adult learning theory portfolio
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Critiques and Synopsis of my Readings for Adult Learning Theory during Spring 2011TRANSCRIPT
Adult Learning TheoryPortfolioSpring 2011Beth Martin
A synopsis of my readings for the semester.
1
Stephen Brookfield - The Power of Critical Theory: Liberating Adult Learning and
Teaching 4
Ellinger - Contextual Factors Influencing Informal Learning in a Workplace Setting:
The Case of “Reinventing Itself Company” 9
A Culture of Fear: Education and the Disconnected Life 12
Peter Jarvis - The Social Context of Adult Learning 15
John R. Rachel - The Social Context of Adult and Continuing Education 18
Boshier, et al - Market Socialism Meets the Lost Generation: Motivational
Orientations of Adult Learners in Shanghai 21
Cyril Houle - Two Educations 24
Establishing Inclusion Among Adult Learners 26
Boshier and Collins - The Houle Typology after Twenty-two years: a large scale
empirical test 30
What Motivates Adults to Learn 32
Jennifer Sandlin - Andragogy and Its Discontents: An Analysis of Andragogy from
Three Critical Perspecties 35
Daniel D. Pratt - Andragogy After Twenty Five Years 38
Patricia Cross - Facilitating Learning 40
Malcolm Knowles - Andragogy: An Emerging Technology for Adult Learning 44
Kasworm, et al - Adult Learners in Higher Education 48
Timothy G. Hatcher - The Ins and Outs of Self-Directed Learning 51
2
Andrea D. Ellinger - The Concept of Self-Directed Learning and Its Implications for
Human Resource Development 53
Sharan B. Merriam - Andragogy and Self-Directed Learning: Pillars of Adult Learning
Theory 58
Gerald A. Straka - Conditions promoting self-directed learning at the workplace 60
Gerald Grow - Teaching Learners to be Self Directed 62
Kiely, Sandmann, Truluck - Adult Learning Theory and the Pursuit of Adult Degrees 64
3
Stephen Brookfield - The Power of Critical Theory: Liberating Adult Learning and Teaching
Terms:
Criticality
Hegemony
Lifeworld
commodificationd
People to Explore Further:
bell hooks
Frankfurt school
Gramsci
HOrkheimer
ARonowitz
Habermas
Cornel West
Adorno
Marcuse
Foucault
Althusser
4
The Big Ideas
Theory is important to practice and the domain of the academy
Theory is useful to the extent that it provides us with understandings that illuminate
what we observe and experience (5)
Allows us to see how many of our private troubles are produces by systematic
constraints and contradictions (5)
Bringing relevant practice to the reflexive nature of critical theory (7)
Theory can help us change (7)
Theory offers radical hope (8)
4 traditions of criticality (12)
Ideology critique – systemic critical reflection and allows for reflection on a
variety of ideologies: capitalism, communism, facism, etc…
Psychoanalytically and psychotherapeutically tradition – emphasizes criticality in
adulthood as the indentification and reappraisal of inhibitions acquired in
childhood as a result of various traumas
Analytical philosophy and logic – the process by which we become more skillful
in argument analysis
Pragmatist constructivism – the way people learn to construct and deconstruct
their own experiences and meanings
Brookfield follows ideology critique as the key critique
Updating Marxist analysis in light of critical theory (18)
5 characteristics of critical theory
5
Firmly grounded in political analysis (23)
Concern to provide people with knowledge and understandings intended to free
them from oppression (25)
Breaks down the separation of subject and object (26)
Normatively grounded (27) – situated somewhere between social science and
practical philosophy
There is no way to verify the theory until it comes to fruition (29) (couldn’t you
say the same about a lot of things…there is no way to know adults learn until
they learn?)
Centrality of learning (33)
Investigate how dominate ideologies educate people to believe certain ways
of organizing society are in their own best interests when the opposite is true
Illuminate how the spirit of capitalism, and of technical and bureaucratic
rationality, enters into and distorts everyday relationships
Understand how people identify and then oppose the ideological forces and
social processes that oppress them
Critial posture – adult learning should display a self-critical stance toward its own
propositions (32) (guard against its own entombment as a “grand theory” meant to
explain all social interaction, for all people and for all time)
We must be self-critical and turn a self-referential and skeptical eye on our own
conclusions
Changes over the years (37)
6
Class is no longer the only unit of analysis
o Race, gender, etc
Power analysis (Foucault) subject power has been displaced by disciplinary
power (Foucault’s octagon – prison) (adult learning circle….)
