Adult Education

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Adult Education

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EvolutionU.S. Public Service/Adult Education

Period Activities

17th & 18th Centuries Reading for Salvation/ Charity

Religious

Revolutionary to Civil War Citizenship

General Knowledge

Nation Building

Civil to World War I Occupational

Industrialization Social Service

Immigration Citizenship/Americanization

Public Affairs

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EvolutionU.S. Public Service/Adult Education

Evolution (continued)

Period Activities

Modern Era Occupational

Idealism Social Reform

Improved Work Practices Social Reconstruction

Social Progress

Post Modern Era Professionalism

Self-Help Quality of Life (all areas)

Rapid Change Change Management

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Public Service Agencies/Adult Education

Type Role

Type I Established to Serve Adults

Propriety Schools

Independent Centers

Type II Established to Serve Youth

Public Schools

Colleges & Universities

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Public Service Agencies/Adult Education

Public Service (continued)

Type Role

Type III Established to Serve EducationalLibraries and Non-educational Needs

Museums

Health and Welfare

Type IV Established to Serve

Business Non-Educational Needs

Unions

Government

Churches

Associations

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Public Service Program Terminology

Public Service Program Terminology(Multiple Meanings)

1. All educational activities for adults in the community

2. The total adult education activities of a given agency

3. Activities for a single market segment

4. Social role oriented activities (citizenship, home, etc.)

5. A specific activity (course)

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Four Components of a Good Program Plan

1. NEED - The situation that has to be changed or improved.

2. OBJECTIVE - The educational needs of the target population translated into learning objectives.

3. LEARNING EXPERIENCES - The learning experiences and plans for their implementation to achieve the desired objectives.

4. EVALUATION - The design for determining the accomplishments of the program and assessing its strengths and weaknesses.

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Examine Your PersonalPublic Service Philosophy

What segment of the population should learn? Why?

Who should be responsible for adult learning? Why?

What should adults learn? Why?

How should adults learn? Why?

(Group Discussion)

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Goals of Adult Education

(Paul Bergevin)

To help the learner (individual/organization/society) achieve a

degree of success, fulfillment, meaning.

To help the learner understand their capabilities, limitations, and

relationships.

To help the learner recognize and understand the need for

lifelong learning.

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Goals of Adult Education

Bergevin (continued)

To provide conditions and opportunities for

advancement in the maturation process: spiritually,

culturally, physically, politically, and vocationally.

To provide education for survival in literacy, vocational

skills, and health measures.

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Adult Education Defined

Key Words From Definitions

Literacy

Set Men Free

Essential Knowledge

Skills

Disseminate Information

Understanding Mutual Problems of Generations

Maturing

Organized Learning/Activities

Social System

Quality of Life

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Adult Education Defined

Adult Education (continued)

Lifelong Learning--continuing or adult education--is

a continuous learning process designed to maximize

the quality of life for individuals, organizations, and

societies faced with an ever increasing rate of

change.

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Conventional vs. Adult Education

Conventional Education Adult Education

Purpose:

...to prepare persons to function ...to enable

effectively within the prevailing persons to direct

socio-cultural system. the modification

and development

of their own

uniquely

constituted self

system

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(continued)


Function:

...a socialization process with the ...a

emphasis upon the development of re-socialization

behavioral conformity. (The denial with the emphasis

of self for the asserting of the upon growing

curriculum and society’s program.) toward individual-

lity. The

promotion

of self toward

interdependence.

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(continued)


Basic Components:

...directive teaching-prescribed ...collaborative

learning teaching-collaborative

learning.(All

parties considered

capable and

responsible.)

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(continued)


Relationships:

...unequal with authority in the ...equality of

important positions worth and

importance

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(continued)


Consequences:

...reinforcement of dependent ...growing toward

reliance upon authority figures and inter-dependence

personal irresponsibility in and acceptance

shaping one’s behavior and life. of self-

responsibility.

