Andragogy Review

Question 1

Okay, good morning, everyone! It’s great…

Answer 1

…to see you all again. I hope you had a wonderful couple of weeks as you explored your presentation topics. I’m excited to see the fruits of that labor.

Question 2

We are going to…

Answer 2

…kick off our review of material from Session #1 with a recap of the subject of andragogy in tutoring.

Question 3

So a simple review question here: who remembers the definition of andragogy?

Answer 3

Perhaps as you respond consider contrasting it with what it is NOT…

Question 4

Terrific! That’s right; last session….

Answer 4

…we had gone with this fairly simple definition here: “Andragogy is the theory and approach to teaching adult learners.” We had contrasted that, of course, with Pedagogy, the art and science of teaching child learners. And we took some considerable time to define the key differences….

Question 5

And for some quick bonus points, who can remember….

Answer 5

…the name of the individual who gave the world of educational philosophy its first systematic theory of andragogy?

Question 6

Correct! That individual would be…

Answer 6

…Malcolm Knowles. Knowles was famous for identifying 6 main traits of adult learners, which he believed could be reasonably assumed of most of them. So without looking at your work from last week, let’s call out some of those 6 assumptions of adult learners:

Question 7

Fantastic! We remember our “Knowles-in-a-nutshell” discussion of last session! To restate….

Answer 7

…the full list of assumptions, we have:

Question 8

The Need to Know

Answer 8

…whereby adult learners have a natural desire to understand why what they are learning is important, not just how concepts are important to one another, but how they are relevant to their life goals and tasks

Question 9

Self-Concept

Answer 9

…which states that adults have an independent perception of themselves as learners, and that they benefit most when educators make the promotion of their independent learning a priority

Question 10

Learner’s Prior Experience

Answer 10

…as adult learners have much more life experience to draw from, they are not only better equipped for mutual, peer-to-peer, collaborative learning, but they are more “heterogeneous” (or different one to another) than child learners, so they benefit more from highly personalized instruction.

Question 11

Readiness to Learn

Answer 11

….meaning the readiness/eagerness of adult learners to advance their understanding is based more on their engagement than on their biological & psychological development. That engagement is best facilitated when we show how what they are learning is relevant to their life goals.

Question 12

Orientation to Learning

Answer 12

Adult learners are task-orientated more than they are subject-oriented. This means they benefit from knowing how to practically apply new concepts and applications can actually augment their ability to understand new content.

Question 13

Motivation to Learn

Answer 13

Adults are far more internally driven to take on new challenges in education than children. It helps us engage them when we determine which specific internal motivations a given tutoring student has.

Question 14

Okay, great job, all! I’m now going to…

Answer 14

…hand things over to David now to cover the rest of review from Session #1.