Expert and their Contribution to Andragogy

   

WORLD MAP

Malcolm Knowles (1913 - 1997)

Malcolm Shepherd Knowles contributed many great works to the field of adult education. His "stamp" on the field is the subject of andragogy, of which he is considered the "Father of Andragogy."  Knowles expressed and taught on his strong beliefs that students should be self-directed learners, a concept that was unfamiliar; and sometimes unacceptable during his time. He also believed that his role in adult education was not one of being a "teacher," but rather one of being a "facilitator of learning."  He also wrote extensively throughout his career, always wanting to share his theories and pass them on to new learners. Although having his critics, Knowles never wavered from his passion and his character of being a leader of students to gain more understanding and knowledge of andragogy.

Theory of Andragogy

Roots of Term

Knowles states that the term andragogy "is based on the Greek word aner (with the stem andr-) meaning, 'man not boy' (as cited in Baumgartner, 2003, p.6). The German teacher Alexander Kapp first used the term in 1833 as a description of Plato's idea that adults continue to learn in adulthood. Savicevic (1999) states, "'Andragogy' fell into disuse until the early 1920s when Eugene Rosenstock, a German social scientist charged with workers' education, realized that adult workers needed to be taught in a different way from children" (as cited in Baumgartner, 2003, p.6). It was not until the 1950s when the European adult educators began using the term and Malcolm Knowles would introduce it to the United States in 1968, when he wrote his article, "Androgogy, Not Pedagogy," in Adult Leadership. Knowles (1989) states that, "I did not learn that the correct spelling is andragogy until I corresponded with the publishers of Merriam-Webster dictionaries in 1968" (as cited in Knowles, 1980, pp.253-254).

Introduction to the Term

Knowles model of andragogy is based on five assumptions. The first of these assumptions is that learners move from, "being dependent personalities toward being... self-directed" (Knowles, 1980, pp.44-45). As adults mature in their educational lifetime, most of the time, they do not need to be 'spoon-fed' directions on how to work assignments. They would rather a professor give them the assignment, then have the freedom to work the assignment the way they wish to want it be completed. Second, "adults come to an educational activity with both a greater volume and a different quality of experience from youths" (Knowles, 1990, p.59). With age in education, comes experience; therefore, as adults students have more knowledge to 'pull from' than do youth. Third, "the timing of learning activities is related to developmental tasks" (Knowles, 1990). As youth, developmental tasks have not reached their highest potential yet. However, in adulthood, these same developmental tasks have matured over time, therefore, the timing of the learning activities will be different. Fourth, Knowles says that, "adult learning is problem centered rather than subject centered" (Knowles, 1980). Adults see the learning as 'I may need this Spanish speaking class in the future, since I am going into International Business.' Whereas, a young person would see a Spanish course as something that is useless, and that is of no importance to them at this time. Lastly, Knowles states that, "adults are internally rather than externally motivated to learn" (Knowles, 1980). Adults register for an advanced because they want to be challenged. However, a youth may go to a class because their parents promised to buy them something if they took the AP course, instead of the "regular" class.

Future of the Term

After his introduction of the term, "andragogy," Knowles states that, "I received reports for ten years from elementary and secondary school teachers that the children they were teaching learned better under the andragogical assumptions and strategies in many situations. I also received comments that in some situations that the pedagogical assumptions and strategies were necessary with adults" (Knowles, 1980). So, in the 1980 revised edition of his book, he changed the subtitle to, From Pedagogy to Andragogy.

Knowles (1980) also includes: Current Thinking of 'Pedagogical' and 'Andragogical' models.

3. Self-Directed Learning

When discussing "self-directed learning," both the learners and the teachers have to be aware that this is a completely different process than what is considered "normal" in the classroom. This "normal" process takes place whenever a professor, teacher, mentor, etc., stands in front (or wherever the location may be) of the classroom and delivers the content of the material. In what is considered to be a "normal," or "typical" classroom, the learners are expected to listen, take notes, record notes, and absorb the material being covered; similar to a sponge absorbing water when being placed into a sink. However, this is not the case with "self-directed learning." Knowles (1975) describes "self-directed learning" to be, "a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating their learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes".

Not everyone can be a successful self-directed learner. There are competencies that are required in order to be successful at using this type of learning strategy. Knowles lists some of these competencies in his 1975, Self-Directed Learning: A Guide for Learners and Teachers, book. Some of these competencies include: "... 2) A concept of myself as being non-dependent and a self-directing person, 3) The ability to relate to peers collaboratively, to see them as resources for diagnosing needs, planning my learning, and to give help to them and receive help from them..., and 5) The ability to translate learning needs into learning objectives in a form that makes it possible for their accomplishment to be assessed" (Knowles, 1975).

Finally, Knowles states that the premise of self-directed learning has been the one aspect of andragogy that has received the most attention and debate in several of his writings. "That adults can and do engage in self-directed learning (SDL) is now a foregone conclusion in adult learning research. Questions remain as to whether self-directed learning is a characteristic of adult learners, and whether it should be a goal of adult educators to help all adult learners become self-directed" (Knowles, Holton, Swanson, 2005).