Called into question the modernist underpinnings (unproblematic possibility
of individual and collective liberation, emancipation, and transformation)
The legacy of critical pragmatism has encouraged a skepticism regarding any
attempt to plunder methods and approaches that move from one context to
another
Central Theories
Critical theory
Criticality
Connections to Readings
Baudrillard ideas of consumption and commodification
Foucault’s ideas of power (particularly the octagon and adult ed)
Connections to area of study
Commidification of adult learning
7
Reflexive practice in adult learning
Power in adult learning
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
Everything since I plan to take a critical perspective
8
Ellinger - Contextual Factors Influencing Informal Learning in a Workplace Setting: The Case of “Reinventing Itself Company”
Terms:
Informal learning – learning resulting from the natural opportunities that occur
in a person’s working life when the person controls his or her own learning (395)
Organizational contextual factors – include any aspect of the organizational
environment that influenced the process of informal learning
Constructivist
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
Study the organizational context and factors that influence employee’s informal learning
(391)
Case Study method
Used the Critial Incident Technique (CIT) and semistructured in-depth interviews (397-
398). Though historically used to classify behaviors they collected learning incidents by
incorporating a constructivist approach in forming questions to look at attributions and
filters that shape the learning as well as those elements in the context that affect what
is paid attention to and what is salient, to the learner.
Four themes emerged in Positive Organizational Factors (400)
9
Learning-committed leadership and management
An internal culture committed to learning
Work tools and resources
People who form webs of relationship for learning
Eight themes for Negative Organizational Factors (404)
Leadership and Management not committed to learning
An internal culture of entitlement that is slowly changing
Work tools and resources
People who disrupt webs of relationships for learning
Structural inhibitors
Lack of time because of job pressures and responsibilities
Too much change too fast
Nor learning from learning
The internal culture that is committed to learning is key (409) leaders and managers
must facilitate (so is the group we should be addressing…not our peer reviewed
journals?)
HRD professionals can educate managers and leaders about the conditions that trigger
informal learning as well as the process of informal learning so that creation of learning
opportunities can be enhanced for employees and the process of informal learning can
be supported (412)
10
Central Theories
Theoretical framework came from Marsick and Watson, Watkins and MArsick models of
informal and incidental learning. The framework was informed by Argyris and Schon
who were informed by Dewey (394)
The model is a problem solving approach – informal and incidental learning are
influenced by how people frame a situation as a problem that is typically nonroutine
(394).
Constructivist approach
Used content analysis (399)
Connections to Readings
Connections to area of study
The method – content analysis – is useful for my interest area
What is unclear
Not so much unclear as some of the graphs were poor representations and hard to read
(401)
Application or Relevance to Diss
The method
11
A Culture of Fear: Education and the Disconnected Life
Terms:
alterity
People to Explore Further:
CAmus
The Big Ideas
Educational institutions divide us through fear as it shuts down “experiments with truth”
which also shuts down our capacity to teach (36). (perhaps see with unions, fear of
Michelle Ree, TFA – are we necessary, can we change?)
We are tied to work – our self is our work (36)
When students and teachers fear than education is paralyzed (37)
Fear of power – institutional power (have to view this through a critical lens) (37) Fear
of the other – (alterity). We hide behind our supposed objectivity to alleviate the fear
(38).
Essentially a call to remove the binaries between us and them – accepting the other and
bringing the other into the conversation (38) We cannot transform with embracing the
other
3 areas we shut down
The lives of our students
Self-protective hearts
12
Our dominant way of knowing
Student aren’t as clueless as we think (41) We can’t just say they are “not good
enough” (41) we stereotype instead of exploring (41).
Consumers/consumption ideas (42)
How do we know (50) how is fear grounded in the “way we know” – the dominant mode
of knowing (which marginalizes the other) (50)
Object/subject binaries (51)
Objectivism both enlightens and minimizes can bring about advances and dictators (52)
– it killed the “self” in order to find truth. “facts unbiased by personal feeling is
characteristic of what may be termed the scientific frame of mind” (54) (Science is
influenced – not completely objective)
We can push into new ways of being by being honest about our fear instead of hiding
Central Theories
Critical theory
Social Construct/Context theories
The Other – Alterity
Marxist
Objectivism
Connections to Readings
Good example of theories – the other – relating to practice
13
Connections to area of study
Interested in the adult “other” and how we approach that in our practice. The student
from hell – online and in person – the ones in the middle are the “other” in a sense the
marginalized students
What is unclear
Objectivism vs positivism
Application or Relevance to Diss
I hope to explore the “other” in technology
14
Peter Jarvis - The Social Context of Adult Learning
Terms:
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
What is learning? Product vs process (2-3) Historically thought that behavior mod
(process) produced learning – instead of saying that learning is both process and
product (2-3) Learners don’t always act on what they have learned, but the failure to
act doesn’t mean that learning didn’t occur (3) Learning was the result of observations
(the positivist/objectivist view).
