Module 2

Objectives:

1. Discuss the adult learning theory
2. Differentiate between pedagogy and andragogy
3. Understand the principles of adult learning
4. Identify the common characteristics of adult learners
5. Differentiate between intrinsic from extrinsic motivation and give their examples
6. Know the use of motivation in teaching adult learners

OVERVIEW OF ADULT LEARNING THEORY

Learning can be defined formally as the act, process, or experience of gaining knowledge or skills. Learning strengthens the brain by building new pathways and increasing connections that we can rely on when we want to learn more.

Adults spend more time making new arrangements than forming new sequences. Our experience and

background allows us to learn new concepts.

Western society once believed adults didn't learn. Even today, if you ask a group why adults cannot learn, it may surprise you how many begin answering the question without challenging the premise. Unfortunately, many adults deny themselves what should be one of the most enriching parts of life because they assume they can't learn.

We can learn from everything the mind perceives at any age. Our brains build and strengthen neural pathways no matter where we are, no matter what the subject or the context, and no matter how old you are. Age doesn't matter in learning.

Remember what Henry Ford described:

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps on learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

LEARNING PROCESS AND AGING

Does our intelligence keep increasing as we age? Whether adults lose their intellectual abilities as they age is still open to question for a number of reasons, including a lack of consistent research methodologies and tools. The most common response is to this important issue is that adult intelligence appears relatively stable, at least until the sixth or seventh decade.

If a decline in functioning does exist, it appears to apply primarily to the maximum versus average levels of functioning. In reflecting on the issue of aging and intelligence, remember that myths promote powerful images, whether the myth is grounded in fact or fiction. It has been difficult for educators and researchers alike to give up the stereotype that young equal sharp and older means dull.

Physical and cognitive changes that take place as we age are important to note because they can have an affect on our learning: Older learners have slower reaction times than younger learners. We need more time to learn new things as we age, however, when adults can control the pace of learning, they can often effectively compensate for their lack of speed and learn new things successfully.

Cognitive Changes:

1. Vision generally declines from the age of 18 to 40. After 40 there is a sharp decline for the next 15 years, but after age 55 the decline in vision occurs at a slower rate.
2. Around age 70 our hearing begins to decline sharply and we begin experiencing problems with pitch, volume, and rate of response.
3. Few changes have been found in both sensory and short-term memory as we age, but long-term memory declines. Older adults have a harder time acquiring and retrieving information and they experience difficulties in organizing new material and in processing it.
4. Older adults are not as able as younger learners in tests of recall, but the differences between older and younger learners in tests of recognition are small or nonexistent When contextual learning approaches are used, less decline is found in the memory process as we age. The greatest problems with memory for older learners occur with meaningless learning, complex learning, and the learning of new things that require reassessment of old learning

PEDAGOGY VS ANDRAGOGY

Malcolm Knowles is known as the "Father of Adult Education" because of his writings on adult learning and teachings that became popular during the early 1980' s. He distinguished between the characteristics of adult learners (andragogy) and the characteristics of child learners (pedagogy).

Andragogy is "the art and science of helping adults learn" whereas, pedagogy is "the art and science of teaching children".

Andragogy gives learners responsibility for their learning and pedagogy gives the teacher the full responsibility, and places the learner in a dependent role.

The androgenic model asserts that five issues be considered and addressed in formal learning. They include letting learners know why something is important to learn, showing learners how to direct themselves through information, and relating the topic to the learners' experiences. In addition, people will not learn until they are ready and motivated to learn. Often this requires helping them overcome inhibitions, behaviors, and beliefs about learning.

Today, Knowles places andragogy and pedagogy on a continuum. Neither andragogy nor pedagogy are superior, rather the styles lie on a continuum. The trainer must find the point on the continuum that best suits the learners.

Pedagogical model of instruction is instructor-centered whereas andragogical model of instruction is learner-centered. In andragogy, the learner is viewed as a mutual partner in planning every phase of the learning activity. Although andragogy is an ideal learning process, the reality of most training is the combination of both. Because learners vary in their ability to direct their own learning, the design and delivery of training depends upon the learners' characteristics.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHILDREN (PEDAGOGY) AND ADULTS (ANDRAGOGY) AS LEARNERS

KEY

No definitive list of adult education principles exists in the literature, but there is a great deal of agreement about what constitutes good practice in adult education.

1. Adults are more motivated learners when the learning is linked to improved performance in skill areas that are important and relative to their own lives.
2. The acquisition and implementation of new skills is increased when adult learners are provided with training experiences which are based on real life organizational and personal needs.
3. The best way to ensure that adult learners are able to overcome resistance to change is to identify effective training methods and techniques, which are relative to their age group and levels of experiential knowledge.
4. Adult learners will learn more readily when they can see opportunities for the immediate and repeated implementation that has been recently acquired.
5. Adult learning programs should capitalize on the experience of participants.
6. Adult learning programs should adapt to the aging limitations of the participants.
7. Adults should be challenged to move to increasingly advanced stages of personal development.
8. Adults should have as much choice as possible in the availability and organization of learning programs
9. Adults need to be involved in their learning activities. Their participation may begin with a needs assessment process and follow through to the evaluation phase. They need to have some autonomy and independent control over their learning.
10. Adult learners prefer a constructivist approach to their learning. They like to feel valued by acknowledging past experiences and applying these to constructing new knowledge and skills.
11. Often adults feel intimidated by a classroom situation. A climate of mutual respect and trust helps to enhance self-esteem.
12. Each person has something to teach and something to learn. A cooperative approach to learning helps each person feel valued for their individual experience and knowledge.

