Understanding of Adult Learning - Case Study Example

Discuss the impact critical theory has on your understanding of adult learning and/or your practice as an adult educator Being a lifelong learner is a choice anyone could take (Kungu & Machtmes, 2009). I have taken such a choice as an adult educator, as I see my work not only as an educator of adults but as a learner as well. Critical theory has driven me to take my practice seriously, as the engagement of higher order critical thinking skills is one skill that individuals need to learn in this increasingly complex world. This essay endeavors to explore the world of adult learning, the various perspectives associated with it as well as effective strategies that appeal to adult learners. It also discusses how critical theory has affected my own views and practices as an adult educator. Malcolm Knowles (1980; 2007), known as the Father of Andragogy or adult education has formulated his own Andragogical Theory of Adult Learning as the art and science of helping adults learn. It is organized around the notion that adults learn best in informal, comfortable, flexible and nonthreatening settings. Knowles, Holton & Swanson (2007) have defined adult education as “an activity undertaken or initiated by one or more agents that is designed to effect changes in the knowledge, skill, and attitudes of individuals, groups, or communities. The term emphasizes the educator, “the agent of change who presents stimuli and reinforcement for learning and designs activities to induce change” (p. 13). This definition gives a more communal flavor to the definition of learning, as it indicates that the learner adapts to the knowledge, skill and attitudes of the group he belongs to. Critical theory plays a role in dissecting theoretical concepts in seeking truth. Marcuse (1969) claims that a critical theory is concerned with preventing the loss of truth which thinkers of the past have worked so hard for. However, it pursues understanding of more concepts that lead to more truths. The motivation to learn is affected by the reinforcements to learning namely intrinsic motivation or the inner drive to learn which leads to personal fulfillment; extrinsic motivation, which consists of rewards such as high grades or a prize for performing well; social reinforcement, an example of which is praise and approval from significant persons in an individuals life; and achievement, or the attaining of the learning goal. Having an interplay of the four kinds of reinforcement is the most effective way to motivate a learner to pursue more knowledge and acquire more skills (Stoll, L., Fink, D. & Earl, L., 2003). Adult learners have a deep need to direct their own learning, possessing a pride and learning style that suits their own personalities. As people mature, individual differences increase with age. Accepting these assumptions of how adults learn, Carl Rogers (1969), a humanistic psychologist further details the process of humanistic learning. He claims that the learner is personally involved in a holistic way. His or her feelings and cognitive aspects are deep into the learning experience. Even when the learning stimulus comes from an external source, the sense of discovery, of reaching out, of grasping and comprehending comes from within. Rogers also emphasizes that learning makes a difference in the behavior, attitudes, even the personality of the learner. This is consistent with the definition of learning presented earlier. The learner is aware whether his learning meets his personal need, whether it leads toward what he wants to know and whether “it illuminates the dark area of ignorance the individual is experiencing. The locus of evaluation resides definitely in the learner.” The essence of learning for the adult learner is meaning. When learning takes place, the element of meaning is built into the whole experience. Ellias and Merriman (1980) concur, “the truly humanistic teacher respects and utilizes the experiences and potentialities of students”(p. 125). He gets his cues from his students in order for his class to be more productive. My own practice as an adult educator of early school leavers in a disadvantaged community in Dublin gives much importance to the preferences exhibited and expressed by the learners. Critical theory is manifested in my teaching of my learners of how to think and not what to think. In a sense, my teaching focuses more on the product and not the process. I employ a variety of strategies that appeal to my learners differing learning styles. Mostly, discussions are open to debate and reflection from various social and life perspectives including my own. Learner-centered activities that encourage promotes learner autonomy, participation and collaboration are planned with the students. I make sure that there is a balance in the presentation of new material, debate and discussion and the sharing of relevant student experiences. One example is bringing them on day trips that are culturally educational and on return, try to get them to reflect and think about different cultures and history related to the trips. Critical theory needs to be adapted by educators because critical reflection of learning helps adults to learn more deeply. The process of critical reflection encourages learners to question and possible re-frame a previously held assumption or mindset. It will give learners the confidence to promote and take an alternative perspective on ideas previously taken for granted. The importance of activities that encourage the exploration of alternative personal perspectives, problem-posing, and critical reflection will advance learning, but also it is a commitment made that makes a good critical thinker is to always seek the truth with objectivity, integrity and fair mindedness. I believe that an adult instructor “can hardly ignore the wealth and variety of individual experiences as a foundation for facilitating learning” (Ellias & Merriman, 1980, p 125). This implies that the adult educator should always consider that adult learners bring