Behaviorists more concerned with the technology of learning than understanding the
process (creating knowledge) (5)
Knowledge is created in the transformation of experience (6) experiential and reflective
Marlon and Saljo report on 5 qualitatively different approaches to learning
A quantitative increase in knowledge
Memorizing
Acquitision of facts, methods, etc, which can be retined and used when
necessary
Abstraction of meaning
An interpretative process aimed at understanding reality
15
Multiple processes (7)
Adult Ed and Adult Learning are confused because learning was synonomous with
enrolling in a course (8) education is an adjunct to learning (9)
Questioned Knowles research – is experience a better description than age (10)
(Knowles assumes that all adults are in a similar development phase – there may be
children who are more “adult” – how do we educate and do we need to divide “adult
and child” or should remove this binary as well)
Social conditions in which learning occurs are paramount – the external processes that
accompany the teaching and learning process (11)
Adult is a social status rather than a biological age (11)
We are born into a culture that shapes our learning and our teaching (12) because we
are socialized into a culture it appears to be objective but we objective culture (we give
it this appearance of normality by reinforcing the cultural norms) (12) Language is social
(language creates the social – it describes and determines what is right and wrong –
even language is right and wrong – ebonics/standard English) Language constrains by
pushing the norm culture and language outside is essentially the language “other”.
Language creates the “other” (12) People accept the culture and retransmit the culture,
but in turn the culture can change upon retransmission – over time culture can change
(14)
Sociologists have as much to do with understanding learning as psychologists (where are
the educators?) (14)
Learning is social (14)
16
Central Theories
Behaviorist
Objectivist/positivist
Humanist
Social Construction
Connections to Readings
Knowles work as a humanist – explores the holes in his work
Many of our readings explore the social construction of culture and knowledge. In
addition there are connections with Searle,
Connections to area of study
The language of adult learners and the cultural process again emphasizes the “other”.
Are we perceiving the adult as the “other” should adult (andragogy) be emphasized any
more than other forms of learning? How do we define adult
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
Language, the other, and technology
17
John R. Rachel - The Social Context of Adult and Continuing Education
Terms:
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
Adult Education has a symbiotic relationship with the environment in which it occurs (3)
Responds to and informs change (4)
Promotes tolerance, acceptance and change and reacts to it – how is workplace learning
pushing us to a more vocational ed and is that important
Adult education should improve society (4)
Examines demographic changes that affect adult learning (5)
Age
Ethinicity
o Which takes us back to the other
Income
Rural to urban
Adult Ed is often work related and the importance is indicated by demand from the
private sector (7) (Really we need the private sector to tell us it is important – I believe
that change occurred through adults that led the private sector to finally recognize its
importance).
How do you make a non-voluntary and mandated experience worthwhile (8)
18
Shifting roles of women and women in the workplace change adult ed (9) Adult Ed has
helped change attitudes toward gender roles (9)
The individual – pull yourself up - mentality affects adult ed because it assumes equal
opportunity which is a myth (10). You cannot advance via merit if there is no equal
opportunity (10)
Often those who may benefit the most (less formally educated) may access adult ed the
least (11) Often due to societal issues
Adult ed should be proactive (12)
Be careful of knowledge whose sole purpose is to promote conformity (the Pledge of
Allegiance for small children – how can they understand what they are pledging?) Also
promotes one particular world view that may be handed down by the elite (13)
Central Theories
Marxist
Social Construction
Connections to Readings
Knowledge is socially constructed
19
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
20
Boshier, et al - Market Socialism Meets the Lost Generation: Motivational Orientations of Adult Learners in Shanghai
Terms:
EPS – derived from Houle – Education Participation Scale
All sorts of stat stuff that I’m getting this semester (coefficient alphas)
Social contact vs Social stimulation
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
Adult education in China was wedded to production (work) 202. Not the learners needs
and desires
Individuals were subordinate to the work unit (203)
Chinese professors stated that learner needs should be addressed to keep up with the
modernization203)
Learners should enjoy educational democracy
Study examined motivation of Shanghai adult learners (204)
(Interesting that the EPS was translated – translation is change)
Participants in three age groups
Youngest
Middle-Aged
Oldest
21
Respondents were most influenced by (in order) (212)
Cognitive interest
Social contact
Educational preparation
Family togetherness
Commumication improvement
Social stimulation
Professional advancement
Gender and age are still good predictors in Shanghai (213)
Younger adult motivations is impelled by pragmatic considerations pertaining to
learning English, getting a job, securing admission to further education, and competing
with the market economy (214) (anecdotally this sounds similar to many young adults
today)
Women were more influenced by social stimulation as a factor (216)
