1. Andragogic Orientation in College Teaching
Recommendations
to improve
educational
practice with WASs
Keep information updated and useful for the working
environment where WASs are currently employed at.
This gives them a sense of belonging to the group,
the course; we are creating a community of learning.
Apply your professional knowledge to create
problem-solving activities and case studies for
learners. Many WASs have to deal with situations
every single day of their professional life. Traditional
learners can also experience these tasks to see how
they would behave in this hypothetical scenarios and
confront their ideas to the ones coming from WASs.
Design projects that take into account the time
limitations that many WASs have due to their many
obligations. Allow them to have a flexible schedule
but not overloaded with lots of readings; executive
summaries can be of better use for them or the
provision of mindmaps.
Make sure to use of platform tools (in Blackboard,
Moodle, or similar) to have information accessible for
learners from day 1 onwards. A virtual classroom
where information can be downloaded is ideal and
quite practical for many WASs and traditional
learners.
Let them always have a saying on lectures, projects,
or any other learning task to make it really
meaningful for all of them. With their ideas a
learning activity can become a great experience for
all class members including the instructor.
Didactic
suggestions for
higher education
institutions
In spite of the course outline, design and develop
class sequences that promote meaningful, creative,
engaging, and active learning where working
experience is taken into account.
Take into account the empirical but rich experience
that WASs have and that can enrich the whole
teaching/learning process. Traditional learners can
2. learn a lot from their more experienced peers.
Encourage learner autonomy as part of the pillars
where Andragogy bases itself. Moving beyond the
class boundaries and experience what they know
combined with the new tools provided to them can
foster autonomous learning.
Have learners sample the information and content to
learn by means of problem-solving activities.
Learners need to have their hands on real situations
that can yield great learning and provide them with
confidence to apply them at work. In this way, they
are on the way of developing competences.
Questions to
explore as an
Andragogic
Instructor
Why don’t we get to explore the use of learning tools
within platforms such as Moodle and Blackboard that
can be used to maximize WAS and traditional student
learning? Having a good relationship with the IT
personnel can be of great help to first train yourself
and then to train your learners in the correct use of
any new tool.
In terms of classroom dynamics, how does classroom
management change when we have the presence of
adult learners? Or a symbiosis of WASs and
traditional learners? Understanding the co-existence
of them can be of great help for our teaching.
Can WASs take the role of leaders in a classroom
when dealing with projects, or is it better that they
have another role in project development to have
them share their empirical expertise with novice
learners?
Created by Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano
