What Is Andragogy?

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Looking at the subject of Andragogy is truly a foreign subject to me prior to beginning my research for this course. Malcolm Knowles developed a theory that he called andragogy which states that adult learners learn differently than younger learners. In 1959 Malcolm S. Knowles joined the staff at Boston University as an associate professor of adult education. He spent 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 center 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’. He also updated his key texts and published a new book on Self Directed Learning (1975) (Smith, 2002).
For instance a younger learner is more dependent upon an adult educator for the information a structure of an assignment or task (CCU, 2011). Where an adult learner is usually more will to challenge a subject based on personal experience and beliefs on subject matter. I find this to be enlightening as to the way I learn as I grow older. It is very true in the way I look at subjects from my own personal experience and relate it to what I believe first, instead of viewing the information in front of me. Learning as a school aged student is done in a way that they are there to continuously learn to gain information for greater gain in a subject, where as adult learners we look for an immediate answer to the question at hand (CCU, 2011). Adults are much more goal orientated in their approach to their education as well understanding their...

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...Learners, Colorado Christian
University ,retrieved from: http://www.ccu.edu/blogs/cags/2011/10/how-adults-learn-compared-to-younger-learners/.
Rao,Hanmanth. (2009). Pedagogy- what does it mean, Teaching Expertise, retrieved from: http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/pedagogy-what-does-it-mean-2370 Smith, M. K. (2002) ‘Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and andragogy’, the encyclopedia of informal education, retrieved from:www.infed.org/thinkers/et-knowl.htm.
Hussin, Supyan. (2012). What is Heutagogy?, Supyan Hussin's blog, retrieved from: http://supyanhussin.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/what-is-heutagogy/. fred3638. (2010). Heutagogy & The Craft of Teaching, The Heutagogic Archives, retrieved from: http://heutagogicarchive.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/heutagogy-the-craft-of-teaching/.

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