In this second post on the theme of
adult learning we
move from learning styles to think about ways in which we can facilitate adult
learning. Before doing that it might be
helpful to highlight some of the main points in the last post. Do you remember
them?!!
Some key observations from the
previous post
- Adults
learn in a variety of ways because of their varied learning styles.
- A
variety of delivery formats and teaching methods should be used to facilitate
the learning process.
Who was my best teacher?
A good place to start when
considering how to best facilitate adult learning is to ask oneself the
questions ‘Who has been my best teacher?’ And ‘Why?’ Before jotting down some of your thoughts
watch this clip of the late Robin Williams in Dead Poets’ Society where he plays an inspirational teacher.
What is
involved in learning
How we learn is a question which psychologists have
grappled with for many years. No single theory has gained complete acceptance
amongst them although all accept the basic premise that learning occurs
whenever one adapts new, or modifies
existing, behaviour patterns in a way that has some influence on future
performance or attitudes. Thus educationalist Alan Rogers describes
learning as ‘voluntary change in one’s pattern of thinking, acting and/or
feeling.’
What
other judgments might we reasonably make about the nature of change? Here are a
few possibilities:
- We might speak of change as
something which is reasonably permanent. When we truly learn and imbibe
new knowledge we tend not to go back to behaviour or ideas which do not
reflect that new knowledge.
- We might say that change
grows out of past experience: and that therefore for an adult whose
reservoir of experience is so much greater than a child’s, any behaviour
change must occur out of a deeper and more meaningful experience than that
of a child
- Many theorists would suggest
that learners need to be active in bringing about the change which
happens: Fraser, Watts and Nye emphasise this “active learning principle”
claiming that learning improves when people actively participate in the
learning process. When learners are passive recipients of the teacher’s
knowledge, less is learned and the learning tends to be superficial.
Deeper learning is promoted when the learners are directly involved and
are encouraged to work themselves with the material being taught.
- Finally, it might also be
said that there are different types of change – change in what we know
(cognitive), in what we feel
(affective) and in what we do (behavioural). Pont also adds psychomotor development-
the acquiring of physiological skills required in order to complete a
task, for example, driving a car,
as another expression of change.
Implications for the Christian
faith
If we agree with definitions of
learning which emphasise change - cognitive, affective and behavioural - then
we are on exciting ground because we begin to realise that Christian learning
is about the transformation of people’s lives.
Harris and Schwann define learning
as being “essentially change due to experience”. They then go on to distinguish learning as a
(a)
product - which explains the
end result or outcome of the learning.
(b)
process - which emphasises
what happens during the course of learning and
(c)
function - which emphasises critical aspects of
learning, like motivation.
Learning as product
The
Christian community has always been a community of learning. We are learning
all the time - sometimes formally, sometimes
informally. This reality is rooted in
our own history.
·
In Deuteronomy 6: 20-25 teaching is
characterised as natural opportunities provoked by a child’s question.
·
In the early church learning was taken
very seriously, since knowledge was deemed to be part of identity. Thus baptism took place after a long period of
instruction and teaching. Cyril of Jerusalem produced 23 catechetical lectures
for those preparing for baptism in about 347 or 348
·
The ministry of Jesus was itself a
‘teaching ministry.
Take a moment to enumerate some of the
ways in which Jesus taught?
What
do you think was the over all aim of Jesus teaching? (a) imparting information
(b) developing maturity (c) conversion
and (d) pointing to the Kingdom. Share
your thoughts on this theme later with your colleagues.
Practical Implication:
If
the church is a teaching church (as the model of learning as product
presupposes) all of our teaching and
learning must be related to aims or outcomes. The planning of every session (i.e.
sermons, bible studies etc) must begin with the setting out of clear aims. What sort of outcomes would we like to see
from our teaching ministry?
Learning as Process (Learning
Theory)
There
is no one unified theory of adult learning, rather over the past century many
theories of learning have developed. We are going to look at two of those key
theories in this post.
Constructivism: Internal schema:
One
of the most influential models of learning has been constructivism. As
people learn anything they look for ways to organise their thoughts and they
form a schema or a mental map of a particular area of knowledge or set of
issues.
Bartlett
(1932 cited by Cottrell) described a schema as “An active organisation of past
reactions, or past experiences”.
