Orienting Adults to Learning in Graduate Theological Educa.docx

Orienting Adults to Learning in
Graduate Theological Education
Stephen D. Lowe, Ph.D.
Graduate Chair of Doctoral Programs & Professor of Christian
Education
Rawlings School of Divinity – Liberty University
and
Mary E. Lowe, Ed.D.
Associate Dean and Professor of Christian Education
Rawlings School of Divinity – Liberty University
© 2017

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Foreword ~
In a world of accelerating change, which we have now entered,
the traditional
way of learning, students passively listening to a teacher
lecturing, is no longer
appropriate. In this new kind of world, learning must be
lifelong and most of it must take
place outside of classrooms, in real-life situations.
In this kind of world the principal responsibility for diagnosing
one’s learning
needs, planning learning experiences, carrying out learning
activities, and evaluating
learning outcomes rests with the individual learner, with the
help of appropriate resource
people.
This new way of learning requires a completely different set of
abilities from

those of the traditional student.
Orienting Adults to Learning in Graduate Theological
Education, compiled and
written by Dr. Steve Lowe and Dr. Mary Lowe, will help you
acquire those abilities.
Dr. Malcolm S. Knowles
Late Professor Emeritus
North Carolina State University
University of Arkansas
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Chapter 1
Becoming a Self-Directed Adult Learner
A self-directed adult learner is one who is able to plan,

implement and evaluate
his/her own learning experiences with or without the direction
of others. A self-directed
adult learner takes the initiative and assumes the responsibility
for his/her own learning.
A self-directed learner is not an isolated or independent learner.
Self-direction may often
take place in concert with other adult learners. The description
that Malcolm Knowles
provides above is an early and often referenced portrait of self-
direction that while not
complex reveals the essential nature of the task of self-
direction.
The concept of self-directedness in adult learning can be used in
fundamentally
distinct settings. Adults can be self-directed while participating
in on campus or online
instructional environments. Self-directedness can be a
significant component whether an
adult's learning takes place in a traditional institution or a
nontraditional one. Although
we could spend time discussing the application of principles of
self-direction to informal
settings, our concern is with its application to formal

educational contexts, and in
particular the online graduate theological context.
The work of Allen Tough at the University of Toronto focused
on the
self-directedness of adults who initiated their own "learning
projects." He found that 90%
of the adult population engaged in at least one major learning
project each year that
involved a minimum of 100 hours. The average adult in the U.S.
created five learning
projects per year. What Tough concluded from his many years
of research on this
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particular aspect of self-directed learning is that a shift in focus
is needed away from
"providing" education to "facilitating" the learning that is
already taking place.
Putting Off the Old and Putting on the New
The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 writes that "if anyone is
in Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Later he

would exhort his converts to
"put off your old self . . . and to put on the new self, created to
be like God . . . ."
(Galatians 4:22, 24). The motivation for Paul's command to
"put off" and "put on" had to
do with the new identity Christians receive at the time of
conversion. Their new identity
in Christ needed to be reflected in their behavior, so,
consequently the need to "put on the
new man."
The same process applies to those who are beginning a course
of study in a new
delivery system like online education. You may need to discard
your old learner identity
for a new one that will enable you to succeed in a new
environment. One’s old learner
identity often finds its origins in teachers who taught from a
purely pedagogical
orientation. That is, they treated you like a child (paidion) and
taught you as a child. We
know from our knowledge of New Testament Greek, that Paul
used a form of the word
pedagogy (paidagōgos) in Galatians 3:24, 25 in reference to the
function of Torah prior

to the coming of Christ. The King James Version translated this
Greek word as
"schoolmaster" because it conveyed the idea of someone who
teaches children. Although
further study on the role and duties of the paidagogos suggests
that formal teaching was
not included among the more mundane duties of escorting and
supervising a male heir
until the time of maturity, it is clear that informal teaching took
place and parents
expected the schoolmaster to shape the moral compass of the
child.
5
Typically, child learners are passive and receptive to all that
teachers tell them.
Good students learn how to conform to these rigid expectations
and are rewarded
academically. Other students, who may be brighter than their
conforming classmates
may, often chafe under these conditions, like Thomas Edison,
and eventually drop out of

