Presentation on Adult Education by Magister Aldo Rodríguez, Sala Canelones July 9, 2012

1. Issues on Adult Education:
from Pedagogy to Andragogy
Prof. Aldo Rodriguez

2. Pedagogy: Greek roots: to lead a child
Pais child ago lead
Andragogy: to lead an adult
Andro adult ago lead

3. The one who has delayed enrollment
Financially independent
Has dependents other than a spouse
Is a single parent
Full time or part time employment
Community-forming beings
They are called ‘Non-traditional students’

4. Different generations at
school:
Matures (1900-1946), baby
boomers (1946-1964),
generation x (1965-1982),
millenials (1982-?)
Net-generation (80s)
i-generation (90s) (Rosen, L)
Challenges:
• family
Formal,
non formal responsibilities
• positive/negative
and informal
education attitude
• fear
• less energy and
Classroom experiences: interest
• different level of maturity, ethnic • loss of income and
• life experiences family time
• responsibility • fights and
• learning styles arguments
• commitment (ask everything/know all)
• technology

5. • ADULTS CAN LEARN
• LEARNING IS AN
INTERNAL PROCESS
• NEED-MEETING
PROCESS OR GOAL-
STRIVING PROCESSES

6. Regarding Pedagogy Andragogy
Concept of the learner A dependent role, the teacher is Self-directedness at different rates due to maturation.
socially expected to take full Teachers encourage and nurture this movement. Adults
responsibility for determining what have a psychological need for self-directedness,
to be learned, when, how and if it dependency is temporary
has been learned.
Role of learner’s Of little worth. Used as a starting Rich source of learning for themselves and others. People
experience point but most experience will be attach more meaning to learnings they gain from
gained from the teacher, the book, experience than those they acquire passively. Learning
the audiovisual material and other techniques should be experiential like experiments,
experts. Predominance of discussions, problem-solving cases, simulation exercises
transmittal techniques such as and field experience among others.
reading
Readiness to learn People are ready to learn People become ready to learn when they experience the
whatever society and school says. need to learn in order to cope with real life tasks or
Most people of the same age are problems. The educator has to create conditions to help
ready to learn the same thing. learners discover that need for learning. Programs should
Learning should be organized into be organized around life application categories and
a fairly standardized curriculum. sequenced according to the learners’ readiness to learn.
Orientation to learn Education is seen as a process of Learners see education as a process of developing
acquiring subject matter content increased competence to achieve their full potential in life.
used later in life. Curriculum is They want to be able to apply their knowledge now.
subject-centered People are performance-centered in their orientation to

7. Can any of us motivate anyone?
Motivation has both sides: the instructor and the learner. Inspirational
teacher?
The four conditions of motivation: competence, inclusion, attitude
(toward the instructor, learning, self-efficacy and learning goals) and
meaning.
Establish a climate of respect and use motivational strategies like
positive feedback, give learners the chance of introducing themselves,
provide opportunities for multidimensional sharing (ice-breakers?),
indicate your cooperative intentions to help EXPLICITLY, use
cooperative and collaborative learning.

10. We have…
• reflective thinkers (they ask the whys)
• creative thinkers (create their own solutions)
• practical thinkers
• conceptual thinkers (accept new info when it fits
with the one they have)
• critical thinkers (they read between the lines)
We usually see:
• Action learning (job training)
• experiential learning
• Project-based learning
• Self-directed learning
• Problem-based learning

11. Some questions:
• Do you strike a balance between teaching and learning?
• How much TTT and STT is there in your class?
• Do you differentiate curriculum and knowledge?
• Do you have your own definition of learning?
• What is your philosophy of teaching? and learning?
• How much do you consider affect in your classes?
• Are learners treated as human beings?
• Are you a challenging or a distant teacher?
• How do you provide an atmosphere to your sts to be creative,
critically examine their own experience and challenge them higher
than they already are?
• How do you get them to be critical thinkers?
• How do you recognize your st’s positive and negative skills?
• How do you encourage them to participate?
• How do you pay attention to their personal process?
• how do you empower them when they are in class?
• How do you connect teaching with their reality?

