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Spotting differences Between Andragogic Instructors & Traditional Teachers By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed. School of English Faculty of Social Sciences Universidad Latina de Costa Rica Wednesday, October 12, 2016 Post 299
Andragogic instruction differs greatly from the traditional teaching that faculty members have when dealing with students who have recently graduated from a high school. Several of the college traditional instructors I know do stick so much to a course program that there is little room for changes, upgrades, or additional topics to cover to favor working adult students (WASs). As part of my intention to better comprehend faculty members’ teaching beliefs, several colleagues of various fields of expertise were shortly interviewed. After analyzing data collected on instructors’ behavior and attitudes while talking to their students (WASs and traditional learners), four different aspect of their teaching popped up as striking differences in
their discourse and in their way of delivering their classes and the content of the course: 1) How each one is meant to promote learning among their students, 2) their relationship with their pupils, 3) the setting of learning goals around the program provided by the university, and 4) the strategies to be employed to satisfy learners’ immediate needs. In order to understand the four different aspects revealed by instructors’ answers during the analysis of their answers, the following chart with commonalities has been designed for a better understanding of these criteria. The four different pieces of criteria are mentioned and a correlation with both types of faculty members is made for each type.
Criteria
1. Design and development of class sequences that promote meaningful, creative and active learning
2. The keeping of good relationship with the students during the teaching process
Traditional / Pedagogic Educator
Andragogic / WAS Instructor
Nope!
√
Design and development is strictly preset before the course begins. Instructors basically stick to what is included on the course program and do not go beyond its suggested content. It is rather counterproductive for WASs.
Andragogic instructors add content to course as it progresses to satisfy WASs’ needs. Learning becomes more active and meaningful for the learner in creative learning tasks that generally address their needs at the office while performing tasks.
Nope!
√
Certain distance is created by instructors whose consequence is to have learners feel disengaged, distant from the teachers, and lacking support.
A community of learning is created by the instructor who allows and promotes a friendly facilitatorlearner relationship.
Nope!
3. Proposal of meaningful and challenging goals to the students, and uses suitable strategies for adult learners
Goals stated by instructors are circumscribed to the course program and not fully linked to WASs’ immediate needs at work or for personal fulfillment.
Nope!
4. Use of strategies to satisfy the different learning needs that correspond to a heterogeneous group
No setting of teaching or learning strategies to satisfy the immediate needs of a heterogeneous group but what suits the instructor and the program. The course is then organized around what suits better for the faculty member and not for the learners in the classroom.
√ Learning goals are stated by instructor and students together based on WASs’ needs along with the usage of learning strategies and tools. Course program is amply enriched by faculty members with pupils’ needs and challenges at work and can be modified several times during the term. √ The teaching of strategies is an intrinsic part of course planning on the go to care for group’s needs. Teachers may explicitly teach their students how to apply certain strategies to help them learn by themselves and promote autonomous learning. Several learning strategies can be demonstrated by the instructor to help WASs chose the one that adapts better to their learning needs and style.
Though the first instructors, Mr. Traditional-Pedagogic Educators, were quite confident in their answers, they were meant to promote some sort of animosity among the group member due to its narrow-mindedness in term of content expansion and learning strategy provision to their learners. Though a course outline
does include present standards demanded by the university, it is not meant to be written on stone and not to be slightly or amply changed to suit the diversity of needs present in a group of traditional learners and WASs. This narrow-minded perspective of course content is bound to trigger a “negative” atmosphere surrounding the instructors who look like not meaning to use suitable strategies for adult learners or really challenging goals for the course participants. Students’ immediate needs are not meant to be satisfied by this type of teaching professional. In the eyes of the learners, the need for Mr. Andragogic WAS Instructors is present. An Andragogic orientation in our college teaching is needed in spite of the different areas of expertise we have. Its absence can simply turn a course into a useless, boring one for many traditional learners and WASs. For this reason, take a look at the following suggestions and questions to have ourselves mull over some good answers. Recommendations to improve educational practice with WASs
Keep information updated and useful for the working environment where WASs are currently employed at. This gives them a sense of belonging to the group, the course; we are creating a community of learning. Apply your professional knowledge to create problem-solving activities and case studies for learners. Many WASs have to deal with situations every single day of their professional life. Traditional learners can also experience these tasks to see how they would behave in this hypothetical scenarios and confront their ideas to the ones coming from WASs. Design projects that take into account the time limitations that many WASs have due to their many obligations. Allow them to have a flexible schedule but not overloaded with lots of readings; executive summaries can be of better use for them or the provision of mindmaps. Make sure to use of platform tools (in Blackboard,
Didactic suggestions for higher education institutions
Questions to explore as an Andragogic Instructor
Moodle, or similar) to have information accessible for learners from day 1 onwards. A virtual classroom where information can be downloaded is ideal and quite practical for many WASs and traditional learners. Let them always have a saying on lectures, projects, or any other learning task to make it really meaningful for all of them. With their ideas a learning activity can become a great experience for all class members including the instructor. In spite of the course outline, design and develop class sequences that promote meaningful, creative, engaging, and active learning where working experience is taken into account. Take into account the empirical but rich experience that WASs have and that can enrich the whole teaching/learning process. Traditional learners can learn a lot from their more experienced peers. Encourage learner autonomy as part of the pillars where Andragogy bases itself. Moving beyond the class boundaries and experience what they know combined with the new tools provided to them can foster autonomous learning. Have learners sample the information and content to learn by means of problem-solving activities. Learners need to have their hands on real situations that can yield great learning and provide them with confidence to apply them at work. In this way, they are on the way of developing competences. Why don’t we get to explore the use of learning tools within platforms such as Moodle and Blackboard that can be used to maximize WAS and traditional student learning? Having a good relationship with the IT personnel can be of great help to first train yourself and then to train your learners in the correct use of any new tool. In terms of classroom dynamics, how does classroom management change when we have the presence of
adult learners? Or a symbiosis of WASs and traditional learners? Understanding the co-existence of them can be of great help for our teaching.  Can WASs take the role of leaders in a classroom when dealing with projects, or is it better that they have another role in project development to have them share their empirical expertise with novice learners? As seen throughout this blog entry, Andragogic teaching is a fascinating field, but we faculty members need to be smart enough to get the best from our students and provide them with what they really need to become competent and autonomous. Here you were also provided with various suggestions to make you come up with more to be very efficient in your WAS teaching and creation of assignments for them and for traditional learners. In terms of didactics you were also given other recommendations to help adult learners get to develop deep learning that can have a long-lasting effect in their professional lives. Understanding all these differences can prepare you and your peers to face the challenge to help working adult students to develop their own knowledge, skills, and competences.