Online Education, part 10. Theories and Concepts in Adult Learning.

There is no single theory or model that explains adult learning. This should come as no surprise, as adults engage in learning for myriad reasons and in virtually unlimited settings. Adults become involved in learning for such wide-ranging purposes as work/career-related learning and training, literacy and basic skills development, earning credentials or degrees, social change or online education and e-learning, and personal growth, enrichment, and enjoyment. Adult learning takes place in such diverse settings as colleges and universities, public schools, business and workplace settings, health and human services agencies, churches, civic organizations, and government agencies, including the military. Although there is no single theory or model that can fully explain online education, there are nonetheless several theories or concepts that illustrate the scope of what is known about e-learning online degree. Five of these are described in the following sections.
Andragogy
Andragogy is a concept that can be traced back to the 19th century. However, it came into prominence in adult learning during the late 1960s and early 1970s through the work of Malcolm Knowles. Knowles was looking for a framework to distinguish adult learning from learning in childhood (pedagogy). Later, Knowles suggested that pedagogy and andragogy are not limited to children and adults, respectively, but are more matched to the maturity and experience of the learner in a given setting. Though andragogy is sometimes described as a theory, it is probably more accurate to describe it as a set of assumptions about how people learn online degree. According to andragogy, as learners mature,
1. their self-concept moves from being dependent to
increasing levels of self-directedness;
2. the role of the learners' experience becomes an
increasingly valuable resource, and adult learning
is optimized when learners are able to tap into their
experience;
3. readiness to learn in adulthood is increasingly based
on real-life needs and situations;
4. there is a shift from learning for future application
toward learning to address immediate needs;
5. intrinsic motivators become increasingly more
important than extrinsic ones; and
6. before learning something, adults typically need to
know why they need to learn it.
Although some critics have challenged andragogy because its focus is largely on the individual learner and does not directly address the social context in which learning takes place, andragogy retains an important place as a set of practices that have value when working with adult learners.
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Self-Directed Learning
Closely related to the first assumption of andra-gogy, self-directed learning emerged in the early 1970s as one of the most systematic areas of research and scholarship on adult learning. Much of this interest grew out of the research of Allen Tough, which was mentioned earlier in this entry, on adults' learning projects. Subsequently, two individuals who have played a key role in developing this work, both through their own writings and through their many doctoral graduates, are Roger Hiemstra and Huey Long. They earned online degrees. Though there are many definitions, models, and conceptualizations of self-directed learning, it is essentially where the learners assume primary responsibility for and control over their learning. In 1991, Ralph Brockett and Roger Hiemstra synthesized ideas from several previous authors to present a model that describes self-direction as the product of two factors: the teaching-learning situation and internal characteristics of the learner. Out of this body of research, several ideas have emerged: first, self-directed learning is the most frequent way in which adults choose to learn; second, self-directedness has a strong connection to how learners feel about themselves as learners; third, several personality and social characteristics seem to have a connection to self-directedness; and finally, research on self-directed learning has probably contributed to a more holistic understanding of adult learners' potential.
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Transformative Learning
Experience lies at the heart of adult learning. In most approaches to learning in adulthood, experience is acknowledged to be an important resource for the learner. However, it is not merely having an experience that matters; rather, it is the way in which the learner makes meaning of the experience and is changed by the experience that is important. In the 1970s, Jack Mezirow reported on a study of women who had returned to college. He described a process similar to consciousness-raising that took place for many of the women. Instead of simply acquiring knowledge, the experience of returning to college often resulted in a transformation that transcended the college experience and led to a redefining of the self. Initially, Mezirow referred to this process as perspective transformation and laid the foundation for a theory that has evolved over the ensuing three decades. Mezirow cited several key influences including Jiirgen Habermas (critical theory), Roger Gould (psychoanalytic psychology), Paulo Freire (conscientization), and Thomas Kuhn (paradigm shifts). Through exchanges with various scholars who challenged aspects of Mezirow's theory, particularly those related to the emphasis on social change, Mezirow and these scholars refined the theory over time and began to use terms such as transformation theory, transformational learning, and transformative learning to describe this concept.
Transformative learning typically begins with a disorienting dilemma that makes it necessary for a person to examine existing assumptions and frames of reference online degree. Examples of a disorienting dilemma include job loss, diagnosis of an illness such as cancer or diabetes, loss of a spouse or partner through death or divorce, or some sort of spiritual awakening. The dilemma, by its nature, redefines this aspect of one's life in a way that cuts across one's roles, responsibilities, and identity. Transformative learning involves a process of challenging assumptions in a way that helps one redefine oneself. An example of this would be an adult who returns to higher education and finds oneself immersed in study in a way that the person becomes socialized in an academic or professional field, and this new identity emerges as a vital part of who the person becomes.
In recent years, the literature on transformative learning has snowballed as various scholars have expanded on Mezirow's original ideas. John Dirkx, for example, has online degree and he distinguished among four types of transformational learning. He describes Mezirow's view as a "cognitive-rational" perspective, which shares con-structivist theoretical underpinnings with Freire's "emancipatory" approach but differs from Freire by emphasizing the process of reflection and rational thought. A third approach is the "developmental" perspective of Larry Daloz, which is holistic and contextually based and emphasizes how individuals negotiate developmental transitions in their lives. Finally, Dirkx describes a "spiritual-integrative" approach that extends beyond the rational approach to focus on feelings and images emerging from e-learning and online education. The point here is that Mezirow's work is seminal to understanding transformative learning, and subsequent work by various individuals, including work published in such sources as Adult Education Quarterly and the more recent Journal of Transformative Learning online degree, demonstrates that this topic has assumed a central place in current scholarship on adult learning.
Humanism and Behaviorism
As with the field of educational psychology in general, humanism and behaviorism have held an important place in the conceptual foundations of adult learning. Humanism, with its view of human nature as basically good and the belief that individuals have virtually unlimited potential for growth, is particularly attractive to those seeking to bring out the best that adult learners can achieve online degree. In humanistic adult education, Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are among the seminal thinkers. The humanist perspective underlies many of the tenets of andragogy and self-directed learning and is most often reflected in adult learning activities directed toward personal growth or improvement.
Behaviorism has also had a strong influence in the area of adult learning. With emphasis on reinforcement, learning for mastery, and helping people achieve competency in what is being learned, behaviorism has been especially influential in settings where performance and measurable outcomes are of primary importance. The influence of behaviorism is perhaps strongest in adult learning situations such as training in business and industry and adult literacy settings, where achieving measurable outcomes is deemed central to the success of learning. It can also be found where learning is designed to help people change specific behaviors, such as weight loss, smoking cessation, and substance abuse learning efforts.
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E-learning knowledge is socially constructed outside of the individual learner, these approaches are especially compatible with learning for social change. However, those who approach online education from critical and postmodern orientations tend to reject or minimize the importance of theories and research derived from a psychological orientation. For those interested in online degree and the psychology of adult learning, critical and postmodern theories pose a challenge in terms of the degree to which emphasis should be placed on individual and social dimensions of learning.
Ralph G. Brockett
EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.