Return to Course List Educ 691C - Adult Learning in Theory and Practice |
COURSE OVERVIEW
This course will enable participants to develop, expand, or deepen their understanding of adult learning theories and how they are practiced in social contexts. Each learner in the course, including the instructor, is presumed to have extensive experience as an adult learner and/or experience as an adult educator or facilitator of adult learning. The course will help us build the conceptual foundations of our practice as adult educators, as well as enhance our personal experiences as learners, by examining and critiquing theory in relation to experience and social realities, our own and those of others. Central to the course is the examination of varied cultural perspectives on adult learning theory and practice, through sources brought by the instructor and from cases and trails of inquiry developed by course participants
The course organization will reflect a basic tenet of theory – that learning is enhanced through self-organized learning within a supportive community, and is facilitated through dialogue, exploration, and self-discovery. Course participants will work individually and collectively, choosing options that include: engagement in ongoing adult education programs through service; undertaking a case study of an adult education program; selecting a specific perspective and theory to explore and apply; examining prior work at CIE on theory and practice in adult learning and development; contributing to, or analyzing, an adult learning project in development (such as women's literacy and family health in Afghanistan). The course will make use of the Internet and evolving software technology to support our own learning.OBJECTIVES
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
1. articulate how theory in general informs their own practice;
2. understand the perspectives and arguments of the main schools in adult learning theory
3. determine the elements of various schools of adult learning theory that shape their professional practice or learning
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xperience to date, and assess or reassess how they wish to apply theories to reshape their practice or experience in the future;
4. understand how differences in identity, as well as socio-economic, cultural, political, and organizational contexts, affect adult learning;
5. analyze how a given adult education program uses theory and any contradictions present in the way it is used.
6. utilize web-based and software technology to access and develop tools for continued learning
TOPICS AND METHODOLOGY
The class is organized in three phases. Phase one, the first three weeks of the term, sets the frame for the study of adult learning theory and theoretical trends. We will initiate the course with an applied research project, examining our own theories and experiences of learning, and drawing from this research conclusions about the range of our thinking. After analyzing these findings, we'll look at different frameworks for categorizing theoretical “schools” or paradigms. While recognizing that these frameworks are open to question and revision, this methodology will help us to “map” the concepts and practice we'll study throughout the rest of the term.
In Phase two, we explore the major adult learning theories and theorists that have shaped adult education in the 20th century, using the issues and maps developed in Phase one as both backdrop and lens. We will examine theories of
• andragogy and experiential learning (Knowls, Kolb and Jarvis),
• the theory of situated learning and `communities of practice (Lave and Wenger),
• organizational learning (Agyris, Schon and Senge),
• transformation theory (Mezirow, Friere),
• radical and postmodern theories of adult learning including Gramsci, the work of Shikshanter, and the impact of globalization on adult education policy and practice,
• cognition, epistimology and global ethics (Varela, Palmer).
We will also examine an overview of initiatives, practices and opportunities in Adult Education worldwide, arising from a recent survey and analysis completed by Rosa Maria Torres.
Phase three will be organized around the activities and investigations of class participants. Class members, in groups and individually, will make presentations/demonstrations, based on their engagement in cases, projects, and research for class critique and reflection. Participants will have the opportunity and obligation to determine materials and topics for these later sessions.
Throughout the course, we will move back and forth between practice and theory in two ways. First, we'll start from personal reflection, moving out to theory, then going back and forth throughout the class between theory and reflection on how that theory applies to our own experience. We will also look at how practitioners and writers are living out certain theoretical stances, through what they do or what they recommend that others do in practice. My own learning style and experience led me to set up this kind of course with a deep, ground-up examination of text, thus the focus will be on reading and reflection on the significance and application of ideas. I invite your input on how this general method works to help you put theory to use.
Guests to the class may be invited to provide additional points of view and to enrich our dialogue on adult learning theory and its application. More guests may be invited for the final three class sessions, should the class choose to do this. These could be guests involved in theoretical study or in adult education work which expresses/applies theoretical viewpoints of particular interest to the class.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
This course, by its theme and subject, presents an exceptional opportunity for learning and co-creating and depends on the active engagement of all involved.
The specific requirements for successful completion of the course are:
• Attend class weekly, with full engagement in discussion and inquiry. Since this seminar focuses primarily on theory and its relevance to practice, you are expected to have read core readings in preparation for class discussion, as well as to have explored other readings and resources of your own choosing related to the class topics.
• Keep a weekly journal reflecting on the meaning and implications that the course readings have on your thinking and practice. Each week, from week 3 to week 8, you should submit your ‘reflections'. The submission should be the journal as you write it – not a formal ‘paper'. The journal may include pictures, links to websites or other resources, or any other media.