Women were influenced by family togetherness (217)
Cognitive interest is minimal – “learning for learnings sake” (218-219)
Those motivated by social contact are less neurotic than those motivated by social
stimulation (219)
Gender and age differences were larger than those found in Western countries (220)
Adult Ed is variously considered : (221)
Individual
Program
22
Institutional
Policy matter
The west focuses on the first two and the East the latter
Central Theories
Radical functionalist (Marxist)
Connections to Readings
I would like to read more in this area to find more connections with the different
readings. Perhaps a qualitative study that could expand more for me
In terms of the “other” which Chinese may be an other in the West it would be
interesting to study the other in China
Connections to area of study
As educators it is important to see the “other” in their context
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
23
Cyril Houle - Two Educations
Terms:
Auto-didactics
Self-education
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
Some people have a desire to learn (3-4) The article focuses on those who are active in
educational activities (4)
Education programs are designed to limit clientele ( focusing on particular areas and
such) (6)
Essentially, age, background, culture, socio-economic status, gender and education level
play a factor in the pursuit of more ed (7)
Studies do not often address what people “think about what they do or why they do it”
(8)
Studies should look at the participant – the individual (9)
Study examined the lives of those actively involved in education (13)
Group very similar (15)
Deeply engaged in learning and both outsiders and themselves are perceived this
way
Viewed cont ed as important
24
Three subgroups (15-16)
Goal-oriented – those who view education as a means of accomplishing clear cut
objectives
Activity-oriented – Those who like the circumstance of learning
Learning-oriented – knowledge for knowledge sake
If the three subgroups are valid than adult education will benefit from study in this area
(30)
Central Theories
Individual vs. Society
Behaviorism
Connections to Readings
Appears to recognize some cultural differences (7) without a real cultural exploration.
Similar to some of our critiques – critical theory
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
25
Establishing Inclusion Among Adult Learners
Terms:
Immediacy
Expressiveness
Contact culture
Individualism
Collectivism
Power distance
Uncertainty
High context
Low context
Positionality
Positive interdependence
Comfort zones
Learning edge
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
Motivation is constantly influenced by our acute awareness of the degree of our
inclusion in a learning environment (90)
Instructor Challenges (900
26
Respect different cultures
Maintain a common learning culture
Culture differs in (92)
Use of Personal space
Distances maintained
Regard for territory
Along with genetics culture is a powerful shaper of our communication behavior (92)
Cultures often vary between individualism and collectivism (93) – this can be seen in the
same country among different ethnic groups (94) This affects communication and
nonverbal behavior (94)
Gender (95) – affect on communication behavior
Power Distance (95) – affect in intercultural communication
Uncertainty (96) – affects communication
High and Low Context – affect communication (97)
We must explore our positionality in the group our identity in the group and the effect it
may hae on the group (99)
Strategies (100-
Allow for introductions
Provide an opportunity for multidimensional sharing
Concretely indicate your cooperative intentions to help adults learn
Share something of value with your adult learners
Use collaborative and cooperative learning
27
o Positive interdependence
o Individual accountability – (watch for hitchhiking)
o Promote interaction
o Social skills
o Group processing
Clearly identify the learning objectives and goals for instruction
Emphasize the human purpose of what is being learned and its relationship to
the learners’ personal lives and contemporary situations
Assess learners current expectations and needs and their previous experience as
it relates to your course or training
Explicity introduce important norms and participation guidelines
When issuing mandatory assignments or training requirments, give your
rationale for these stipulations
To the degree authentically possible, reflect the language, perspective, and
attitudes of adult learners
Introduce the concepts of comfort zones and learning edges to help learners
accommodate more intense emotions during episodes of new learning
Acknowledge different ways of knowing, different languages, and different levels
of knowledge or skill to engender a safe learning environment
Central Theories
cRitical theory
28
Social construction
Connections to Readings
Connections to area of study
Great tools for exploring adult learning classrooms from a cultural inclusive environment
– create a learning culture -
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
Create an online learning culture
29
Boshier and Collins - The Houle Typology after Twenty-two years: a large scale empirical test
Terms:
Cluster analysis
Factor analysis
6 factor scoring key
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
Houle created a typology to describe adult learner orientations (114) – Boshier created
the EPS (116). Reluctance among the academy to discount Houles typology despite
flaws (118).
This study tested the veracity of Houle since Houle only used 22 respondents (119) and
cluster analysis was performed (122)
A solution of three clusters similar to Houles was discernable from the analysis (125) but
Hould did not anticipate the complexity of learners reason for participation (125)
EPS should use a 6 factor scoring key (127).
