Andragogy

This week's reading included a chapter on Andragogy and Malcolm Knowles (1980) proposal of 4 assumptions regarding adult learners:₁

1. As a person matures, his or her self-concept moves from that of a dependent personality toward one of a self-directed human being.
2. An adult accumulates a growing reservoir of experience, which is a rich resource for learning.
3.  The readiness of an adult to learn is closely related to the developmental tasks of his or her social role.
4.  There is a change in time perspective as people mature - from future application of knowledge to immediacy o application. Thus, an adult is more problem centered than subject centered in learning.

Looking at all of these characteristics of what Knowles' proposed as assumptions of adult learners, I find all of these assumptions to be true of myself as an individual adult learner. At 31 years old, I am an independent being that works full-time to sustain my state of living and that self-sustaining characteristic lead me to resume my studies in this graduate program. My previous work experience
is what lead me down this current career path and my current career and learning are all tied together. The knowledge I gain from this program also has an immediate affect on my professional work and is not knowledge I am storing for future use.

One of the things I find interesting about Knowles discussion of andragogy is how experience is an important factor that shapes the way adults learn. Knowles' himself is an example of his own theory. In 1970 he published the first edition of The Modern Practice of Adult Education: Andragogy vs. Pedagogy. Knowles later went on to publish The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy which means with experience, he recognized that both concepts were important to the way in which adults learn.




₁Merriam, S. (2014). Andragogy: The Art and Science of Helping Adults Learn. In Adult learning linking theory and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.