ADULTS AS LEARNERS

Part of being an effective instructor involves understanding how adults learn best. Compared to children and teens, adults have special needs and requirements as learners. Despite the apparent truth, adult learning is a relatively new area of study.

Malcolm Knowles identified the following characteristics of adult learners:

1. Adults are autonomous and self-directed.
   They need to be free to direct themselves. Their teachers must actively involve adult participants in the learning process and serve as facilitators for them. They should allow the participants to assume responsibility for presentations and group leadership. They have to be sure to act as facilitators, guiding participants to their own knowledge rather than supplying them with facts. They must show participants how the class will help them reach their goals.
   
   
2. Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge.
   They need to connect learning to this knowledge/experience base. They should draw out participants' experience and knowledge, which is relevant to the topic; they must relate theories and concepts to the participants and recognize the value of experience in learning.
   
   
3. Adults are goal-oriented.
   From the beginning of the course program, they have already established their goal they want to attain. They appreciate an educational program that is organized and has clearly defined elements. Instructors must show participants how this class will help them attain their goals. This classification of goals and course objectives must be done early in the course.
   
   
4. Adults are relevancy-oriented:
   Learning has to be applicable to their work or other responsibilities to be of value to them. Instructors must identify objectives for adult participants before the course begins. The theories and concepts must be related to a setting familiar to participants.
   
   
5. Adults are practical.
   They tend to focus the aspects of a lesson useful to them in their work.
   
   
6. Adults need to be shown respect.
   Instructors must acknowledge the experiences that adult participants bring to the classroom. These adults should be treated as equals in experience and knowledge and allowed to voice their opinions freely in class.

MOTIVATING THE ADULT LEARNER

Another aspect of adult learning is motivation. The key to directing and guiding learning is the understanding of the needs, motives, and interests of the learner. Consequently, much of the teacher's work centers around problemsofmotivati6n. Almost invariable, the teacher who fails in his/her teaching is the one who is unable to take proper accounts of motivational factor. Motivation is not a bag of tricks, which the teacher uses to produce learning. Rather it is a process that belongs to the learner.

The purpose of motivation to learning should be clearly understood by the teacher. The fundamental aim of motivation is to stimulate and to facilitate learning activity. Learning is an active process that needs to be motivated and guided toward desirable ends. Learning is self-¬initiated, but it must be aided by motives so that the learner will persist in the learning activity.

If the student does not recognize the need for the information (or has been offended or intimidated), all of the instructor's. Effort to assist the student to learn will be in vain. The instructor must establish rapport with participants and prepare them for learning - this provides motivation.

Instructors can motivate students via several means:

1. Set a feeling or tone for the lesson. Instructors should try to establish a friendly, open atmosphere that shows the participants they will help them learn.
2. Set an appropriate level of concern. The level of tension must be adjusted to meet the level of importance of the objective. If the material has a high level of importance, a higher level of tension/stress should be established in the class. However, people learn best under low to moderate stress; if the stress is too high, it becomes a barrier to learning.
3. Set an appropriate level of difficulty. The degree of difficulty should be set high enough to challenge participants but not so high that they become frustrated by information overload. The instruction should predict and reward participatio14 culminating in success.

Types of Motivation

1. Intrinsic Motivation
   This type of motivation is an internal stimulus to learning that is based on motives that every individual strives to satisfy.
2. Extrinsic Motivation
   This type of motivation is an external stimulus to learning activity. Praise and blame, rivalry, rewards and punishment~ are some of the more common types of extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is based on incentives.

Sources of Motivation for Adult Learning:

1. Social relationships: to make new friends, to meet a need for associations and friendships.
2. External expectations: to comply with instructions from someone else, to fulfill the expectations or recommendations of someone with formal authority
3. Social welfare: to improve ability to serve mankind, prepare for service to the community, and improve ability to participate in community work.
4. Personal advancement: to achieve higher status in a job, secure professional• advancement, and stay abreast of competitors.
5. Escape/Stimulation: to relieve boredom, provide a break in the routine of home or work, and provide a contrast to other exacting details of life.
6. Cognitive interest: to learn for the sake of learning, seek knowledge for its own sake, and to satisfy an inquiring mind.

In addition, participants need specific knowledge of their learning results known as feedback. Feedback must be specific, not general. Participants must also see a reward for learning. The reward does not necessarily have to be monetary. It can be simply a demonstration of benefits to be realized from learning the material. Finally, the participant must be interested in the subject. Interest is directly related to reward. Adults must see the benefit of learning in order to motivate themselves to learn the subject.