with them their own worlds of past experiences, knowledge and skills, along with personalities they have formed all throughout their lives. These should not be threatening to an adult educator’s competence and knowledge, but rather, he or she must take the opportunity to maximize the learners’ backgrounds to introduce further and deeper learning (Ryan, 2009). Hay (1995) differentiates learning that comes in three levels. The first level is traditional learning, which is the usual coaching and teaching about how to do things properly. An example is a teacher giving extra time to tutor a student on a particularly difficult concept. The next level is transitional learning which is about how things may be done differently. Learners make transitions that require them to be deeply aware of their goals and objectives and what to do in order to achieve them by trying out a different approach. In every step of the way, they need to reflect if they are on the right track. The deepest level of learning is transformational learning, which is about learning to learn. The student has already developed skills of deep awareness and analysis of his motives and actions, and the teacher collaborates with him in increasing his openness to learning. The process of learning is emphasized more than skills and techniques. Deep learning may be what critical theory aims for as something that more experienced adult learners become aware of. It entails “having a grasp of the structure of a discipline, seeing how things are related, using the ideas in novel situations and evaluating, even challenging the knowledge claims embedded in the discipline” (Stoll, L., Fink, D. & Earl, L., 2003). This is far different from rote learning most children are exposed to – memorizing facts, formulas, etc., which is more of surface learning that goes with an unreflective attitude. Deep learning comes out of sense-making activities, which are made up of conscious attention, organizing and reorganizing ideas, assimilating or accommodating to new ideas and constant reshuffling and reorganizing in efforts to connect ideas to coherent patterns. The process of critical theory begins with the conscious evaluation of our thoughts and ideas, so that they can be improved and enhanced in accordance with the changing environment or situations. It is a means of increasing our own awareness and take command of our own thinking processes so we can think more effectively. Critical theory will result in more rational, accurate, clear, and consistent thoughts that are appropriate for learners who are engaged in adult learning and educators who practice in field of adult education. Being an adult learner entails engaging in higher-order skills. A person engages in certain habits of thinking when faced with a certain problem. Costa & Kallick (2007) define a problem as any stimulus, question, task, phenomenon or discrepancy for which an explanation is not known immediately. That means, a certain amount of knowledge should be on hand to help him out or else, such knowledge must be available to him soon so as to be able to solve his problem. Costa and Kallick term certain behaviors or dispositions for such problem-solving as “habits of mind”. They qualify that a habit of mind is having the appropriate disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems which do not have answers as of yet, at least for the person concerned. When a person draws on his own habits of mind, he gains results which are more powerful, of higher quality and greater significance that if he does not use such habits. Educators need to move on from the concept that the teacher is the authoritarian giver of knowledge and the student as then passive receiver. Critical education theory needs to make educators readdress their own educational philosophy and ideologies. Consideration also needs to be given to any changes in education and adult learning and attempt to match the basic demands of the modern era and the needs of students. Probably, the most important part of an educational philosophy is the relationship with our learners. Educators should be very attentive to student needs, but, at the same time, pay a lot of attention to their skills, abilities, and knowledge. It is obvious that it is impossible to have some universal approach to each learner since each learner is an independent individuality with their own needs, interests, and potential. Erich Fromm believed that “a humanist perspective on adult education is usually interpreted as one that emphasises respect for each adult learner individuality and that seeks to help the individual realise her of his potential to the fullest extent possible” (Brookfield, 2002, p96.). This is why a major task as an educator is to fully reveal the potential of each learner and encourage them to study and develop their skills and abilities on the basis of new knowledge they acquire in the learning process. Freire (1970) asserted that modern educational institutions were dehumanizing and simply reproduced the status quo. As an alternative to this system of education, he proposed that education should be a dialogical process, in which students and educators share their experiences in a nonhierarchical manner. Dialogue is the ethos of basic adult education and this teaching approach is used because this kind of ongoing dialogue is connected to learner’s experiences in their everyday lives which in turn will lead to emancipation and liberation which will set people free from traditional socially imposed constraints. Recent research has expanded the perspective on adult learning. Merriam (2008) contends that there is now a shift in understanding adult learning from the individual learner’s perspective to one considering the learner’s context. Such linkage of the learning process to one’s learning context has made understanding of adult learning richer and more holistic. Learning is now understood as a broader activity that involves the body, emotions, spirit as well as the mind. Taylor and Lamoreaux (2008, as cited in Merriam, 