4. Learning Contracts

A "learning contract," as explained by Knowles (1986), "... typically specifies (1) the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to be acquired by the learner (learning objectives), (2) how these objectives are to be accomplished (learning resources and strategies), (3) the target date for their accomplishment, (4) what evidence will be presented to demonstrate that the objectives have been accomplished, and (5) how this evidence will be judged or validated. In academic settings the contract often specifies what grade is sought." These "contracts" go hand-in-hand with the self-directed learning, as the learner is responsible for the majority of how, and what, he or she is going to go about earning the grade that is assigned to them at the end of a semester.

According to Knowles (1986) there are eight steps to Developing a Learning Contract. "The eight steps are:

1.  Diagnose your learning needs: A learning need is the gap between where you are now and where you want to be in regards to a particular set of competencies.

2.  Specify your learning objectives: Be sure that your objectives describe what you will learn, not what you do to learn them.

3.  Specify learning resources and strategies: When you have finished listing your objectives, move over to the second column of the contract, 'Learning Resources and Strategies,' and describe how you propose to go about acccomplishing each objective. Identify the resources (material and human) you plan to use in your field experience and the strategies (techniques, tools) you will employ in making use of them.

4.  Specify evidence of accomplishment: After completing the second column, move over to the forth column, 'Evidence,' and describe what evidence you will collect to indicate the degree to which you have achieved each objective.

5.  Specify how the evidence will be validated: After you have specified what evidence you will gather for each objective in column four, move over to column five, "Verification." For each objective, first specify what criteria will vary according to the type of objective... indicate the means you propose to use to have the evidence judged according to these criteria.

6.  Review your contract with consultants: After you have completed the first draft of your contract, you will find it useful to review it with two or three friends, supervisors, or other expert resource people to get their reactions and suggestions.

7.  Carry out the contract: Simply carry out the contract... as you work on it you may find that your notions about what you want to learn and how you want to learn it may change... so don't hesitate to revise your contract...

8.  Evaluation of your learning: When you have completed your contract, you will want to get some assurance that you have in fact learned what you set out to learn. Perhaps the simplest way to do this is to ask the consultants you used in Step 6 to examine your evidence and validation data and give you their judgment about their adequacy."

5. Charts

As previously stated, Knowles' contributions to the field of Adult Education are enormous. His impact on this field crossed over into other professional fields as well. Major contributions from Clinical Psychologists were made to impact the progress of Andragogy. Self-Diagnostic Rating Scale Competencies for adult educators and trainees were developed to better their job performance. In each chart listed below, Professor Knowles had an impact in the development of each and every one of them.

• Andragogy in Practice
•  Process Elements of Andragogy
•  Self-Diagnostic Rating Scale Competencies for the Role of Adult Educator/Trainee
• Major Contributions of Clinical Psychologists

6. Video

In this video, which is posted on YouTube, you will be able to watch Malcolm Knowles': "a) Claim to Fame, b) Four assumptions, and c) To do's for educators".

7. Critics and Critiques

Both Knowles and the term "andragogy," have had their fare share of critics throughout the years. The adult education field's "experts" have debated over what Malcolm Knowles taught about for the 30-plus years of his career. Knowles (2005) stated himself that, "Since the earliest days, adult educators have debated what andragogy really is. Spurred in large part by the need for a defining theory within the field of adult education, andragogy has been extensively analyzed and critiqued. It has been alternately described as a set of guidelines (Merriam, 1993), a philosophy (Pratt, 1993), a set of assumptions (Brookfield, 1986), and a theory (Knowles, 1989)" (Knowles, 2005).

Knowles was questioned at times about what exactly is this subject that he is teaching?. Knowles' response was, "Adult education faces a task of immense proportions in the immediate years ahead," in Informal Adult Education, "the task of helping millions of grown-up people all over the world to transform themselves into mature adults. By perfecting its science now, it will be equal to the task" (University, N.L. (2005, 2004). From this point in time forward is when Knowles would begin to define and promote andragogy.

Knowles began an informal educational setting when he went to Boston University. However, "The fact that Knowles, with the help of a tiny adult education faculty, was supervising an extraordinarily large number of dissertations and theses, however, did not set well with many Boston University academics who questioned the granting of degrees for self-directed, or as they might have termed it, undirected learning"(University, N.L. (2005, 2004).

Knowles did not allow any of his critics from continuing to practice and accomplish his mission, which was to teach. And teach he did, with a new learning style and new learning positions, using ways never seen before. Feur and Gerber (1998) write, "The disparity of these positions is indicative of the perplexing nature of the field of adult learning; but regardless of what it is called, 'it is an honest attempt to focus on the learner. In this sense, it does provide an alternative to the methodology-centered instructional design perspective' "(as cited in Knowles, 2005).