ART OF TEACHING ADULTS

Andragogy

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines andragogy as the art and science of helping adults learn.[1] Gathering of knowledge has always played a vital role in the existence of humans. From the beginning of time, humans have learned to survive, learned to increase quality of life, learned to understand how to function in social groups, and created inventions to modernize the world. Malcolm Knowles was instrumental in introducing the concept of andragogy. He theorized that methods used for teaching children were not effective in teaching adults. When Knowles first introduced andragogy he proposed the following four assumptions:

Knowles’ Andragogical Assumptions
Concept of the Learner	During the process of maturation, a person moves from dependency toward increasing self-directedness, but at different rates for different people and in different dimensions of life. Teachers have a responsibility to encourage and nurture this movement. Adults have a deep psychological need to be generally self-directing, but they may be dependent in certain temporary situations.
Role of the Learner's Experience	As people grow and develop they accumulate an increasing reservoir of experience that becomes and increasingly rich resource for learning—for themselves and for others. Furthermore, people attach more meaning to learning they gain from experience than those they acquire passively. Accordingly, the primary techniques in education are experiential ones—laboratory experiments, discussion, problem-solving cases, field experiences, etc.
Readiness to Learn	People become ready to learn something when they experience a need to learn it in order to cope more satisfyingly with real-life tasks and problems. The educator has a responsibility to create conditions and provide tools and procedures for helping learners discover their "needs to know." Learning programs should be organized around life-application categories and sequenced according to the learners' readiness to learn.
Orientation to Learning	Learners see education as a process of developing increased competence to achieve their full potential in life. They want to be able to apply whatever knowledge and skill they gain today to living more effectively tomorrow. Accordingly, learning experiences should be organized around competency-development categories. People are performance-centered in their orientation to learning.

Credit: http://teachinglearningresources.pbworks.com/w/page/30310516/Andragogy

Later, the following two assumptions appeared in publication.

1. Motivation to learn: As people mature, they become more motivated by various internal incentives, such as need for self-esteem, curiosity, desire to achieve, and satisfaction of accomplishment. [2]
2. Relevance: As people mature, they need to know why they need to learn something. Furthermore, because adults manage other aspects of their lives, they are capable of directing or, at least, assisting in the planning and implementation of their own learning. [2]

Credit: Aaron Bacall [3]

Does this only apply to school?

The short answer is no! The ability and need to learn is present everyday and in every situation. Learning can even take place in recreational settings. How many of us have sat on the beach looking out over the horizon to have an amazing fact revealed to us? It may have been an observation about how the sun appears to be swallowed up by the ocean to watching a sand crab make a burrow. We don't stop and think, "I've learned something", when we observe interesting and enjoyable things but our brains realize the new fact and log in for future use. 

I'm not in an education profession so how do I apply this concept?

I'm glad you asked! I would like to take Knowles' six assumptions and apply them to a situation within my current place of employment. First, you have to have some background information about the situation. I work for Social Services where I manage the administration of public assistance programs. In 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services, DHHS, decided that the entire state had to move to a new software system. The system was called NC Fast and it was supposed to be able to determine eligibility without the worker having to know policy. Our old system was a repository of information. The worker had to know the policy to determine if clients were eligible to receive services. The worker then enter the information into the old system and the system would issue the benefits. 

Credit: officeclipart.com

NC Fast truly rocked our world! The system was so convoluted that the simplest things became frustrating and time consuming. My workers had to learn an entirely new way of issuing benefits on a system that did not work most of the time. 

   

 The six assumptions in action..........

1. Self- Concept: Knowles believed as people matured they became more independent and self-directed. My workers found themselves very dependent with the implementation of the new system. Workers who had several years of experience were now having to ask questions on how to do things that they had done for years. Workers felt very intimidated by the system and frustrated that they felt like a "new" worker again. Most of the workers were very self-directed in their learning. They sought out training and created "cheat sheets" to share with each other.
2. Experience: Knowles thought that adult learners have accumulated many resources for learning because of their various life experiences. My workers had to use their past experiences with various cases to learn how to manipulate the information entered into the new system so that correct results would be generated. Knowles mentioned that adults can become dogmatic and close minded about learning something new because their prior knowledge has worked in the past. Some learners would not see a reason to learn something new (p. 50). Some of my workers were very resistant to learning the new system. They felt that the old system was fined so why did we need a new one!
3. Readiness to Learn: The main emphasis of this assumption is that the social roles of adults create a need for learning. Training should be planned around situations that create "teachable moments" (p.52). This assumption was true in my organization. The line workers had to learn enough about the new system so that they could get their work complete. Supervisors had to learn more than workers because they had to train new workers and be able to assist existing workers. Program managers had to learn even more because they had to trouble shoot all of the cases that would not work. They also had to create reports for upper management to show progress within the new system. 
4. Problem-Centered Orientation: This assumption implies that the adult is motivated to learn so that he/she can deal with an issue or problem. This learning is often more engaging because immediate results are noticed (p. 53). My workers could not learn everything in the new system all at once. They focused on learning the processes that would allow them to get their work done. Once they learned the basics some workers sought out additional knowledge that would allow them to be able to troubleshoot their cases when they did not work as designed. 
5. Internal Motivation:  Knowles stated that internal motivators was the most influential motivators for adults to learn. Not all learning can be internally motivated (p.54). There are times when learning is required for other reasons. Some of my workers were internally motivated because they have the desire to be the best worker possible. They desired to deliver benefits correctly and as quickly as desired. However, there were other workers that had to be instructed to learn. They saw the system issue as an easy excuse for not getting things finished.
6. Need to Know: Adult learners want to know why the need to know the information presented and how it will help them. My workers were much more interested and receptive to training once they understood that the new information would make their jobs easier. The workers were much more motivated to learn once they realized why the information was important. 

Andragogy is a learner-centered approach where the teacher is a facilitator that will help bridge the gap between student and the information being presented. Corporate trainers should consider utilizing the andragogical approach to ensure knowledge retention, application of information, and motivation of staff. 

Resources:

1.       http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/andragogy
   2   http://teachinglearningresources.pbworks.com/w/page/30310516/Andragogy
   3. Bacall, Aaron; https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/a/adult_learning.asp
2. Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2013). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons