Learning As a Mental Process: Thoughts and Resources

                In Act One, Scene 4 of Hamlet, Marcellus (not Hamlet, as is often assumed) complains to Horatio that “something is rotten in Denmark”. While there may still be some decay remaining in the social, political, and religious institutions of Denmark, it seems that, along with other small countries such as Finland, the institution of education is thriving and indeed outpacing some of the world’s major players.

Knowles and McCluskey

            During the 2009 inaugural meeting of the European Society for Research in the Education of Adults (ESREA), Roger Yap Chao, Jr, of the Arhus University Danish School of Education, presented a fascinating paper that echoed many of the points made by group one and others in the course blog (https://www.academia.edu/1267765/Understanding_the_Adult_Learners_Motivation_and_Barriers_to_Learning). In the paper Chao outlines many of the primary forces that drive adult learning as well as some of the obstacles that perplex those of us engaged in it. Of particular interest to me was his inclusion of Malcolm S. Knowles’ “Andragogy” theory (covered in the next chapter of our text) and Howard McCluskey’s “Theory of Margin” (covered in chapter eight). Both approaches embrace certain elements of the behavioral, humanist, cognitive, social cognitive, and constructivist approaches to adult learning. Understanding the dynamics of the social, emotional, and cognitive sorting that occurs during the adult phase of life is key to understanding Robert Gagne’s “Nine Events of Learning Model” referenced by Lisa Harris in her post. For Knowles important characteristics such as self-direction, experience, readiness to learn, desire to solve real problems define the adult learner in ways that demand special pedagogical considerations.

Pin by Teresa Van Der Merwe on Psychology and Psychiatry – Pinterest.com

 

McCluskey sees the balancing act between the amount of energy needed (load) and the amount available (power)(Chao, 2009) as the axis on which the many spokes in the wheel of adult learning turn.

 

 

The Maelstrom of the Adult Learner

            Getting the most out of the adult students (one of the challenges that Patricia Williams mentioned) in my classes over the years has often depended on respecting the maelstrom that their lives can sometimes be and designing curriculum and pedagogy that is flexible, self-directed to some degree, and targeted to sometimes urgent personal, vocational, and/or academic needs. While there was certainly a significant amount of drama among the students in my K-12 teaching experience, adult learners that I have worked with are less driven by impulsive emotions and more by a need to make sense of the origins, contexts, and goals of their existence. As Victor Wang and Lisa Sarbo noted in 2004, the adult learner is likely more desirous of transformative learning rather than simply fulfilling graduation requirements.

The How and the Why

            Especially in online programs, I have found that there is often undo, if not exclusive, concentration on the “how” rather than the “why”. Chapter Two in our text seeks to build the foundation (the “why”) on which various approaches to adult teaching and learning (the “why”) will rest. Though in my Master of Arts in Teaching program I try to provide students with a “toolkit” of specific, targeted resources they can use in their classrooms, I spend a fair amount of time teaching them the philosophical underpinnings that guide the selection of those tools. If the classrooms they are about to enter were static, then those tools would be enough. However, in the maelstrom of the real classroom, teachers need to be moored to principles that will keep them from being battered and set adrift when things do not go as expected and the tools they had placed so much confidence in no longer work. Whether these principles are founded on behavioral, humanist, cognitive, social cognitive, or constructivist philosophies, they will help teachers to create new tools or use the ones they have for purposes that they had not before considered.

 

Reference:

Chao, R. (2009). Understanding the adult learners’ motivation and barriers to learning. Proceedings of the Inaugural Meeting of the European Society for Research in the Education of Adults. University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece, pp. 905-915.

 

Resources:

1. This link succinctly presents the principles of Knowles “Theory of Andragogy”. As I noted, this concept is covered later in the text but, like McCluskey’s “Theory of Margin”, it is relevant to what is presented in Chapter Two as well as the blog posts. Perhaps more valuable are the links to other related websites that are useful. - http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/andragogy.html
    
2. This is a brief discussion of Howard McClusky’s “Theory of Margin” that also references Knowles. Though our textbook does a much more complete job later, this is a quick reference that is useful. - http://www.eadulteducation.org/adult-learning/howard-mcclusky%E2%80%99s-theory-of-margin/
    
3. In this Prezi a student introduces her case study on McCluskey’s “Theory of Margin”. She organized the presentation well and the visual aspects make McCluskey’s work a bit easier to understand. Of particular interest for this class is the application of the theory specifically to digital learning. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICFxyxxBPxY
    
4. Transformative learning is an approach that very much resonates with me. This article on transformative learning of the type discussed by Victor Wang and Lisa Sarbo helps to define the principles and place them in context. - http://lib.iitta.gov.ua/11413/1/Development%20of%20transformation%20learning.pdf