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Andragogy vs. Pedagogy

People who take the initiative in learning (proactive learners) learn more

things, and learn better, than do people who sit at the feet of teachers passively

waiting to be taught (reactive learners).

We are entering into a new world in which rapid change will be the only

stable characteristic. This implies that it is no longer realistic to define the

purpose of education as transmitting what is known.When a person leaves

schooling he or she must not only have a foundation of knowledge acquired in

the course of learning to inquire, but more importantly, also have the ability to

go on acquiring new knowledge easily and skillfully the rest of his or her life.

Typically, we think of learning as what takes place in school-it is “being

taught.” To be adequate for our new world we must come to think of learning

as being the same as living and working. We must learn from everything we

do.

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Pedagogy and Andragogy

Pedagogy is defined as the art and science of teaching children. Andragogy is the art and science of helping adults to learn.

Knowles based Andragogy upon certain crucial assumptions concerning the differences between children and adults as learners.

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Difference 1:

Self concept: The child sees himself as a dependent

personality; the adult wants to be treated as a self-directing

person and with respect.

Implications: (1) A climate of “adultness” is a necessity in

all adult program. (2) Engage the adult in diagnosing his

own needs for learning. (3) Involve the adults in the

planning of their own learning. (4) Allow the adults to

carry out their own learning. (5) Evaluation should be a re

self-diagnosis.

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Difference 2

Experience: By virtue of a longer life, adults have had

more experiences, thus are richer resources for learning.

Implication: Allow the adult to express their

experiences. “Action-learning” and “participative

learning” techniques are good to use.

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Difference 3

Time Perspective: A Youth’s learning orientation is

one of postponed application, therefore learning is

subject centered. An adults time perspective concerning

learning is one of immediate application resulting in a

problem centered orientation.

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Implications:

1. Curriculum organization of adult education is based upon problem areas rather than subject categories

2. The learning process begins with the problems that the learners bring with them.

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Learning vs. Teaching

Learning is a conscious, self-directed process which

occurs within us, at our directions, resulting in a

modification of one or more facets of our behavior.

Teaching is something you do to somebody. Learning is

something that happens within a self. In one sense

teaching doesn’t exist. Only learning exists and, more

often than not, exists in spite of teaching.

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Learning

Learning engages us emotionally as well as intellectually as

we move through a cycle.

1. Frustration 4. Exploration

2. Concern 5. Discovery

3. Confusion 6. Integration

Unfortunately, in designing educational activities, we have

ignored this cycle.

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Involving Adults in the Process

C. Houle found in his study, “The Inquiring Mind,” that adults

may attend for several reasons:

* For the love of learning - some persons will take a wide variety of courses simply because they love to be in a learning environment. These persons learn for the sake of learning.

* To accomplish a specific goal - to get a better job, to attain a

certificate, to gain entry to a higher level of study.

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Involving Adults in the Process

C. Houle found in his study, “The Inquiring Mind,” that adults

may attend for several reasons:

* For social purposes - some people join learning groups in order

to enjoy the social benefits of being in the group. A particular

learning group may be the primary support group a person has

and thus he may even forego graduation and its benefits in order

to remain with his “peers.”

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Steps Toward Participation

Adults seem to go through a series of steps in deciding to participate in an

educational group.

Awareness: This state is one of somehow getting initial information from one

or more sources. This information may be the result of the activities of the

mass media, i.e., newspapers, television, radio and billboards. The

effectiveness of mass-media in motivating adults to enter educational

programs depends on the nature of the program and the population being

recruited. The most successful motivator for recruitment is “word of mouth,”

i.e. people telling people. This form of recruitment is dependent on satisfied

students who feel that the program is meeting their needs.

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Interest: There is a strong dependence upon personal communications in developing an interest in a program. At this point adults usually turn to a trusted friend or individual for information and support.

Thus, interest in a program is most likely to occur when it is perceived to be important to the client’s world when it poses little threat, and when people they trusts embrace the idea.

