Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks
Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks; Adult Learners in Modern Academia
Before the turn of the 20th century there was only one model of teaching utilized in public school systems. This was known as pedagogy and it was used universally. Unfortunately (or fortunately) an adult learner brings different attributes and skill sets to the table, which are not well suited to this educational model. Andragogy was the name given to a revolutionary new educational model which transformed adult education, making it possible to teach an “old dog” new tricks.
The changes in adult education began largely in the 1920’s with the publication of two seminal books; Edward Thorndike’s Adult Learning (1928) and Eduard C. Lindeman’s The Meaning of Adult Education (1926). These books introduced a whole new concept of learning and became the impetus for change in the methods used to teach adults.(Clark, 1995) Adult learners benefitted from these changes because they were not a “clean slate” per se. They brought their own ideas and preconceptions, which were developed through their adolescent education and their adult life experiences. The essence of learning was captured by Lindeman:
In this process the teacher finds a new function. He is no longer the oracle who speaks from the platform of authority, but rather the guide, the pointer-out who also participates in learning in proportion to the vitality and relevance of his facts and experiences. In short, my conception of adult education is this: a cooperative venture in nonauthoritarian, informal learning, the chief purpose of which is to discover the meaning of experience; a quest of the mind which digs down to the roots of the preconceptions which formulate our conduct; a technique of learning for adults that makes education coterminous with life and hence elevates living itself to the level of adventurous experiment. - quoted in Nadler, 1984, p.6.4 (Nadler, 1990;
Before the turn of the 20th century there was only one model of teaching utilized in public school systems. This was known as pedagogy and it was used universally. Unfortunately (or fortunately) an adult learner brings different attributes and skill sets to the table, which are not well suited to this educational model. Andragogy was the name given to a revolutionary new educational model which transformed adult education, making it possible to teach an “old dog” new tricks.
The changes in adult education began largely in the 1920’s with the publication of two seminal books; Edward Thorndike’s Adult Learning (1928) and Eduard C. Lindeman’s The Meaning of Adult Education (1926). These books introduced a whole new concept of learning and became the impetus for change in the methods used to teach adults.(Clark, 1995) Adult learners benefitted from these changes because they were not a “clean slate” per se. They brought their own ideas and preconceptions, which were developed through their adolescent education and their adult life experiences. The essence of learning was captured by Lindeman:
In this process the teacher finds a new function. He is no longer the oracle who speaks from the platform of authority, but rather the guide, the pointer-out who also participates in learning in proportion to the vitality and relevance of his facts and experiences. In short, my conception of adult education is this: a cooperative venture in nonauthoritarian, informal learning, the chief purpose of which is to discover the meaning of experience; a quest of the mind which digs down to the roots of the preconceptions which formulate our conduct; a technique of learning for adults that makes education coterminous with life and hence elevates living itself to the level of adventurous experiment. - quoted in Nadler, 1984, p.6.4 (Nadler, 1990;
References: Clark, D. (1995). Big dog & little dog 's performance juxtaposition. Retrieved August 31, 2013, from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/andragogy.html Lee, C. (1998). The adult learner: Neglected no more. Training, 35(3), 47-52. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/203393025?accountid=8289 Nadler, L. (1990). The handbook of human resource development Wiley; 2 edition. Oxford dictionaries. (2013). Retrieved September 16, 2013, from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/andragogy?q=andragogy Smith, T., & Lowrie, T. (2002). Pedagogy as conversation: A way of experiencing learning: What is pedagogy anyway? Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 7(1) Taylor, B., Kroth, M. (2009). Andragogy 's transition into the future: Meta-analysis of andragogy and its search for a measurable instrument. MPAEA Journal of Adult Education, 38(1), 1-11. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=47122120&site=ehost-live Taylor,B.,Kroth,M. (2009). A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study: A model for testing methodologies for pedagogy or andragogy. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, 9(2), 42-56. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=45408845&site=ehost-live