12. • The learning climate: climate of adultness feel at ease, informal arrangement,
light should be appropriate to declining audiovisual acuity, climate of respect and
mutual support, friendly atmosphere, culture of listening
• Diagnosis of needs: self-directivity in conflict with the teacher telling what to
learn. Self-diagnosis of need for learning: 1- model-building phase, 2- diagnostic
experiences, and 3- motivation to learn (self-induced dissatisfaction with present
inadequacies, coupled with a clear sense of direction for self-improvement)
• The planning process: people feel committed when they were part of the
decision-making. Teacher imposition is incongruent with adult’s concept of self-
directivity
• Conducting Learning experience: learning-teaching transaction is a mutual
responsibility.

13. • Evaluation of learning: it is the crowning instance of incongruity between
traditional educational practice and self-directivity. Re dimension self-
evaluation, rediagnosis of learning needs.
Assessment: which is the type of formative assessment that best adapts to
andragogical learning?
Criterion-referenced?
Norm-referenced?
Self-referenced?
About the task?
About the process?
About the person?
About self-regulation?

15. CONDITIONS OF LEARNING PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING
The learners feel a need to learn The teacher exposes the learner to new possibilities for self-fulfillment
The teacher helps the learners clarify their own aspirations for improved
behavior
The teacher helps the learners diagnose the gap between their
aspirations and their present level of performance
The teacher helps the learner identify the life problems they experience
because of the gaps in their personal equipment.
The learning environment is characterized by physical comfort, mutual The teacher provides physical conditions that are comfortable (as to
trust and respect, mutual helpfulness, freedom of expression, and seating, temperature, ventilation, lighting and decoration) and
acceptance of the difference conductive to interaction (preferably, no person sitting behind another
person)
The teacher accepts the learners as persons of worth and respects their
feelings and ideas.
The teacher seeks to build relationships of mutual trust and helpfulness
among the learners by encouraging cooperative activities and refraining
from inducing competitiveness and judgmentalness.
The teacher exposes his or her own feelings and contributes resources
as a co-learner in the spirit of mutual inquiry
The learners perceive the goals of a learning experience to be their goals The teacher involves the learners in a mutual process of formulating
learning objectives in which the needs of the learners, of the institution,
of the teacher, of the subject matter, and of the society are taken into
account.

16. Adapted from Knowles, M (1980) “The modern practice of adult education”
The learners accept a share of the responsibility for planning The teacher shares his/her thinking about options available
and operating a learning experience and therefore have a in the design of learning experiences and the selection of
feeling of commitment toward it materials and methods and involves the learners in deciding
among these options jointly.
The learners participate actively in the learning process The teacher helps the learners to organize themselves
(project groups, learning-teaching teams, independent study,
etc) to share.
The learning process is related to and makes use of the The teacher helps the learner exploit their own experiences
experience of the learners as resources for learning through the use of such techniques
as discussion, role playing, case method, etc.
The teacher gears the presentation of his/her own resources
to the levels of experience of particular learners.
The teacher helps the learners to apply new learning to their
experience and thus to make the learnings more meaningful
and integrated.
The learners have a sense of progress toward their goals The teacher involves the learners in developing mutually
acceptable criteria and methods for measuring progress
toward the learning objectives.
The teacher helps the learners develop and apply procedures
for self-evaluation according to these criteria.
Adapted from Knowles, M (1980) “The modern practice of AdE”

17. • Provide effective feedback
• Promote equity in assessment procedures
• Use formative assessment
• Authentic performance tasks
• Assessment should be realistic, innovative and practical.
• Take multiple intelligences and learning styles into account.
• The use of rubrics as a democratization element
• Think-feel-act
• Use appropriate grading activities
• Effectively praise and reward learning (Praise well rather than often)
• Use incentives to develop motivation
• Emphasize when learning has natural consequences
• provide positive closure at the end of units
• KWL

18. • Provide frequent response opportunities
• help learners realize about their accountability of what they learned.
• introduce and connect tasks (the use of transitions)
• Use humor liberally as well as examples, metaphors, stories and anecdotes.
• Invite learners to anticipate (cognitive strategies)
• Use concept maps and graphic organizers
• Use problem-solving tasks, project-based instruction and enactment and role
playing.