school completely.
As a learner, you have learned to adapt to the expectations and
hidden agendas of
the traditional classroom. In fact, many of you, if honest, would
confess that you secretly
prefer the old way, because the teacher laid the instruction out
for you like Mom did your
clothes when growing up. The professor would come in on the
first day of class, hand
you a syllabus, and spend the next 45 minutes slowly walking
you through it, allowing
students to ask questions to be perfectly sure everyone
understood what was expected.
The syllabus told you the due dates of papers and tests, what
topics the professor would
cover, how to write the term paper, when you would take exams,
what would be on the
exams, etc. The womb-like environment of the traditional
classroom was comforting and
warm.
The fundamental flaw from your old academic way of life is the
self-concept it
has created in you as an adult learner. Students conditioned in
this traditional learning

environment often view themselves as passive receptacles
needing to have their
supposedly empty brains filled by the knowledgeable professor.
Students taught in this
way, often understand themselves to be dependent upon the
teacher for direction,
self-discipline, motivation, and guidance at every step of the
way. Online students often
wait for this magical professor to appear and begin giving
directions, but alas, he or she
never appears. Rather than waiting to be taught, an online
student needs to develop
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learning how to learn skills that allow him/her to instigate their
own learning process
rather than waiting for someone else to do the instigating.
Change Your Learner Self-Concept
Malcolm Knowles first identified an essential feature of an
adult learner as one
who has a "deep psychological need to be generally self-
directed" (1980, p.48).

Additionally, Knowles also argued that congruent with an
adult's innate need to be
self-directing, learning situations need to be more transactional
with the role of the
teacher shifting from that of dispenser of information to a
"resource person, and
co-inquirer" (p. 48).
As adults mature in all aspects of their personhood (physical,
intellectual,
emotional, social, moral, and spiritual), they develop a need for
more autonomy. Having
achieved a sense of autonomy and independence, adults
normally do not become
isolationists but rather begin to develop strategies and skills of
interdependence,
mutuality, and reciprocity. Social skills become more fully
developed that enable
maturing adults to work more effectively and harmoniously with
all types of people
toward common objectives.
However, this sense of autonomy and self-directedness,
although innate, can be
stifled and stunted by situational variables imposed by work,

home and institutional
variables created by educational environments. Adults who have
experienced traditional
forms of education, in which teachers expect students to assume
a passive role, often
enter online degree programs unable to cope with the differing
student expectations. With
no one to tell them what to do and when to do it, many adult
students flounder and
eventually withdraw.
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Listed below are some suggestions for facilitating a change in
your learner
self-concept that will enable you to begin acquiring the
requisite skills necessary for
success in an online graduate theological education
environment.
1. Choose to erase from your conscious frame of reference the
view of yourself as a
passive, other-directed learner, dependent upon some system of
academic support for

success as a student. This old identity will not serve you well in
an online setting.
2. Choose to replace your old learner identity with a new one
more congruent with
who you are as a mature, able, competent and self-directing
adult. You are self-directing
in other areas of your life, why should you be expected to
jettison that skill set when you
enroll in an online course?
3. Decide to act as though you are certain to learn. The
overwhelming research
evidence of the last forty years clearly indicates that adults can
learn anything they want
to, even though it may take them longer to do so. Choose not to
let the fear of previous
academic failures deter you from accomplishing your academic
goals. Remember, your
failure may be attributable to the pedagogical constraints
imposed upon you by a mass
produced educational system. Do not attribute to yourself
failures that may have been the
result of the way the system taught you.
4. Set realistic and attainable goals for yourself. Do not allow
your emotions to

