The Institutional Path for Change in This Age: Andragogy, not Pedagogy

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The Institutional Path for Change in This Age: Andragogy, not Pedagogy

10/8/2008

By Trent Batson

The entire ontology (manifested beliefs about teaching and learning) of higher education is misconceived: It does not fit with the proven realities of learning, and does not fit at all with the new nature of knowledge construction in a Web 2.0 world. The education establishment needs to say goodbye to pedagogy and hello to andragogy to create a better fit. Here's the difference:

In pedagogy, the concern is with transmitting the content, while in andragogy, the concern is with facilitating the acquisition of the content.

There is little doubt that the most dominant form of instruction in Europe and America is pedagogy, or what some people refer to as didactic, traditional, or teacher-directed approaches. A competing idea in terms of instructing adult learners [including first-year college students], and one that gathered momentum within the past three decades, has been dubbed andragogy. [http://www-distance.syr.edu/andraggy.html]

Pedagogy is associated with teaching children while andragogy is associated with teaching adults. The view of learning offered by andragogy is ancient but refreshed in the 20th century by John Dewey and Malcolm Knowles, among others. A recent book is required reading for all: Conner, M. L., Andragogy and Pedagogy. Ageless Learner, 1997-2004. [http://agelesslearner.com/intros/andragogy.html]

The five principles of andragogy:

1. Letting learners know why something is important to learn
2. Showing learners how to direct themselves through information
3. Relating the topic to the learners' experiences
4. People will not learn until they are ready and motivated to learn
5. Requires helping them overcome inhibitions, behaviors, and beliefs about learning

[Conner, M. L., Andragogy and Pedagogy. Ageless Learner, 1997-2004. http://agelesslearner.com/intros/andragogy.html]

And, keeping these 5 principles in mind, you can help your students get ready to begin their learning adventures within the safety of your facilitation and guidance. This approach -- andragogy -- to teaching and learning has been mostly behind the scenes for decades waiting for its moment to come forward. This is the moment: The Web extends the classroom infinitely and andragogy is the appropriate response. Now is the time to consider basing all curricula on andragogical principles. This helps faculty better understand the changes needed to teach and learn in a technology-drenched world.

One essential fact provides the proof that we must reframe our ontology (our fundamental assumptions about our entire enterprise): Students now have orders of magnitude more opportunities to gather evidence of learning and this evidence can be shared and assessed.

In other words, a new principle can be added to the andragogical approach: The autonomous learning your students engage in now will not require a leap of faith on your part that something good is going on. Your students can gather evidence of what's going on and you can assess that evidence. If anything, you have more oversight of the learning process than in a lecture mode. Technology greatly extends your reach.