Reinforcement

Reinforcement is a very necessary part of the teaching/learning process; through it, instructors encourage correct modes .of behavior and performance.

1. Instructors who are teaching participants new skills normally use positive reinforcement. As the name implies, positive reinforcement is "good" and reinforces "good" (or positive) behavior.
2. Instructors teaching a new skill or new information normally use negative reinforcement. It is useful in trying to change modes of behavior. The result of negative reinforcement is extinction -- that is, the instructor uses negative reinforcement until the "bad" behavior disappears, or it becomes extinct.

When instructors are trying to change behaviors, they should apply both positive and negative reinforcement.

Reinforcement should be part of the teaching-learning process to ensure correct behavior; Instructors need to use it on a frequent and regular basis early in the process to help the students retain what they have learned. Then, they should use reinforcement only to maintain consistent, positive behavior.

Barriers to Motivation

Adults have many responsibilities that they must balance against the demands of learning. Factors that inhibit learning for them should be a consideration for instructors.

Some of these barriers include:

1. Lack of time
2. Financial
3. Time barriers/scheduling problems/problems with child care and transportation
4. Discouragement and lack of support from colleagues or family
5. Apprehension of entering a "classroom" situation after so many years
6. Negative self-concept based on past experience of inadequacy and failure
7. Lack of information about opportunities to learn

Motivation factors can also be a barrier. What motivates adult learners? Typical motivations include a requirement for competence or licensing, ail expected (or realized) promotion, job enrichment, a need to maintain old skills or learn new ones, a need to adapt to job changes, or the need to learn in order to comply with company directives.

The best way to motivate adult learners is simply to enhance their reasons for enrolling and decrease the barriers. Instructors must learn why their students are enrolled (the motivators); they have to discover what is keeping them from learning. Then the instructors must plan their motivating strategies. A successful strategy includes showing adult learners the relationship between training and an expected promotion.

Motivation and reinforcement are two critical elements of learning that must be addressed to ensure that adults learn. There are other two elements: these are retention and transference.

Retention

Students must retain information from classes in order to benefit from the learning. The instructors' jobs are not finished until they have assisted the learner in retaining the information. In order for participants to retain the information taught, they must see a meaning or purpose for that information. The must also understand and be able to interpret and apply the information. This understanding includes their ability to assign the correct degree of importance to the material.

The amount of retention will be directly affected by the degree of original learning. Simply stated, if the participants did not learn the material well initially, they will not retain it well either.

Retention by the students is directly affected by their amount of practice during the learning. Instructors should emphasize retention and application. After the students demonstrate correct (desired) performance, they should be urged to practice to maintain the desired performance. Distributed practice is similar in effect to intermittent reinforcement.

Transference

Transfer of learning is the result of training. It is the ability to use the information taught in the course but in a new setting. As with reinforcement, there are two types of transfer: positive and negative.

1. Positive transference, like positive reinforcement, occurs when the students use the behavior taught in the course.
2. Negative transference, again like negative reinforcement, occurs when the students do not do what they are told not to do. This results in a positive (desired) outcome.

Transference is most likely to occur in the following situations:

• Association - students can associate the new information with something that they already know.
• Similarity -the information is similar to material that students already know. It revisits a logical framework or pattern.
• Degree of original learning - student's degree of previous training and learning.
• Critical attribute element - the information learned contains elements that are extremely beneficial (critical) on the job.

Although adult learning is relatively new as field of study, it is just as substantial as traditional education and carries a potential for greater success. Of course, the heightened success requires a greater responsibility on the part of the teacher. Additionally, the learners come to the course with precisely defined expectations. Unfortunately, there are barriers to their learning. The best motivators for adult learners are interest and selfish benefit. If they can be shown that the course benefits them pragmatically, they will perform better, and the benefits will be longer lasting.

Educators must remember that learning occurs within each individual as a continual process throughout life. People learn at different speeds, so it is natural for them to be anxious or nervous when faced with a learning situation. Positive reinforcement by the instructor can enhance learning.

Learning results from stimulation of the senses. In some people, one sense is used more than others to learn or recall information. Instructors should present materials that stimulate as many senses as possible in order to increase their chances of teaching success.

Progress Check No. 2

1. Differentiate pedagogy from andragogy:
   
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2. List at least five common characteristics of the adult learner
   
   
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   2. ___________________________________________________________
      
      
   3. ___________________________________________________________
      
      
   4. ___________________________________________________________
      
      
   5. ___________________________________________________________
      
      
3. List down examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators
   
   
   1. Extrinsic
      
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   2. Intrinsic
      
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4. Define the following terms:
   
   
   1. Motivation - __________________________________________________________
      
      
   2. Reinforcement - _______________________________________________________
      
      
   3. Retention - ___________________________________________________________
      
      
   4. Transference - ________________________________________________________