distort your sound judgment regarding what you will be able to
do given the constraints
of work, home, church and community.
5. Affirm the value of your own background and experiences.
The great advantage
that adults bring to the learning situation, that children do not
have, is their vast
experience. Remember, when you were eighteen you probably
had not had the
8
experience of being a full-time worker, a spouse, a parent, a
participatory citizen, an
active leader of a church, or a successful businessperson, but by
age thirty, you may have
had all of these experiences under your belt. Use these
experiences to your advantage and
never be ashamed to share them or hesitate to integrate them
with what you are learning.
These experiences enable you to see relationships and
connections not afforded less
mature learners. Your learning of new material is also enhanced

by your previous
experiences because you are more apt to integrate new learning
with old learning and
thereby give it new meaning, hence your experiences can
provide you with additional
insight and a sense of mastery.
6. Recognize the expertise you have acquired from your vast
experiences. One of
the beneficial side-effects of reaching middle age and beyond is
a sense of emerging
mastery and competence. Do not hesitate to carry over this
sense of mastery and
competence into your educational environment.
7. Obediently accept the promised empowerment of the Holy
Spirit than enables
our learning and acquisition of knowledge about God’s world
and God’s word. One of
the features of the Spirit’s empowerment in the Book of Exodus
was the accompanying
“wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge” (31:1; 35:31) and a
general “spirit of wisdom”
(28:3; 35:31, 35) that manifested itself in various abilities
including the ability to teach or

communicate the knowledge and wisdom received from the
Holy Spirit to others (35:34).
While Christians learn like all other human beings, they possess
a divine enablement
through the Spirit of God that embellishes native human
abilities. We see this same
phenomenon at work in Daniel and his three friends who study
and learn like everyone
else but at an exceptional level, that attracts the attention of the
secular authorities.
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Adult learners need to appreciate and affirm the vast resources
they already have
at their disposal to succeed in an online educational setting.
Unlike your 18-24 year-old
counterparts, you have developmental baggage to check when
you enroll in a degree
program that if unpacked and used, will provide you with many
advantages. Foremost
among these items is a healthy self-concept grounded in a firm
belief that as image
bearers of our Creator, you are intelligent, creative, unique,

competent, and an amazingly
adaptive person. We encourage you to affirm your value both as
a person and as a
self-directed adult learner, ready for success, no matter what
you are learning or where
you are learning it.

10
Chapter 2
Understanding the Basics of Adult Learning
Adults learn differently than children. While we may have
known this intuitively,
it took Dr. Malcolm Knowles to popularize the term
“andragogy” to distinguish teaching
adults from “pedagogy” teaching of children. If the teaching of
adults is different from
the teaching of children then it follows that how adults learn is
different from how
children learn. Both terms, pedagogy and andragogy, involve
both how to teach and how
to learn. How a student learns may often determine how we
teach so that we teach in a
way that resonates with learning styles and learning modalities.
Unfortunately, we still assume that adults learn like children
and so we often
teach them like children rather than adults. We still use the term

pedagogy when we talk
about teaching methods even if those methods have adults as
their audience. Two things
have to happen if we want adults to learn more effectively and
successfully. First, we
must embrace and accept the scientific research on adult
learning that clearly indicates
they learn differently than children and teenagers. Second, we
need adult learners to
embrace and accept a new identity as an adult learner and
cultivate a new approach to
learning. What we know about adult learning after forty years of
research is fairly clear.
Here is a suggestive list distilling the results of that research
which may be helpful in
furthering your understanding and appreciation of your own
learning abilities.
arning must be paced according to the physical,
psychological,
and intellectual realities of adult aging. The best policy is to
learn how to cooperate with
the natural aging process when learning rather than trying to
deny it or fight it.