• Joint Research paper: analysis of the learning ‘theory and experience' of members in the class – done in pairs as a qualitative research project. Due 3 nd week.
• Proposal for the course project – in outline form – due 4th week, with an expanded outline due on the 9 th week.
• Make at least one class presentation and/or demonstration either with a team or individually, in preparation for your final project.
• Completion of a course project, choosing from among the following:
-Case study (or multiple cases) showing how learning theory is being used in a specific case, describing the issues, themes, and recommendations, arising from your participation, observation and/or from secondary sources;
- Development of a specific project proposal for adult learning that may contribute towards actual work for an adult education program.
-Research and presentation/analysis of an adult learning theory trail, utilizing materials not covered in class. This approach could include a critical review of dissertations at CIE that have focused on adult learning/education theory and practice.
-Paper of your own choosing, with approval of instructor
More detailed descriptions of the assignments will be provided in class.
GRADING
This seminar is graded on a pass-fail basis. If you wish a letter grade (and are eligible for one), you must inform the instructor in writing by February 10 ; no changes in grading status will be made after this date. Assessment is based on oral and written evidence of understanding issues and principles covered, evidence of exploring sources beyond assigned readings and applications beyond those considered in class, and quality of analysis and/or synthesis drawing from the theories studied.
WRITTEN RESOURCESI will distribute the book:
Levinger, Beryl. 1996). Critical Transitions: Human Capacity Development Across the Lifespan. Newton, MA: Education Development Center.
And the following books are available for purchase at Food for Thought Books in Amherst, or you may find them second hand on www.amazon.com or other web sites selling books:
Merriam, Sharan. 2001. The New Update on Adult Learning Theory . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Meier, Dave (2000). The Accelerated Learning Handbook . New York: McGraw-Hill.
Varela, Francisco. 1999. Ethical Know-How: Action, Wisdom and Cognition. Stanford University Press.
At CopyCat (next to Bartucci's on East Pleasant St) you should purchase: ED 691C-Collected Readings
These include:
1. Smith, M.K. ‘Learning theory', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-learn.htm , Last update: October 2, 2003.
2. Rogers, Alan. 1996. Teaching Adults: Chapter 5, Learning and Adult Education . Open University Press.
3. Korsgaard, Ove. 1997. The Worlds of the Hand and of the Mind. In Shirley Walters (ed.), Globalization, Adult Education and Training. London: Zed Books.
4. Knowles, Malcolm. 1978. ‘The Emergence of a theory of adult learning: androgogy: chapter 3 in The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species, 2 nd ed. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Co.
5. Smith, M.K. ‘David A. Kolb on experiential learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-learn.htm , Last update: September 16, 2001
6. Jarvis, Peter. 1987. Reflecting Upon Experience. In Adult Learning in the Social Context. New York: Croon Helm. pp. 86-112.
7. Mezirow, Jack. 1995. Transformation theory of Adult Learning. In M.R. Welton(ed), In Defense of the Lifeworld. New York: SUNY Press. pp. 39-70 .
8. Smith, M,.K. ‘Chris Agryris: theories of action, douple-loop learning and organizational learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-learn.htm , Last update: September 13, 2003.
9. Wenger, Etienne. ‘Communities of Practice: the social fabric of a learning organization.' Healthcare Forum Journal. July/August 1996.
10. Smith, M,.K.‘Donald Schon: learning reflection and change', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-learn.htm , Last update: July 14, 2002.
11. Jain, Shilpa and Jain, Manish (eds.) 2003. The Dark Side of Literacy. Udaipur: Shikhanter.
12. Burke, Barry. ‘Antonio Gramsci and informal education', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-learn.htm , Last update: September 6, 2003.
13. Dewey, John. 1933. ‘What is Thinking? In How We Think. Boston: D.C. Heath & Co. pp. 3-1
14. Palmer, Parker. 1993. ‘The Violence of Our Knowledge: Toward a Sprirituality of Higher Education.' 21 st Century Learning Initiative: www.21learn.org .
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Some Websites:
Encyclopedia of Informal Learning: http://www.infed.org/
Shikshanter : The People's Institute for Rethinking Education and Development. http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/
21 st Century Learning Initiative: http://www.21learn.org
Society for Organizational Learning http://www.solonline.org/
New Horizons for Learning: Lifelong Learning http://www.newhorizons.org/lifelong/front_life.html
The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations http://www.eiconsortium.org
Institute for Learning Styles Research http://www.learningstyles.org