Andragogy and Self‐Directed Learning: Pillars of Adult Learning Theory

Abstract

The central question of how adults learn has occupied the attention of scholars and practitioners since the founding of adult education as a professional field of practice in the 1920s. Some eighty years later, we have no single answer, no one theory or model of adult learning that explains all that we know about adult learners, the various contexts where learning takes place, and the process of learning itself.What we do have is a mosaic of theories, models, sets of principles, and explanations that, combined, compose the knowledge base of adult learning. Two important pieces of that mosaic are andragogy and self-directed learning. Other chapters in this volume focus on some of the newer approaches to understanding learning; the purpose of this chapter is to revisit two of the foundational theories of adult learning with an eye to assessing their "staying power" as important components of our present-day understanding of adult learning. Early Research on Adult LearningWhile we have known for centuries that adults learn as part of their daily lives, it wasn't until the early decades of the twentieth century that learning was studied systematically. The question that framed much of the early research on adult learning was whether or not adults could learn. The first book to report the results of research on this topic, Thorndike, Bregman, Tilton, and Woodyard' s Adult Learning (1928), was published just two years after the founding of adult education as a professional field of practice. Thorndike and others approached adult learning from a behavioral psychological perspective. That is, people were tested under timed conditions on various learning and memory tasks.

Technology in Diabetes and Diabetic Foot Education - Mobile Education

“…Verilen eğitimin, birey merkezli olması, fiziksel rahatlığın ve dinamik ortamın oluşturulması önemli-dir. Yetişkinler değişik eğitim tekniklerinden hoşla-nırlar ve daha motive olurlar (14,15) . Gereksinimleri doğrultusunda ve öğrenmeye hazır olduklarında öğrenmeye daha açık olurlar.…”

Re-Thinking the Value of Learning Theories to Develop Self-Directedness in Open-Distance Students

“…Although there is no single theory that fully explains adult learning, there are different theories, models and sets of principles which together provide a knowledge basis for the context in which adults learn (Merriam, 2001). Each learning theory emphasises specific aspects of learning, while down playing others.…”

“…Self-directed learning holds the assumptions that students have independent self-concepts which implies they can make their own life and career choices, can identify their own learning needs, have life experiences that serves as a key resource to learn, their learning needs are in close connection with their changing occupational and social roles and they are motivated by internal factors (such as their own learning needs and interests) rather than external factors. However Rachel (2002), McGivney (2004), Flax-Archer (2009 Merriam (2001) and Brown (2004) argues that adult learners are often more externally motivated by job security, status or personal advancement as higher occupational status, the opportunity to form new social relationships (Osman & Castle, 2006), escape from boring routine work and family life, external expectations from employers that employees have to improve their qualifications and skills and social responsibilities to uplift their communities.…”

“…This view differs from a rural African view where the self of an individual and is concerned with interdependence with others, as well as with their own understanding of the meaning of being human, having shared values on African identity, community and culture (Nafukho et al, 2005). In the past decades definitions of self-directed learning have expanded because researchers consider adults' daily, informal learning with work, family life and community life and their life experiences as potential learning experiences which all falls within self-directed learning (Merriam, 2001). Self-directed learning has at least four major characteristics: autonomy in learning, the ability to manage own learning, independent learning outside a formal institution and lifelong learning.…”

“…Old pieces refer to, in Merriam's (2001) description of adult learning to andragogics, self-directed learning and transformative learning. The new pieces relate to recent models of adult learning from critical theory, multicultural and feministic perspectives on how context influences learning (Merriam, 2008).…”