11
Adults are more self-directed than other-directed when it
comes to
learning. One researcher at the University of Toronto found that
the average adult spends
about 500 hours a year on various types of learning projects.
These are self-motivated
and self-planned activities prompted by an adult’s curiosity,
need, and interest. The fact
that you enrolled in this course is a clear indication that you are
a self-directed learner.
Most of our students are not required to take our courses or earn
our degrees. They come
to Liberty freely and voluntarily because they have a desire to
learn, improve themselves,
or prepare for a future to which they believe God has called
them.
learning can
have immediate application to their life, vocation, or ministry.
Material to be learned by
adults must be meaningful and have prima facie evidence of
applicability. Adults need to

know why they need to learn something before undertaking to
learn it. In a sense, this
makes adults very pragmatic learners. This does not mean that
they are not interested in
learning for the sake of learning and expanding their insight and
understanding. It means
that they also want to see how knowledge and information
directly impacts what they are
doing or plan to do in their vocations and ministry.
stress free.
Many studies on adult learning make it clear that if adult
learners sense a threat to their
self-esteem, they will withdraw from the learning experience.
Reducing the perceived
threat of the learning experience will go a long way in
improving an adult’s learning
ability. Reducing learner anxiety often connects to educational
gaps that adults bring with
them to the online classroom. Many adults in online courses and
degree programs have
multiple year gaps between one degree and another. It is not
unusual to have adult

12
students in a course who have not been in a course or degree
program for 10, 15, or even
20 years. Adults in this situation experience anxiety and
hesitancy about their ability to
compete and perform at a graduate level. They are often unsure
of their abilities and feel
at a distinct disadvantage over their younger counterparts.
either a
reduction in or elimination of a time frame within which to
learn or master a subject or
skill. Research studies comparing adult learners with young
learners working on math
problems found that when they imposed a time limit for solving
the problem, younger
students did better. However, when they removed the time limit,
adults competed with
younger students and did just as well in problem solving. When
adults cannot modify
time limits (like the length of a term or semester) then they
must call upon their learning

agility and make adjustments accordingly. This means that adult
learners will need to
give themselves more time in fulfilling reading and writing
assignments, for instance.
Giving themselves a head start on course assignments reduces
this learner anxiety and
improves academic outcomes.
-modal learners. The typical learning
modalities
are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile. That is, we often
have a preference for
learning new information through the eye gate, the ear gate, or
through touch and
movement. While children tend to have one of these three
manifested in a dominant form,
adults have learned to morph or merge these three into a
blended style that incorporates
all of the modalities. This makes adult learners more agile and
capable of adapting to
different learning settings. This ability to adjust their learning
to the instructional method
of the course or instructor gives adults a learning edge over
their youthful counterparts.

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interests that
learning will satisfy. Motivation in adulthood is always linked
to some aspect of the
adult's life. Motivation to learn something is not devoid of
context which gives it
meaning to the adult. The reason why many adults are not
motivated to learn what we
want to teach them is because we have done an inadequate job
of convincing them of its
practical value.
-centered. Adults,
therefore, become
ready to learn those things they need to know and be able to do
in order to cope
effectively with real life. Adults seek out learning experiences
in order to cope with life
events (marriage, divorce, new job, different job, retiring, etc.)
the most

marked difference between children and adults with respect to
learning. Children have
very little experience, adults have a great deal of experience.
Adults bring their
experiences with them like checked baggage on an airplane. It
functions as a lens through
which adults perceive new knowledge and information. It also
functions as a Geiger
counter sniffing out inauthentic or contradictory pieces of
information or knowledge that
do not match what they have known or learned from living life.
This often comes across
to the instructor as a critical or difficult attitude from the adult
learner. Instead, it is
simply the adult coming to terms with the discrepancy and
wanting to think through it. As
American educator John Dewey reminded us not all experiences
are educative or
positive. Just because adults have had experiences does not
mean that those experiences
are valid or correct. Adults want a learning environment that
will allow them to explore
these discrepancies without retaliation or negative feedback
from the instructor.