Adult Ed needs to sort, classify, and label its phenomena of interest (129)
30
Central Theories
Connections to Readings
Better description of Houle’s work and easier to see why it may be dismissed now
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
31
What Motivates Adults to Learn
Terms:
Connectedness
Attitude
Least Effort Principle
Change events
Relevance and choice
Deep Meaning
Pedagogical alignment
People to Explore Further:
Mezirow
The Big Ideas
Both individual and socio-constructivist can inform ed practice (removing the binaries)
(68) What an individual finds relevant is often directly related to individual values,
which are social constructions (68)
Instructor and student are respected by each other (69)
Connectedness is essential (70)
Learning atmospheres should include their own social and cultural consciousness (71)
Exclusion is anthetic to learning (71)
32
Attitudes help us deal with recurrent events (72) Attitudes are learned so they can be
modified and changed (73) (better living through chemistry – the science of changing
attitudes)
Alter learning situations to better accommodate us if we had the choice (74)
Adults need to be seen personally endorsing their own learning (75)
Adult development takes place in a sociocultural context (75)
Meaning is the ordering of information that gives identity and clarity (76)
Motivation occurs when adult learners asses their competence as authentic to their lives
(78) competence allows them to become more confident (79)
Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsible Teaching is a model that respects
the inseparability of motivation and culture (79)
4 Essential conditions (81)
Establishing inclusion
Developing attitude
Enhancing meaning
Engendering competence
The MFCRT – is the foundation for a pedagogy that crosses disciplines and cultures to
respectfully engage all learners (88)
Central Theories
Socio-constructivism
Competence Theory
33
Situated Cognition
Connections to Readings
Connections to area of study
The “other” in adult ed – how to teach
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
The other and teaching again use this to examine technology
34
Jennifer Sandlin - Andragogy and Its Discontents: An Analysis of Andragogy from Three Critical Perspecties
Terms:
Africentrism
People to Explore Further:
Habermas
Friere
The Big Ideas
Critiques andragogy from a critical theory perspective through a literature review.
Sandlin found 5 issues with andragogy that cut across most critical paradigms (27)
Assumes wrongly that education is value neutral and apolitical
Promotes a generic adult learner as universal with white middle-class values
Ignores other ways of knowing and silences other voices
Ignores the relationship between self and society
Is reproductive of inequalities; it supports the status quo
Examines these alternative practices of adult ed that situates the practice as well as
understands the power that is inherent in the practice (35). (Sandlin makes a convincing
argument about the deficiencies of andragogy and its roots in hegemonic practice)
(Biological and social differences must be addressed for true adult ed to occur otherwise
35
we are not helping those that the need it the – those that rarely seek education because
it is firmly grounded in white middle-class practices)
Sandlin asks that educators include these perspectives along with the traditional one of
andragogy
Central Theories
Liberal humanism
Critical Pedagogy
Feminist Critique
Africentric Critique
Connections to Readings
The debate of andragogy and theory seems clear when contrasted with the pedagogies
used for critique. The social context that permeates some of our reading is really
defined in this article and displays a hard look at the issue (That being said I am a huge
Sandlin fan from other articles) The other must be recognized as called for in previous
readings
Connections to area of study
As we look at the demographic changes we cannot ignore the other in terms of adult ed
and the perspectives that their culture/critique brings/.
36
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
37
Daniel D. Pratt - Andragogy After Twenty Five Years
Terms:
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
What is the contribution of andragogy to the profession (15) Four questions that
framed the debate (15-16)
What is learning
What are the antecedents to adult learning
How can we facilitate adult learning
What are the aims of adult learning
First since Lindeman to move beyond behaviorism (16)
Knowles examined the relationship between facilitator and learner (19)
Believes that the “widespread and uncritical adoption of a particular view of adults as
learners should not be the only measure by which we assess andragogy’s contribution”
(21)
There is a tension between freedom and authority (22) with andragogy leaning toward
learner freedom (22)
There is no value neutral position with regards to adult learning and facilitation (22)
38
Central Theories
Connections to Readings
Connection to to Sandlin – particulary English speaking American (17) Seems to be a
response to critics who question the hegemony and cultural situatedness of Knowles
work
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
39
Patricia Cross - Facilitating Learning
Terms:
Humanist
Phase theory
Disengagement theory
Activity theory
Theory of margin
Theory of continuity
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
Trying to build a theory of adult learning 3 ways (221-222)
Conceptualize a framework broad enough to cover almost any situation in ad ed
and then depend on a subsequent army of theorists and researchers to develop
the specifics appropriate for the various classes of situations
Start with a classroom of situations and attempt to develop some useful
interactions of teachers and students in such situations
Try to figure out what is unique and distinctive about adults as learners an then
to build a theory of adult learning by contrasting adult learners with children as
learners
40
Andragogy theory or not (223) Not sure if Knowles is advocating for a separate theory
or as a theory that should supplant pedagogy
There have been spirited debates about andragogy and whether it is a theory (225)
Much of the debate surrounds the lack of empirical research surrounding andragogy
(226) Many adult educators don’t like the idea of instruction because it is too controlled
and manipulated (227)
Still not sure if it is a foundation for a unifying theory of adult ed it does identify some
characteristics of adult learners that deserve attention (227)
Andragogy leads us to the questions (228)
Is it useful to distinguish the learning needs of adults from those of children? If
so are we talking about dichotomous differences or continuous differences?