2008) explain that the “brain’s physical responses to the sensory data are recorded—literally, embodied—as experience, hence accessible to reconstruction as memory; without such physical responses, there is no basis for constructing meaning.” (p. 95). One example of the body becoming a source of knowledge and a site for learning is the Moken sea gypsies who “felt” the December 2004 tsunami coming on and kept themselves safe by fleeing to higher land. Merriam (2008) mentioned that brain-based research has documented that when storing new sensory input, the brain ‘looks for’ connections to earlier information” (p. 97). Such connections are the learnings one has gained over his life. If there are no meaningful links to prior experience that exist, then little or no learning was retained. Freiler (2008) adds that it is not merely the body that becomes the vehicle for learning but its conjunction with the learner’s emotions combined with intellect which makes for significant learning. Tisdell (2008) adds spirituality to be related to adult learning and says that spirituality is found in the practice of social justice educators, in the workplace and in experiences of individual learners. Spirituality is part of a multidimensional approach in the study of adult learning. Rossiter and Clark (2007) discuss narrative learning as another theory to explain adult learning. They claim that when one tells stories about his life, he gives meaning to his experiences. Clark (2010) emphasize that learning is meaning-making, therefore narrating stories is a form of learning. She explains that in stories, one learns something, however beyond the surface, that individual tries to make sense of the learning by discerning its internal logic and figure out how it is related to what he already knows. In light of recent findings on adult learning, Merriam (2008) concludes that adult learning is not constrained to just cognitive processing but takes on a multidimensional phenomenon covering various contexts. This new information enhances the understanding of how adults learn as well as instructional strategies to further encourage adult learning (Heimlich & Horr, 2010). This includes encouraging reflection and dialogue, which are in themselves processes that need to be learned. I agree with the expansion of the repertoire of instructional strategies to accommodate creative and artistic modes of inquiry is greatly encouraged for adult learning (Merriam, 2008). This is in consideration of the wider diversity of adult learners joining the fold of lifelong learning. Apart from the usual teaching methods used for adults such as effective questioning strategies that stimulate deep and critical thinking; collaborative learning techniques such as group reports, brainstorming sessions, group projects, games; processing activities such as debating on situation dilemmas, experimentation; using technology such as powerpoint presentations, creating a documentary video, etc., adopting non-Western and indigenous knowledge systems’ teaching methods using stories, folklore, myths, symbols, music, dance and even dreams as sources of knowledge may be considered now due to the growing understanding that adult learning is a multidimensional and holistic phenomenon (Manning, Verenikina & Brown, 2010; Merriam, 2008). Educating critical thinking in adult learning is a way to control our minds to better understand the thinking of both ourselves and others. It is a process we can use to evaluate and challenge the thoughts and ideas that occur to us. As educators, when we encourage critical thinking it will help our learners to understand the limits of their knowledge and rethink conclusions in the light of new knowledge. It will allow our learners to think more independently and to better recognize built-in biases of ourselves and others. It will help our learners and society of the future to deal with lifes complex, real-world problems. Critical thinking is a way we can control our thoughts and make the most of our feelings and intuitions so that we do not limit ourselves mentally. That way it makes it possible for anyone to soar the highest heights of knowledge. References Brookfield S.(2002) Overcoming Alienation as the Practice of Adult Education: The Contribution of Erich Fromm to a Critical Theory of Adult Learning and Education, Adult Education Quarterly / February 2002. Clark, M. C. (2010). Narrative Learning: Its Contours And Its Possibilities. In M. Rossiter & M. C. Clark, (Eds.), Narrative Perspectives On Adult Education. New Directions For Adult And Continuing Education, No. 126, Pp. 3-11. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Costa, A.L. & Kallick, B. (2007) “Describing 16 Habits of Mind”, Retrieved on June 16, 2011 from http://www.habits-of-mind.net/ Ellias, J.L. & Merriam, S.B. (1980) Philosophical Foundations Of Adult Education. Krieger Pub Co Freire P. (1996) Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), Penguin Books. Hay, J. (1995). Learning And Changing. Transformational Mentoring: Creating Developmental Alliances For Changing Organizational Cultures. London: Mcgraw-Hill. [Pp. 131–147]. Heimlich, J.E. & Horr, E.E.T. (2010) Adult learning in free-choice, environmental settings: What makes it different? New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, n.127, p. 57-66. Knowles, M. S. (1980). The Modern Practice Of Adult Education: From Pedagogy To Andragogy. New York: Cambridge Books. Knowles, M., Holton, E., & Swanson, R. A. (2007). 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(2009) Adult Learning Satisfaction and Instructional Perspective in the Foreign language Classroom, Dissertation, University of Missouri. Stoll, L., Fink, D. And Earl, L. (2003) It’s About Learning (And It’s About Time): What’s In It For Schools? London, Routledge falmer Taylor, K. And Lamoreaux, A. (2008) In Merriam, S. (Ed) New Directions For Adult And Continuing Education, No. 119, Fall 2008 Tisdell, E.J. (2008) In Merriam, S. (Ed) New Directions For Adult And Continuing Education, No. 119, Fall 2008 Read More