14
earn through personal reflection upon experiences.
As adults
mature, they become more interior and reflective in their
cognitive processes. In older
adults, we call this behavior "life review" or "reminiscing.”
Paulo Freire, the famous
Brazilian adult educator, advocated the importance of critical
reflection upon our learning
experiences. Adults have a built-in tendency to do this anyway
because they have so
many life experiences that prompt the reflection. Adults need to
learn how to use this
natural tendency to their advantage in learning contexts.
Allowing time to consider,
ponder, and ruminate about what one has just learned or
mastered cements that learning
in our long term memory centers in our brains. We can do this
in two ways. First, while
awake and alert by intentionally thinking about what we have
learned and how we might
use that learning in our vocations and ministries. Second, by

getting plenty of sound
sleep. When we sleep, especially during REM periods of sleep,
our brains engage in
sorting, filing, and synthesizing what we have learned during
our waking hours. When we
use a combination of these two approaches, we are solidifying
what we have learned and
making it part of our thinking and reasoning.
n through dialogue and discussion. Adult learners
have greater
mental and verbal abilities than their younger counterparts.
They prefer to be in
situations in which these abilities are prized and accepted.
When given the opportunity to
choose, most adults will choose to be in learning situations in
which they are encouraged
to participate verbally and mentally. Active participation in
learning means that adult
learners invest in their own learning. While most adults have
taken most of their
education on campus in a physical classroom, online courses
require a different form of
dialog and interaction. Digital dialog and keyboard interaction
are the norms in online

15
learning so adults must again employ their learning agility and
adjust to this new way of
communicating.
he/she wants.
The single best predictor of whether an adult will participate in
a learning activity is prior
level of educational attainment. It seems as though the more an
adult exposes themselves
to learning, and the more beneficial and helpful the learning is
perceived to be, the more
such learning an adult wants and needs. I have seen hesitant and
nervous adult learners
enter a Liberty degree program unsure as to whether they could
compete and complete,
only to see them take multiple degrees and many of them enroll
in doctoral programs.
This is a joy to observe as adult learners find that they have
God-given abilities to learn
and grow toward whole person impersonation of their Lord and

Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Chapter 3
Developing Learning How to Learn Skills
Although it is important to change your learner self-concept and
to be aware of
your strengths and weaknesses as a self-directed adult learner,
you need certain academic
skills to complement who you are becoming as an adult self-
directed learner. Please note
we are discussing learning skills, not attributes that one
possesses innately. Anyone,

regardless of prior academic performance, can learn these skills
and become a better
student. Skills are acquired abilities learned by practice and
use. Time on task is a great
equalizer of academic abilities. We want to encourage you to
take the time necessary to
acquire and enhance the skills identified in this section.
We have identified five learning skills: reading, writing,
listening, critical
thinking, and essay test-taking that are essential for one to be
successful in online
education. Given the nature of online delivery, these skills need
to be acquired or
sharpened, as the case may be.
Here is a pre-test that will assist you in determining your need
to read this section.
Check which of the following statements about reading you
think are true.
remember it.

nsion.
as they read.
read slowly.
17
If you checked most of these statements as true, you will
probably benefit from reading
this section. There are many reading techniques in the learning
skills literature. However,
one that seems most appropriate to online theological education
is the "Proactive
Reading" technique proposed by Professor Robert Smith of
Northern Illinois University.
We have modified his basic approach but the germ for the
technique is entirely his.
Think of proactive reading much like you would approach the
use of a computer.
The book is a resource from which you want to glean
information. Not all of it is

pertinent and you already know you are not going to remember
all of it. You want to be
able to formulate in your own mind the essential gist of the
book's contents. Proactive
reading requires that you switch from being a passive learner to
an active, self-directing
one who engages in an interactive fashion with the material you
are required to read.
1. Look over the book and read any of the promotional
comments printed on the
jacket, inside pocket, or on the back of the book. Evaluators,
selected by the publishing
company who are recognized experts in the field, usually make
these comments.
2. Read all you can about the author's background and expertise
to write the book.
3. Read all of the introductory materials (foreword, preface,
introduction, etc.).
Seek to identify the author's purpose for writing the book.
Identify recognized and
admitted limitations or delimitations of the book.
4. Leaf through the table of contents and index to get a feel for
the major topics that
addressed in the book's contents.

