Malcolm Knowles Andragogy

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Andragogy Malcolm Knowles who is known for his work in adult education discovered the need to alert institutions about caring for the interests of adult learners. For Knowles (1980; 1984) the best approach for teaching adult learners to learn is through experiences based on cooperative and guided interactions between the instructor and learner (Blondy, 2007). Carlson (1989) indicated that these learning experiences would help the learners develop his or own full potential (Blondy, 2007). According to Knowles (1980)
“the five assumptions of andragogy are that adults are self-directed learners, adult learners bring a wealth of experience to the educational setting, adults enter educational settings ready to learn, adults are problem-centered …show more content…

Knowles believed that instruction was based on conditions defined by the learner needs and not on the structured curriculum (Blondy, 2007). Furthermore, this theory determined that adult learners would most likely learn better if they were actively engaged in the process of education. The learners’ experiences were another factor acknowledged by Knowles (1984) because of the roles adult learners have in society (Blondy, 2007). Knowles (1984) recognized that certain experiences such as the way adult learners thinks, act, or defined themselves could negatively influence their learning experiences (Blondy, 2007). Based on these negatively influences, Knowles (1984) believed educators should help learners become more open-minded as this would be beneficial for them (Blondy, 2007). The implication of Knowles (1984) theory is

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