Emerging Trends and Research in Adult Learning Theory

1. Emerging Trends and Research in Adult Learning Theory Dr. Sharan B. Merriam The University of Georgia, USA

2. Forces Affecting Adult Learning • Globalization • Instant Communication • Knowledge Age (Information doubles every 73 days) • Rapid Change (1/2 life of knowledge)

3. Shift to Lifelong Learning In the United States, for example, • Nearly half the adult population is engaged in some formal learning activity; nearly 90% are learning something on their own; • The most often cited reason for learning is job/work related; • Of all college enrollments in the U.S., nearly half are adults 25 years of age and older.

4. Three Foundational Theories of Adult Learning • Andragogy • Self-Directed Learning • Transformational Learning

5. Andragogy • As adults mature, they become more independent and self-directing; • An adult accumulates a growing reservoir of experience; • Readiness to learn is related to life stage and social role; • An adult is more problem centered; wants immediate application; • An adult is more internally motivated.(Knowles, 1980)

6. Self-Directed Learning (SDL) • Upwards of 90% of adults are engaged in independent learning projects; • In these projects, adults plan, carry out, and evaluate their own learning; • Learner’s interest in and ability to engage in SDL varies, and may depend on the situation; • SDL is about taking control of your own learning.

7. Transformational Learning • Transformational learning is about change--dramatic, fundamental change in the way we see ourselves and the world in which we live; • Most often begins when an important life event causes us to question our way of making meaning in our lives; • The outcome of this kind of learning is a changed perspective.

8. Transformational Learning(cont’) • Paulo Freire’s theory links personal empowerment with social transformation; • Jack Mezirow focuses on personal perspective transformation; • Both emphasize • critical reflection on assumptions and beliefs • new understandings are tested in discussion with others • new perspectives need to be acted upon

9. Situated Cognition • Context-based • Tool-dependant • Socially interactive

10. Grocery Shopping • 98% correct when actually shopping • 59% correct on paper and pencil test • Cottage cheese • How much is 3/4 of 2/3 of a cup? Problem Solving in Conjunction With Context(not simply a mental process)

11. Importance of Context • Learning is a socially organized activity • Use of “authentic” vs. decontextualized contexts • Locate learning in real-life problem solving and experience

12. Communities of Practice • Groups of people who share insight and ideas, who help each other solve problems and develop a community of practice • All people belong to Communities of Practice • Members have different levels of knowledge and mastery of knowledge – newcomers move from the periphery to the center • A form of collective meaning-making (proposed as a theory of learning by Wenger, 1998)

13. The Workplace as a Community of Practice • “What is shared by a community of practice--what makes it a community--is its practice.” • Every community has a historical and a social context; • “Learning is the engine of practice, and practice is the history of that learning.” (Wenger, 1998)

14. Learning as Key to Communities of Practice • The context must allow for informal and incidental learning to occur; • Access to information in the context or that impacts the context is key; • The community teaches and learns from its members.

15. Critical Learning Theory • Focus shifts from the individual learner to the structures of society that shape the learning activity (e.g. gender, race, class); • Power is unevenly distributed among the various structures; • Some learners are marginalized and oppressed as a result; • Critique and action are necessary to challenge the status quo and effect change.

16. Critical Questioning • How is it that continuing professional education for doctors takes place on cruises or at resorts, but for teachers it occurs in the school after hours? • How is it that less than 40% of training opportunities in the workplace are for line workers while 60% are for managers?

17. Critical Questioning • Why is it assumed that highest scorers on national exams will make the best doctors or engineers? • Why are male voices more often heard in classrooms and training sessions than female voices?

18. Postmodern Learning Theory • Everything is questioned (values, knowledge, practices) • There are no absolutes (no single theory, truth, or “right” answers) • Diversity is celebrated (people, ideas, institutions)

19. Most Recent Approaches to Adult Learning Theory • Embodied/ Somatic Knowing • Narrative Knowing • Spirituality and Learning

20. Emotions and Somatic Knowing • In the West – Learning is a rational, cognitive process through the brain • But body, spirit and emotions are also involved in meaningful learning

21. Somatic or Embodied Learning • Learning through our bodies – since receptors are throughout the body’s nerves, emotions can be stored and mediated by parts of the body other than the brain. • We learn in the experience; It is immediate, physical, emotional

22. Japanese for River (Kawa) “When I finished the third stroke, I recognized a strong feeling that remained in my body…It was similar to a feeling in my palm which I remembered from canoeing in the wilderness. I closed by eyes with this image. And again I wrote Kawa with a brush as if I was paddling with the flow of the river. In the left sidestroke the water flows with a paddle (brush). In the middle stroke, I hold the water and stop the brush. For the third, I sink the paddle deep down, holding the heavy water for the longest stroke. I push it all the way down. I felt the Kawa character written in this way came alive, as if flowing in front of me. I encountered the vital life of the Kawa character in this way….The character is no longer an object outside myself, it is something living within” (Yoshida, 2005, p. 133).

23. Somatic Learning • Kinesthethic – movement and action of the body • Sensory – accessing and processing information through our senses • Affective – emotions enmeshed in neural networks; “There are no neurotransmitters for ‘objecitivity’; even the simplest responses to information signals are linked with possibly several ‘emotional’ transmitters” (Mulvilhill, 2003, p. 10).

24. Narrative Learning • Narratives are stories of events that have happened to us or to others; • These stories help us make sense of, or make meaning of our experiences; • Narratives provide a window into learning about the self and others;

25. Lives Embedded in Narratives • Cultural – taken for granted assumptions about our society • Familial – who are the heroes, villians? • Individual – how we “story” our own life • Organizational – stories about “how things are done around here”

26. Narrative and Learning • “Storying” the Curriculum – curriculum treated as a story; students interacts with these stories to create an understanding of the subject matter • Story-Telling – using stories, cases, exemplars, role-playing or critical incidents to engage learners in content • Autobiographical Methods – stories by the self and about the self – journas, dream logs, blogs, educational biographies

27. Spirituality and Learning • Spirituality – “one’s personal belief and experience of a higher power or higher purpose” (Tisdell, 2000, p. 309) • Connected to learning through meaning-making • How to give our lives coherence • How to make sense (meaning) of our experience • Meaning-making uses myths, symbols, images, dreams that are culturally embedded, spiritually oriented

28. Spirituality and Learning “Spirituality is one of the ways people construct knowledge and meaning. It works in consort with the affective, the rational or cognitive, and the unconscious and symbolic domains. To ignore it, particularly in how it relates to teaching for personal and social transformation, is to ignore an important aspect of human experience and avenue of learning and meaning-making. This is why spirituality is important to the work of adult learning.” (Tisdell, 2001, p. 3)

29. Fostering Spirituality in Learning • Examine own beliefs, current spiritual preferences and resistences • Create space that is safe, supportive, open, for spiritual connectedness to occur • Dialogue to connect with others, with community, with inner self, perhaps with energy beyond self • Use creative and imaginative activities such as visualization, storytelling, poetry, music, symbols and rituals

30. Implications for Practice • Develop self-directed, autonomous, lifelong learners • Make learning as “authentic” as possible • apprenticeships • reflective practicums • internships • case study instruction

31. Implications for Practice • Develop critical thinking skills • to examine underlying premises of one’s ideas, attitudes, and beliefs • to question how interlocking systems of power structure learning, our practice as adult educators, and society as a whole • Foster wholistic learning that includes embodied, narrative & spiritual dimensions

32. All Learning Theories Suggest: Learning is most effective when connected to • Real-life Problems, Issues, and Needs • The Learner’s Previous Life Experiences • Other Learners