5. Scan the book noting chapter headings, sub-headings, special
appendices or any
charts, diagrams, or photos.
18
6. Scan each chapter before reading it in detail. You want to
obtain a big picture
view of the chapter much like you have already obtained of the
entire book by what you
have done in the first five steps.
7. While reading a chapter you may wish to make written
notations or make marks
that highlight what you think are significant or important
statements. These should be
marked only for ease of locating them for future use, not for
purposes of hoping they will
improve memory retention. Use notations or marks that do not
take long to write or mark
so that you do not compromise your reading rate. You might use
short comments like
“agree!” “disagree!” or “proof?”

8. When you are finished reading the chapter, write down or
type out the main idea
presented and identify at least two thrust points that indicate
how the author (s) support
this main idea or thesis.
9. Critically reflect upon what you have read and respond to it
verbally or in writing,
depending upon your learning style preference. With what do
you agree, disagree, take
issue with, don't understand, view as weak, or think is
exceptional or well-stated in the
chapter?
10. Decide how you are going to incorporate and use what you
have learned in the
chapter with course assignments. How you proceed will depend
upon the stipulations and
parameters set forth in your syllabus. Each faculty will use and
integrate required reading
material in different ways. Be sure you are alert to how the
instructor expects you to use
the required reading before you begin reading the texts.
Another helpful model for active reading was proposed in the
classic How To

Read a Book by Charles Van Doren and Mortimer J. Adler. You
may remember the name
19
Charles Van Doren from the movie Quiz Show which
dramatized the quiz show scandal
that he was involved in as a young man. Adler of course is a
well-known American
philosopher. In their book, they advocate the practice of “active
reading” because reading
is a very complex activity. You must master each of the skills
that comprise the act and
art of reading in order to read something actively and grasp its
meaning. These authors
propose a model of reading that involves four different levels
that represent four different
purposes for reading. The first level is Elementary Reading and
refers to the basic skills
of learning to read that most of us acquire in grade school. The
second level is
Inspectional Reading and involves the ability to read or skim a
book’s contents in a
relatively short period. Some questions you may ask at this

reading level are: “What is
this book about?” or “What is the structure of this book?” or
“What are the parts to this
book?” The third level is Analytical Reading and is a more
complex and systematic way
of reading than the previous two. Francis Bacon once wrote that
some books are to be
“chewed and digested” and that is what one would do when
reading at this level. The
fourth level is Syntopical Reading or Comparative Reading.
This kind of reading
involves multiple books on the same subject from which the
reader is able to deduce a
synthesis of knowledge not present in any of the texts per se.
The Inspectional Reading level is similar to Smith’s Proactive
Reading model and
is usually a good place to start for any texts you may be
required to read in an online
degree program. If you are required to respond or react to the
reading in written form,
you will want to be reading at the Analytical level. If you are
going to be writing a paper
on a given subject, you will probably want to be reading at the
Syntopical or Comparative

level.
20
Another very helpful resource on this subject is a chapter in a
book. The chapter is
entitled “Becoming a Critical Reader,” and appears in Decker’s
Patterns of Exposition by
Randall Decker and Robert A. Schwegler (Longman, 1998). The
authors argue that
critical reading involves (1) Previewing; (2) Reading; (3)
Reviewing. You can read their
chapter for more details about this method but I wanted to
highlight three techniques they
suggest for reading critically that we have found helpful. First,
keep a reading journal in
either a notebook or a digital file in which you keep your
responses and reactions to
materials you are reading. This is a very helpful technique if
you will need to write about
what you have read. Second, jot down marginal notes while
reading. These notes should
be brief and abbreviated but serve as a trigger to recall your

initial reaction. Third,
highlighting limited portions of the text as you read to indicate
what sections of the book
or article was of particular importance to you. If you plan to
write about what you are
reading later, you especially what to use highlighting to identify
sections you may want
to use as a quotation.
You can plan to do much more writing in a graduate theological
program than in
other types of education. This is because the main form of
communication is writing and
there is a vast literature spanning 2000 years. Every piece you
write must contain three
essential elements that form the "bare bones" of any written
structure (Payne, 1965).
1. Introduction
The introduction ought to draw the reader into the body of the
material to follow.
It should begin with a general statement or question, sometimes
called the "thesis
statement" or "thesis question," followed by a quick narrowing

