As an aspiring administrator I believe that the key to a successful learning environment hinges on the faculty being committed to a constant state of learning. For me to facilitate this kind of professional learning community I must first understand that all of my faculty and staff have different drives and ambitions so one would be a fool to try to pigeon hole the entire staff into one style of adult learning. I have chosen andragogy to discuss in this third reflection mainly because I have not written on this holistic approach yet. I believe by looking at, and understanding andragogy, as well as the other specific learning theories that we have discussed I can better facilitate an effective professional learning community. Merriam and …show more content…
As an adult learner I can see this assumption first hand. Merriam and Bierema (2014)discuss how an adult learner has more on their mind than an adolescent learner because of the many hats and adult learner wears. It is easy to see how the social pressures of being an adult learner with a full time job, a wife, and two kids, and being a pillar in the community would drive someone to want to become more educated. The slippery slope here is balancing the demands of the fore mentioned and the demands of a formal graduate …show more content…
During that discussion I would ask them to tell me specifics about what they gained from that class. Since there was not a good opinion of the training, recall of knowledge would more than likely be nominal at best. After that I would ask them to recall a time when they attended a relevant professional development session. I would then describe to them how andragogy focuses on the relevance and immediate impact that the learning needs to have for an adult learner to have long-term retention of knowledge. After doing that I would ask them specifics that they remember about that day. By doing this I would be able to show how they were able to pull from their knowledge reservoir gained that day. Once I have shown them how a good experience lead to more knowledge gained it would be easy for them to understand andragogy. From personal experiences at informal and formal learning moments I know that for me to get the most out of my teachers I have to “practice what I preach”. The easiest way for me to demonstrate genuine andragogy is to attend relevant trainings and conferences on issues that impact our school. Another way for me to help insure teacher compliance is to take one of my lead teachers with me so they to can draw first hand from the topics
People can be influenced to go to college because they want the college experience or they want to go to college to study something they always dreamed about . But now most people are influenced to go to college because they need a master’s or bachelor’s degree in order to get a good job. Over the recent years most jobs require to have a four year college degree or better . In “ College Is Not Always the Answer” by Lawrence Mishel , he implies , “ Right now a third of the work force has a four-year college degree or further education . Judging by the growth of demand for college graduates in the last two decades , the United States will need many more college graduates in the coming years - but not as many as half of all workers two decades from now” ( paragraph 1). From the past years most people have
Let’s face it, some people learn in high school and others, well, have to learn to learn. Some of us need to experience the beast of real life before we truly understand the importance of education. Liz Addison wasn’t a scholar by a country mile in her youth. She touches on this in her article “Two Years Are Better Than Four” as she states, “On a score of one, I left school hurriedly at sixteen.” It wasn’t until later in life that she understood the importance of academics. Community college was there when she came calling like a farmer’s dependable workhorse. Community colleges are where the rubber meets the
A student who appears to be dismissing the value of education does not understand the benefit of a higher education. There might have been some experience in their life that does not accept and thinks it is unfair and this is why they will continue with higher education. A student who moves out of lower level of education might get influenced by a mentor and continue with
What is andragogy? Andragogy consists of a theoretical model of six assumptions that was developed by Malcolm Knowles in order to “distinguish adult learning and adult education from other areas of education” (Mirriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 83). And so, andragogy might also be defined in terms of the efforts of “multiple researchers and scholars” (Henschke, 2011, p. 35) searching for a way to “establish andragogy as a proven theory and strong method for teaching adults” (Henschke, 2011, p. 35). But why is the topic of andragogy important for both adult learners and teachers? It is important because in order to effectively teach adult learners we must first “be cognizant of the differences which adult students bring to the classroom” (Schultz, 2012, p. 1) and to also understand that among adult learners, there exist “varying expectations and reasons for learning” (Schultz, 2012, p. 1). Andragogy is more¬over important to adult learners and teachers because both “learners and educators alike can use [it] to strengthen the learning transaction” (Mirriam et al., 2007, p. 84). With this brief definition of andragogy, along with the corresponding reason for its importance in mind, what now follows is what this paper is going to be about. The topic of this paper is an evaluation of whether or not the traditional learning environment is conducive to learning for adult learners as opposed to the andragogical environment. And the dual purpose hereof is to first briefly relate my own personal experience in a traditional learning context (under the heading of a ‘Traditional Learning Environment’), and then to reflect upon whether or not that traditional context (this time under the heading of ‘Andragogy Reflection’) i...