Piaget
argued that we acquire knowledge by “acting upon the world”, we seek out new
experiences and our brains either assimilate new experience into our existing
schemas or else we must try to alter our internal models to accommodate the new
information. Thus as we go through the day all of our experiences either
reinforce or alter what we know, strengthening or undermining our existing
schema.
Constructivism
argues that learning is an active process of constructing new models of reality
or reinforcing old learning.
When
new information is encountered there are a number of possibilities. Eg. The new
idea simply washes over the learner or it might be distorted to force it into
the existing mindset and so be misunderstood. The breakthrough comes when the
learner realises that this new information needs a whole new schema. This
liberates the mind into a more creative mode but also robs it of the sense of
mastery which a robust schema provides.
Fraser
et al claim that in Christian learning this need for a dramatic reconstruction
of schemata may be experienced with central concepts like God, Christ and the
Spirit. It may also involve other key
doctrinal concepts.
Fry
et al (1999) suggest that, “Unless schemata are amended, learning will not
occur. Learning whether in cognitive, affective, interpersonal or psycho motor
domains) involves a process of individual transformation”
A Process Model of Adult Learning:
After
the Second World War, Malcolm Knowles
developed what is known as a process model of adult learning. ANDRAGOGYis a
term developed by Knowles and means the art and science of helping adults learn
based on knowledge we have of how adults function. The theory is built around the premise that
as individuals mature their need and capacity to be self-directing, to utilise
their experience in learning, to identify their own readiness to learn and to
organise their learning round life problems increases.
Malcolm
S Knowles (1980) The Modern Practice of
Adult Education: From Pedagogy to
Andragogy.
The
essence of this theory is that in adult learning we need to move away from
pedagogy to androgogy. This is best explained when we contrast the two
emphases. In a pedagogical approach the
learner is dependent and the teacher takes responsibility for the learning
process. The learner is believed to bring little to the learning situation. He
or she is essentially reliant on expert input. The main teaching technique is
thus the transmittal of information. In this style of learning fear of failure
is a great motivator and learners learn what they are conditioned to learn to
obtain parental and societal approval.
Finally, learning is standardised and progressive because it is aimed at
the same age group and every age
In
contrast to this, in the androgogical model, the learner is essentially
self-directing and the role of the teacher is to encourage and nurture this
need to be self-directed. Rather than being seen as being of little account, the learners’ experience
accumulated over a lifetime is a great resource both for self and others.
Fundamental to the whole approach is the conviction that learners attach
greater significance to what they experience than to what they are told. Thus
learning takes on a very different shape in this model.
The
teacher according to this model is a facilitator who involves the learners in
establishing a climate conducive to learning, creating a mechanism for mutual
planning, diagnosing needs for learning, formulating objectives, designing
learning experiences, conducting those experiences with suitable techniques and
experiences and evaluating learning outcomes and re-diagnosing learning needs.
There
are many other groups of learning theory- Pont (2003) outlines
stimulus-response theories; cognitive theories; a process model; experiential
learning.
Learning as Function (Learning
Contexts)
Cottrell
contends that despite our natural propensities for learning most of us develop
cognitive schema which inhibit our learning, generally because of our previous
learning experiences.
On
the other hand, other experiences motivate us toward curiosity, openness and
new learning
Craig
(1994) looks at 10 factors which help adults to learn and uses the mnemonic
“REVELATION”;
·relevance,
(people learn best when they can see the point of what they are doing, perhaps
to cope with a real-life situation); What kind of subject matter taught or
explored in church would fail the relevance test?
·experience (experience
is used to illuminate and earth practice) Kolb’s definition “Learning is the
process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of
experience” What experiences might
enhance the knowledge of your congregation?
·variety
·enjoyment
·learning skills(people
learn best when they are given help with learning skills- mnemonics- planets?
·Acceptance
·Tutoring skills
(adults learn best when tutors practice what they preach) enthusiasm
·Individual differences
·Opportunities
(people learn best when there are opportunities for practising and so
reinforcing what has been learned
·Nurture (people
learn best when they are given the chance to nurture and teach others)
Exercise: In what ways does
the Alpha Course or any other church taught course you are aware of maximise
the principles of adult learning?
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