What are we really seeking? Theory of learning? Theory of teaching? Both?
Do we have or an we develop, an initial framework on which successive
generations of scholars can build?
Most existing learning theories examine what is learned rather than to who is doing the
learning (233)
Offers the CAL model (Characteristics of Adult Learners) (234) which seeks to elucidate
differences between adult and child learners through personal and situational
characteristics.
CAL can also help account for the low level of self-direction on the part of some adults
(238) Educators role on the sociocultural continuum on CAL is adaptive and adjustive
(239)
41
CAL incorporates andragogy, developmental stage and phase theory into a common
framework (243)
CAL provides a framework for thinking about what and how adults learn (248)
The role of educators in the learning society is to develop gourmet learners an to e
responsive to their interests by providing a wide range of high-quality educational
options (251)
Central Theories
Humanist (228)
Developmental (229)
Behaviorism (232)
Phase theory
Disengagement theory (244)
Activity theory (245)
Theory of margin (245)
Theory of continuity (246)
42
Connections to Readings
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
43
Malcolm Knowles - Andragogy: An Emerging Technology for Adult Learning
Terms:
Self-concept
People to Explore Further:
Havighurst
The Big Ideas
Takes issues with pedagogy being known as the art and science of teaching when its
roots come from paid meaning child (37) Pedagogy is based on the archaic notion that
education is about the transmittal of knowledge (37)
Andragogy assumptions (39)
His self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one
of being a self-directing human being
He accumulates a growing reservoir of experience that becomes and increasing
resource for learning
His readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks
of his social roles
His time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to
immediacy of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts
44
from one of subject centeredness to one of problem centeredness (lots of he,
him, no other gender in this world)
Subject Centered Technological Implications (40)
The learning climate
Diagnosis of needs
The planning process
Conducting learning experiences
Evaluation of learning
Experience Tech Implications (44)
Emphasis on experiential techniques
Emphasis on practical application
Unfreezing and learning to learn from experience
Readiness to Learn (45) – adults have phases of growth like children (46)
Changes in developmental tasks
o Early adulthood 18-30
o Middle age 30-55
o Later maturity 55 and over
Technological implications (47)
o The timing of learnings
o The grouping of learners
Orientation to Learning Tech Inplications (48)
The orientation of adult eduators
45
The organization of curriculum
The design of learning experiences
Some assumptions about learning and teaching (49)
Adults can learn
Learning is an internal process
There are superior conditions of learning and principles of teaching
Implications for youth education – needs a new set of assumptions about the purpose of
youth education (54)
The process of program development (54)
The establishment of a climate conducive to adult learning
Creation of an organizational structure for participative planning
Diagnosis of needs for learning
Formulation of directions of learning (objectives)
Development of a design of activities
Operation of the activities
Rediagnosis of needs for learning (evaluation)
46
Central Theories
Connections to Readings
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
47
Kasworm, et al - Adult Learners in Higher Education
Terms:
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
Higher education has not benefitted from recent developments in learning
theory, which is inhibiting adult education and policies toward adult education. 449
The business community finds higher ed often irrelevant anecdotally I
have seen that the business community is interested in my degree, but not the actual
knowledge from my degree. Is this common...a credentialing tool that means little to
the "real world"?
More and more adult learners, but little economic or policy interest around their
contributions to the schools 450 I need to check the stats referenced in this section.
I am interested in the updated numbers.
anecdotally I've found that smaller schools - often private - focus
on adult learner, but as stated later in the article they are "cash cows"
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education 452 look for this
and more recent position papers
Higher education has little in the way of policy research
One quote "an understanding of higher education that emphasizes the joyful,
spiritual, or social side of intellectual endeavor is moved to the periphery of our
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vision...since these are not seen as contributing directly to economic productivity453
Are adult students coming up in the corporate era of higher ed is a credential,
therefore they just want an economic justification?
The link between FTE and money inhibits adult learners and subsequent
programs because they are not counted for funding.
Three paradoxes
1. Based in a new grounded understanding of access through the adult life span
455 context dependent
2. The issue of relationship and connectedness between the varied realities of
adult learners and the diverse knowledge structures and outcomes across credits, non-
credit, and community outreach. 456 facilitative model...not sage on the stage
3. Defining and reframing support for adults 457 money, services in
the evenings and weekends would be nice...so much support is still needed!!!!
Missions need to reflect the changing world of higher ed and the changing
student body. Not just the traditional 4-year student. 460 What is traditional
anymore...as the article states many "traditional" students work.