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Evaluation Stage:

This is the first stage of the actual action-decision

phase. To enroll or not to enroll, that is the question. Do

people I respect and trust endorse the program? Is there

any risk? How much does it cost: Am I capable...will I

fail?

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Trial Stage:

The initial trial is a time of tentative testing. The client

may visit the program or attend with reservations,

knowing that if he does not like it he can usually back

out. The importance of first impressions is vital at this

step. The physical setting and the climate of human

relationships are being tested.

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Adoption Stage:

After the initial testing and trial individuals or groups

arrive at the final decision; whether to adopt the new

program or whether to withdraw and reject... the first

day may be the most important. If the decision is to

stay, an increasing commitment will be made and the

change or new knowledge will be accepted into the

individual’s or group’s system of thinking.

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Effective Adult Learning

1. A learning experience must be personally meaningful if individuals are to become actively involved in it.

a. This calls for content which evolves from the genuine concerns of learners and for learners to actively share in shaping the context in which they learn.

b. It is our individualized concerns which give rise to educational needs and from which motivation to learn stems.

c. Matters foreign to our personal worlds of reality seem to generate little spontaneous action in us.

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Effective Adult Learning 2. We require an understanding and supportive social climate in order

to learn and grow.

a. This calls for the active affirmation of differences among individuals and to actively uphold the uniquely personal way an individual feels and thinks.

b. None of us are inclined to let others know what really is on our minds if we sense that it will lead to being ignored, rejected, misunderstood, belittled or attacked.

c. All of us need to feel that our individual concerns will be accorded due respect and dignity before we are apt to make them known.

d. Likewise, the more free we feel to make known our individual concerns, the more involved we tend to become in the situation.

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3. We need to feel free to communicate honestly with our own “self” and with our fellow human beings.

a. The prevalent practice of communication to our own “self” and to others what isn’t so, simply directs us to a blank wall where so often we sit spinning our wheels.

b. The conditioned fear of being honest with ourselves and our fellow learners has tended to restrict educational content to abstract, impersonal and/or irrelevant matters.

c. If it is understanding that we seek, it should be borne in mind that a simple, honest statement is the shortest line of communication between people.

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4. We require understanding of the nature of learning and of our behavior as learners in order to make effective use of the learning process.

a. We are products of a socio-cultural environment whose spokesman have been generous in telling us what to learn, but for the most part, have overlooked our need for discovering how to learn.

b. We cannot learn or do anything else very well unless we are consciously aware of what it involves and what is going on. In this way, we can free ourselves from the misconceptions and conditioned fears which have kept many of our positive qualities submerged.

c. We normally do best those things which we know how to do. Learning is no exception.

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Group Roles

Much of adult learning occurs in a group environment and

involves the following functions:

Task Functions

1. Initiating

2. Information or opinion seeking

3. Information or opinion giving

4. Clarifying or elaborating

5. Summarizing

6. Consensus testing

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Group Roles

Much of adult learning occurs in a group environment and

involves the following functions:

Maintenance Functions

1, Encouraging

2. Expressing group feelings

3. Harmonizing

4. Compromising

5. Gate-keeping

6. Standard setting

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Creating Learning Conditions

The following seven areas are some of those which must be

examined in developing an effective teaching-learning

environment.

1. What the learner brings to the transaction (in addition to ignorance and abilities)

2. What the teacher (helper) brings3. The setting in which learning and change take place4. The interaction process5. The conditions necessary for learning and change6. The maintenance of change and utilization of learning in the life of the

learner

7. The establishment of the process on continued learning.

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Current Trends inContinuing Education

Just-In-Time Training (JITT)

Centralization vs. Decentralization

Any Time, Any Where, Any Language

Faculty as Facilitators

Work and Learning

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Current Trends inContinuing Education

Current Trends (continued)

Private vs. Public

Certification

Funding

Regional vs. National vs. Local Programming

Adult Education

Documents

Transcript of Adult Education