ADTED460:

 

Lesson 4 Readings

Review the course readings guide for this lesson's readings and learning activities.

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to do the following things:

• Understand the differences between the individual and social approaches to understanding adult learning.
• Understand and discuss elements that provide the foundation for good teaching in adult education.
• Recognize the concept of critically reflective practice.

Toward a Conceptual Basis of Adult Education

In this lesson, we'll be investigating key concepts and theories in our field. We'll also take our first steps in examining the concept of critically reflective practice. The readings and discussions will provide a guide for examining our own ways of using and constructing theory and lay the groundwork for examining adult education in specific contexts.

Breaking Down Dualisms in Adult Education

The study of adult education, as is common in many fields, has often been characterized by sharp dualisms: theory vs. practice, individual vs. society, teaching vs. learning, and so on. We already discussed the individual vs. society dualism in Lesson 2. It's important to realize that these dualisms are artificial; real life is not nearly so clear-cut. 

The traditional division between theory and practice is especially problematic. Learning "pure" theory and then applying it in a specific context obscures the dynamic interaction between explanations of how things work (theory) and how they actually work when we implement them (practice). The concept of informal theory, or theory grounded in lived experience, is becoming a useful addition to more traditional thinking about theory and practice.

Much of adult education at the ground level has moved in this direction, including U.S. Army training programs. The Army programs are highlighted here not to suggest they're the only or even best examples, but to point out how deeply this way thinking about and doing adult education has influenced the larger field.

In "Lifelong Learning" (Ch. 5 in the Handbook), Boucouvalas traces the history of the key concepts of lifelong learning, lifelong education, and learning society in the development of our field internationally. It is important to be thinking about what the driving forces behind changing terminology are and how that impacts what we do or nor longer do or focus on in our field. In "Adult Learning" (Ch. 7 in the Handbook) Kawalikak and Groen provide an introduction to the key concepts of formal, informal, and nonformal learning as well as major adult learning theories, going into greater detail to explain particular theories that have been prominent historically, as well as those both currently emphasized and potentially important in the future. These authors introduce concepts that will be revisited in greater depth later in the course and in subsequent courses.

Finally, Brookfield discusses how the concept of teaching has ebbed and flowed in terms of its importance over time in our field. Here we see the dualism between adult learning and adult teaching at play. Moreover, Brookfield also identifies the dualisms between social and individual learning, development, and liberation in his comparison of Malcolm Knowles’ The Modern Practice of Adult Education and Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, both originally published in 1970. 

One concept that is mentioned in both Handbook chapters—and that you will encounter periodically in your readings for other courses in the program—is andragogy. For many years, this concept dominated the scholarly writing and professional practice in the field, and it continues to have an impact in some contexts, particularly workplace training and development. As noted in these chapters, however, adult education scholars have more recently debated the limitations of andragogy—and indeed any single approach—as a unifying principle for the field. Several optional readings in this lesson are available for anyone interested in finding out more about andragogy and the debates surrounding it.

Introducing the Concept of Critically Reflective Practice

In "The Concept of Critically Reflective Practice" (E-Reserves), Stephen Brookfield (2000) suggests the importance of critical reflection in encouraging "more inclusive, collaborative, and democratic forms of adult education" (p. 47). He views this process on the part of the adult educator as crucial in "increas[ing] our chance of taking informed actions . . . that spring from researched experience, that are underpinned by a clear rationale, and that have the chance of achieving the consequences intended" (p. 47).

Please note: Much of the terminology in the chapter will probably be unfamiliar to you, but it is very important for this and subsequent courses. This chapter will provide you with a starting point for becoming a critical inquirer into the field of adult education. However, since many of the terms and concepts will be new to you, you're definitely not expected to be able to fully understand the chapter at this point. Indeed, many new students report that it seems as if Brookfield is writing in a completely different language! One of the purposes of having you read the chapter is to give you a benchmark against which to measure your progress in learning about this field. By the end of the course (believe it or not), you'll definitely know what Brookfield is getting at in the chapter.

You may even choose as your final assignment to reread the chapter and to compare your initial impressions, thoughts, and feelings to your ideas about the chapter at the end of the course. This option for a final paper was suggested by a student in an earlier section. Subsequently, a number of students have noted that engaging in this comparison helped in confirming to themselves how far they had come in a few short weeks.