"The fortuitous result can be knowledge and learner-centered universities and
colleges that are accountable and responsive to changing needs in today's society.
461
Central Theories
cognitive theory, distributed cognition, post-modernism...
49
Connections to Readings
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
50
Timothy G. Hatcher - The Ins and Outs of Self-Directed Learning
Terms:
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas
One definition of SDL is that “it’s a process in which trainees take responsibility for their
own learning, including diagnosing needs, developing objectives, designing learning
experiences, finding resources and evaluating learning outcomes” (36). Article is geared
toward HRD; however, the principles can carry over to other adult learning
environments
Learning process moves from trainer controlled to learner controlled (36)
Facilitators need to be prepared to teach in an SDL environment, understand the
culture, and understand that people must adapt. IN particular a trainer must
understand when their trainees are ready for SDL.
Offers a list of facilitator compentencies (38), orientations and brainstorming sessions as
ways to facilitate SDL.
Companies had to understand its readiness for SDL ( this is necessary before a true
project can begin)
Learning Contracts are another artifact that is useful for SDL (39)
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Central Theories
Andragogy – if it is a theory
Practice around SDL
Connections to Readings
Knowles work as well as Grow, STratka, Ellinger – this gives a practice view of SDL
Connections to area of study
A practice view of ways to teach “adults”
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
52
Andrea D. Ellinger - The Concept of Self-Directed Learning and Its Implications for Human Resource Development
Terms:
Self Managed Learning (SML) – combines the notions of learners working together in
small groups or action sets on real life problems with the practice of learners setting
their own learning agendas and assuming responsibility for their own learning (160)
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas:
SDL is a foundational multi-faceted adult learning concept that has been a prominent
area of research for more than three decades (159).
Goals of SDL
Learners engage in SDL due to the desire to learn specific content or acquire
knowledge or skills
Enhance the learners ability to become a SDL
o Instructors become facilitator
o Criticisms include the focus on instrumental learning without attention to
collective action or questioning the conditions that surround learning
Foster transformation learning
SDL can be focused on emancipatory and social action perspectives
Knowles description of learning has six steps (163)
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Climate setting
Diagnosing learning needs
Formulating learning goals
Identifying human and material resources for learning
Choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies
Evaluating learning outcomes
Some nonlinear options to learning include an “organizing circumstance” as an impetus
to learning (163) – the learning desire is dictated by circumstances in a non linear
fashion
Cavaliere’s 4 stages of learning
Inquiring
Modeling
Experimenting and practicing
Theorizing and perfecting
Actualizing
Within the 5 stages there are 4 repetitive cognitive processes
Goal setting
Focusing
Persevering
Reformulation
Personal Responsibility Orientation (PRO) – focuses as a way to move beyond the
conceptual confusion of SDL as an instructional process. The model focuses on the
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notion of learner SD as a personality characteristic to reflect a learner’s desire to assume
responsibility for their learning. Considers the social context in which the learning
occurs as important
Garrison views SDL from a collaborative constructivist position that integrates concepts
of self-management, self-monitoring, and motivation but does not appear to have been
tested. (164)
Hammonds and Collins have a 7 step critical SDL model (165)
Building a cooperative learning climate
Analyzing and critically reflecting on themselves and the social, economic, and
political contexts in which they are situated
Generating competency profiles for themselves
Diagnosing their learning needs within the framework of both the personal and
social context
Formulating socially relevant learning goals that result in learning agreements
Implementing and managing their learning
Reflecting on and evaluating their learning
SDL learners are a personality construct (165) who accept responsibility for themselves
as learners
Self Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) – Guglielmino’s scale – an instrument
designed to assess the degree which individuals perceive themselves to possess
attitudes and skills often associated with the notion of readiness, an internal state of
psychological readiness for self-directed learning (165)
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Oddi Continuing Learning Inventory (OCLI) (165-166)
Ultimately, a commitment to self-learning and development benefits both learners and
the organizations that employ them (166)
Learners who are self-directed are more likely to share others’ knowledge and build
networks with others (167)
SDL will incorporate into HRD practice with things such as assessing needs, setting goals,
learning contracts…etc (167)
There is some research that shows some vocational learners are yet ready of well-
prepared for SDL (168)
Assessment tools are helpful for HRD managers to assess those who have lower SDL
readiness (169). Are HRD managers doing this?
SDL lit has been stagnant for a while despite the need for more research and perhaps
partnerships with academics and business will help further research (171)
Central Theories
Humanism
Critical Theory
Connections to Readings
Literature review of SDL
56
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
57
Sharan B. Merriam - Andragogy and Self-Directed Learning: Pillars of Adult Learning Theory
Terms:
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas:
Andragogy and SDL as foundational theories of the field (3)
History of adult learning – whether or not adults can learn – learners were compared
with younger students who perhaps had more education.
