences. The catalog of knowledge is constantly subject to change.

Source: https://www.neit.edu/blog/what-is-adult-learning-theory

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The motivation to learn is related with the benefits of doing it, the different interests and needs are covered by learning, using the experiences and real situations to learn is valuable source to use in the process. Adults learn by linking their past experiences with the new learning unit

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Comparison of Personal Learning Style with Adult Learning

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Comparison of Personal Learning Style with Adult Learning

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When I discovered my learning style I realized that a wide range of opportunities was closed to me. Now, I use this valuable knowledge to keep learning in a meaningful way, this means that I become an independent learner and more responsible for how and what I learn. I like being involve in learning by taking notes, watching and doing. Most of the time I am conscious of my biological elements and the correspondence with the significance of conditioned/learned/acquired elements.

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Adult and young adult principles. Some tips and reflections

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Adult and young adult principles. Some tips and reflections

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Adults have a higher sense of self-direction and motivation

Adults tend to learn because they want to or they see the direct benefit of learning, rather than because they are told to or are expected to. Follow the principles of Self-directed
Learning theory

Adults use their life experience to facilitate learning

Adult learners rely heavily on their experiences when they engage in learning. Content that draws from real-world examples, relatable scenarios and builds on direct experience will lead to a more meaningful understanding of the subject. Use Social
Learning Theory.

Adults are focused on achieving goals

Learner is given plenty of tools and information that will help them reach their goal. They need to set clear, achievable goals for themselves, and be driven to engage with the content to reach their goals. With Project-based
Learning, you can take advantage of this need to reach goals.

Adults need to know how the information is relevant

The immediate, short-term relevancy and the long-term benefits of engaging with the content should be highlighted in such a way that the learner will immediately dedicate themselves to learning. The principles of Andragogy would work well in this case.

Adults are practical

Adults learn quickly and remember what they learn when they can turn around and apply that knowledge in their role. This concept works well with Experiential
learning

Adults are looking for help and mentorship

Learning by example is a powerful way of accessing new knowledge, allowing learners to quickly gain information and simultaneously avoiding common mistakes. This concept draws from Social
Learning Theory.

Adults are open for modern ways of learning

When developing a training program, an organization should provide many types of content, such as online courses, blogs, YouTube videos, webinars, apps, and conferences. Use the theory of Constructivism when developing training in
this area.

Adults want to choose how they learn

Adult learners respond positively to self-directed learning.

Being able to control how and when they learn means that they are more likely to be fully engaged with the content, rather than simply going through the motions of learning. Action Learning theory would be a good fit for this
principle, as it allows learners to have control over their learning process.