The more information and knowledge adult educator’s gain regarding how best to reach, teach, and enrich the lives of adult learners, the better equipped, effective, and successful they can become as adult educators. Merriam (2008), echoes this view in her claim that;
“Whether we are assisting adults in preparing for the GED, coaching executives in a Fortune 500 company, or demonstrating a new agricultural technique in a developing country, the more we know about how adults learn the better we are able to structure learning activities that resonate with those adult learners with whom we work” (p. 93).
For this reason, the objective of this paper is to present a brief overview of Andragogy (Adult Learning Theory); offer how learning …show more content…
(2007) reminds us that although “there is no single theory that explains all of human learning,” and therefore, “there is no single theory of adult learning,” (p. 83), adult educators, like myself, should learn that we have within our grasp various “frameworks, or models, each of which contributes something to our understanding of adults as learners” (p. 83). A prime example of this learning occurred when I was introduced to one of the numerous theories researched, and this theory and model proposed by Jarvis (2006, Figure 4.2), resonated with my views about adult learners in that, “The learner is a whole person made up of the mind and the body and comes to a learning situation with a history, a biography that interacts in individual ways with the experience that generates the nature of the learning” as cited by (Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 101). This theory reinforced my belief that although cognitive development (mind) is vital to human learning and needs nurturing, the adult learner also requires the understanding in mean-making to connect with life experiences in order to expand and develop as a whole …show more content…
In addition, the opportunity to learn this information has led to a personal reflection in how transformational learning occurs and how best to utilize teachable approaches where adult learners can experience the same transformation through learning. Shuler, & Keller-Dupree (2015) resonate my opinion of teachable approaches to adult transformational learning by acclaiming, “through the use of transformational learning experiences, they became more in touch with the past and present struggles they had encountered in their life journeys, (p. 157). Lastly, through this acquired knowledge an even greater appreciation progressed for adult learners within the various cultures explored. This contributed to my views involving the necessity for the existence of an open dialogue of sharing cultural experiences in the learning environment, as each adult learners’ culture has a unique set of lived experiences by which we can all gain value from
“Whether we are assisting adults in preparing for the GED, coaching executives in a Fortune 500 company, or demonstrating a new agricultural technique in a developing country, the more we know about how adults learn the better we are able to structure learning activities that resonate with those adult learners with whom we work” (p. 93).
For this reason, the objective of this paper is to present a brief overview of Andragogy (Adult Learning Theory); offer how learning …show more content…
(2007) reminds us that although “there is no single theory that explains all of human learning,” and therefore, “there is no single theory of adult learning,” (p. 83), adult educators, like myself, should learn that we have within our grasp various “frameworks, or models, each of which contributes something to our understanding of adults as learners” (p. 83). A prime example of this learning occurred when I was introduced to one of the numerous theories researched, and this theory and model proposed by Jarvis (2006, Figure 4.2), resonated with my views about adult learners in that, “The learner is a whole person made up of the mind and the body and comes to a learning situation with a history, a biography that interacts in individual ways with the experience that generates the nature of the learning” as cited by (Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 101). This theory reinforced my belief that although cognitive development (mind) is vital to human learning and needs nurturing, the adult learner also requires the understanding in mean-making to connect with life experiences in order to expand and develop as a whole …show more content…
In addition, the opportunity to learn this information has led to a personal reflection in how transformational learning occurs and how best to utilize teachable approaches where adult learners can experience the same transformation through learning. Shuler, & Keller-Dupree (2015) resonate my opinion of teachable approaches to adult transformational learning by acclaiming, “through the use of transformational learning experiences, they became more in touch with the past and present struggles they had encountered in their life journeys, (p. 157). Lastly, through this acquired knowledge an even greater appreciation progressed for adult learners within the various cultures explored. This contributed to my views involving the necessity for the existence of an open dialogue of sharing cultural experiences in the learning environment, as each adult learners’ culture has a unique set of lived experiences by which we can all gain value from