Malcolm Knowles created “a new technology” for adult learning (4) (describes perhaps
an instrumental or positivist leaning in the early stages of the technology) Knowles
eventually stated that his ideas were more a learning or conceptual framework instead
of a theory (5). Eventually he moved away from the binary of andra/pedagogy to a
continuum of learning that recognizes difference (6)
Pastuovic finds that andragogy is learning toward positivism which may not be beneficial
toward learners (6)
Critical theorists examined the humanist underpinnings of Knowles work and its focus
on the individual (7)
58
Central Theories
Humanism
Connections to Readings
Knowles
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
59
Gerald A. Straka - Conditions promoting self-directed learning at the workplace
Terms:
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas:
SDL is a central theme in adult ed but validated concepts of general learning and
instructional theory are scarcely considered (242)
SDL takes place with the following (242):
Interest – the interaction between learner and subject
Strategies – the way to acquaint themselves with content
Controls – manage the application of strategies
Evaluation – subjects learning to assessment
Must examine the socio-historical context
The Two-Shell model of motivated self-directed learning – differentiates socio-historical
environmental conditions, internal conditions (for example, the developed declarative
knowledge, values, etc., already present at the time of learning) and activities which
belong with the concepts interest, learning, strategies, control and evaluation (243)
These three experienced workplace conditions are not only related to an interest in self-
directed learning, but also to strategies of learning and control. (246)
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The experiencing of autonomy, competence and social relatedness, summarized as
‘experience work conditions’, has an influence on interests. Interests have an effect on
the strategies and control of learning. (248)
Only the person doing the learning can determine if learning occurs (248).
Self-directed learning may be viewed as an idiosyncratic interplay between interest,
strategy and control. (249).
Central Theories
Connections to Readings
Connections to area of study
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
61
Gerald Grow - Teaching Learners to be Self Directed
Terms:
Staged Self Directed Learning Model that suggests how teachers can actively equip
students to become more self directed in their learning (126).
People to Explore Further:
The Big Ideas:
Staged Self Directed Learning Model (SSDL) that suggests how teachers can actively
equip students to become more self directed in their learning (126).
4 Stages of Learning/learners
Stage 1 – directed – need an authority figure to give them explicit directions on
what to do, how to do it, and when. Learning is teacher-centered. Teachers
should function as coaching
Stage 2 – interested – learners are available, interested or interestable, respond
to motivational techniques. Teachers are Motivating
Stage 3 – involved – learners has skill and knowledge and they see themselves as
participants in their own education. The teachers are facilitators
Stage 4 – self-directed – set their own goals and standards with or without help
from experts. Learners are willing and able to take responsibility for their
learning, direction and productivity. Teachers delegate – cultivate the learners
ability to learn.
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Some implications include the mismatch between teacher and learning styles (137)
Good teaching is difficult and includes two things – matches the students stage of self-
direction, and it empowers the student to progress toward greater self-direction. Good
teaching is situational, yet it promotes the long-term development of the student (140)
Figure 3 provides a model for tying SSDL to curriculum and courses (143)
While SSDL describes a progression – learning is rarely linear (144)
SSDL doesn’t ask what learners think, teacher expectation may play a greater role than
they think and dynamics are inherent in assignments, etc. (146).
Central Theories
Humanism
Critical theory
Connections to Readings
Connections to area of study
How this may apply in online environments
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
63
Kiely, Sandmann, Truluck - Adult Learning Theory and the Pursuit of Adult Degrees
Terms:
Andragogy – “the art and science of teaching adults” (20)
Self-directed learning – (18)
Transformative learning – (18)
Situated cognition – “adults no longer learn from experience, they learn in it, as they act
in situations and are acted upon by ‘situations’” – (24)
People to Explore Further:
Merriam – (18)
Mackeracher – (18)
Mezirow – 22
Jarvis – 24
Wilson – 24
The Big Ideas
The four lens model of adult learning (p. 19)
Learner – focusing on a learner facilitator model of education, meets their
individual needs
Process – focuses on how adults learn (Mezirow transformational learning model
the most prevalent) (22)
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Context – Adult learning through the context lens is fundamentally a social
process that begins with adults as individuals and also as persons in society (24)
Educator – Reflect on the philosophical assumptions that shape and influence
the we approach our practice (26 – 27)
Central Theories
Andragogy – if it is a theory
transformational learning model
Philosophical traditions
Behaviorist
Liberal
Humanist
Progressive
Radical traditions
Connections to Readings
Summary of earlier theory readings
Connections to area of study
Provides a theoretical background and a lead in to the study of online learning with
adults
65
What is unclear
Application or Relevance to Diss
66