This essay is to consider and discuss how I might apply the theories of Malcolm Knowles, in my own current or future training work. The essay will include a brief biography on Malcolm Knowles, and his theory on adult education / learning andragogy, to include definitions of andragogy and pedagogy, which has been the mainstay of all education theory for hundreds of years.
Hiemstra, R., & Sisco, B. (1990). Moving from pedagogy to andragogy. Foundations of Adult Education: Critical and Contemporary Issues, Retrieved from http://www-distance.syr.edu/literature.html
One theorist that is relevant to this study is Malcolm Knowles’s theory of adult learning. Though Malcom Knowles may not be the first one to introduce adult learning, he was the one that introduced andragogy in North America. (McEwen and Wills 2014). Andragogy means adult learning. The core concept of Knowles’s Adult learning theory is to create a learning environment or awareness for adults to understand why they learn .Knowles developed six main assumptions of adult learners. Those assumptions are the need to know, self- concept, experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning and motivation. (McEwen and Wills, 2014)
Teaching the adult student is a great and unique responsibility; Andragogy preaches that teaching the adult learner takes a certain skill set and approach in order to be highly effective. The adult teaching theory and approach is based off the characteristics of the adult student. Andragogy views the adult learner as a very highly motivated student, a student ready and prepared to learn, and a student that comes to class with expectations of learning (Knowles 1984, pg12). With such a capable learner in the classroom the teacher must make the necessary adjustments. When teaching the adult learner, the teacher will have respect for their students and respect the fact that each student will have their own individual learning style. The teacher will also allow the adult student to experie...
Growing up in a family in which both my parents had master's degrees, it was naturally expected that I would go to college, and for both my own benefit as well as pleasing my parents, I chose to pursue so-called "higher education". Stepping up to this "higher" plateau is no small matter, however.
When I began this exploration, these two words: pedagogy and andragogy, my first thought was here I go again with learning about pedagogy. What in the world is andragogy? To much my surprise, I learned the history behind pedagogy; instead of, the theories that are supposed to work in the classroom. I never heard of andragogy until I started my research; when I started reading about pedagogy and andragogy, a thought entered my brain. The old question, “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” “Which came first pedagogy or andragogy?” Does a student begin to learn from someone else, (pedagogy) or does child begin learning when they are self-directed (andragogy)
Andragogy is the way adults learn as opposed to pedagogy, the way children learn. The term was first introduced by Alexander Krapp in 1833. It was later popularized by Malcolm Knowles as he described his theory of adult learning. He had 6 theories as to how adults learn:
Individuals in my generation that decide to go away for college may graduate with a degree, but they also graduate with debt and have a hard time finding work in their area of study. College graduates are young, and many may not have much experience in their field. It is a bittersweet option to go to college and further your education, I am all for it, but I am not for getting yourself in tons of debt, that will cause you to live your whole life paying off student loans and such. Which is one of the reasons why I chose to stay at home and go to community college, I’m saving money while still getting a great education. In earlier generations, people may not have felt that college was important because they needed a job to support themselves and their families.
In our culture today, there is a huge emphasis on education, especially higher education. Society basically says the more educated you are, the better off you are. That is pretty much true if you live by the means of society. The basic idea that education, especially a college education, is something that people should pursue even into their adult years is not by any means a new idea.
Andragogy is focusing on creating good learning experiences for adults(2013). Here, we should understand some assumptions about the boundary of adult and pre-adult. First , Adult learner can do self-direct learning (chapter 4), and can study independent than the pre-adult or children who are totally learning rely on teachers---learner’s self-concept, also this part is the most engaged part with learning. The second assumption is the most impressive and helpful. Adult learner have more experience than other learner, that means, adult’s prior experience have a big difference feeling or motivation with other adults. Take myself for example, when I was in high school, my orientation for study was went into a good University; whereas, right now, my orientation for study is to make my life different than before. It’s a internal motivation, because I experienced many things which I didn’t experienced in high school. The part “the need to know” makes me feel distanced from
First, I realized that, teachers carry a lot of weight on their shoulders and have great responsibilities. They have to balance the curriculum, students, parents, lesson plans, common core, and upper management and still maintain a professional demeanor. Second, educators must follow a strong code of ethics. They must be professional at all times with students and colleagues, keep confidentiality, not have or show any prejudice or bias, maintain safe and positive learning environments, help students with problems, and hand out disciplines accordingly. Lastly, I found that when you’re a teacher, your education never stops. Teachers are always trying to improve their own education and professional growth, both for the benefit of their students and for the benefit of themselves.