down to the main theme
21
to be developed in the body. Set the stage quickly, give
appropriate background, then
move right into a transition sentence that will set up the reader
for the body.
2. Body (argument)
The body of a written piece is where you elaborate, defend, and
expand the thesis
introduced in the first section. The body should support your
main contention with
supporting evidence and possible objections. A good body
presents both sides of a case,
pros and cons. Save your best argument for last. When
presenting contrary views, be sure
to set forth the strongest arguments so you can avoid someone
charging you with erecting
a "straw man." When moving from one sub-point or argument to
the next, be sure to
employ the use of connecting or transition words and phrases
that enable the reader to

follow the flow of your case (argument). The following is a
partial list of logical
connectors appropriate in your writing:
- but, alas, however, etc.
-for instance, for example, etc.
-thus, so, therefore, consequently, etc.
-similarly, by contrast, etc.
- yet, still, etc.
- moreover, furthermore, etc.
The writing of the body of any piece best includes the following
three components:
a. elaboration: spell out the details by defining, clarifying and
adding relevant, pertinent
information.
22
b. illustration: paint a verbal picture that helps make or clarify
our point(s).
Well-illustrated pieces are easier to read and follow than those
that grind on at a very

high level of abstraction.
c. argumentation: give the reasons, justifications, and
rationales for the position or view
you have taken in the introduction. Draw inferences for the
reader and explain the
significance of assertion or claims made.
3. Conclusion
The conclusion is your best shot to make your final appeal to
the reader and
consequently its importance cannot be overstated. Some refer to
this "best shot" as "the
clincher" referring to the finishing, all-encompassing statement
that wraps up your
presentation in a powerful or even dramatic fashion. Normally a
single paragraph, brief
and concise, will suffice. The purpose of the conclusion is to
leave the reader with an idea
or thought that captures the essence of the body while
provoking further reflection and
consideration.
All of the courses you take at Liberty University will involve
oral presentations of

various sorts presented in video format. Good listening or
viewing skills are, therefore,
essential for academic success. Here are some suggestions for
improving your listening
skills.
Most listening scholars recognize a direct relationship between
the reception of
aural stimuli (listening) and learning. The result of much of this
research clearly suggests
that listening is a learned behavior/skill. Therefore, it can and
should be taught, especially
to students who spend most of their time listening.
23
Dr. Harrel T. Allen has said, "Listening is hard work and
requires increased
energy--your heart rate speeds up, your blood circulates faster,
and your temperature goes
up." Listening is a complex activity that requires our full
attention and a well-rested body
and mind. Avoid listening to course videos when you are tired.
Always be at your best

and freshest.
Listening requires attention because the mind works faster than
the mouth can
speak. The average speaking rate of speed is about 125 words
per minute. The average
person thinks at a rate of 500 words per minute, or about four
times as fast. As a result,
your mind has a tendency to wander and allow other thoughts to
intrude upon what you
are listening to. Therefore, good listeners have learned how to
avoid distractions and
concentrate fully on what they are hearing. Multi-tasking while
listening, although
frequently practiced, has been scientifically demonstrated to be
an inferior learning
behavior.
Listen actively by interacting with the speaker. Active listeners
pay attention to
the speaker and try to make sense of what they hear. Active
listeners refuse to allow
verbal tics (“um,” “ah,” or favorite words and phrases) or
mannerisms (jingling keys or
coins) to distract them from the essential message. Ask

questions, check your
understanding, make counter-points, etc. Identify the speaker's
purpose and general
approach while listening for specifics without being fixated
upon them. This is tricky, but
you can learn it with practice. Active listening assumes that
something in the presentation
will be useful either now or in the future. Therefore, active
listeners tend to be more
highly motivated to listen no matter how effective or ineffective
the speaker may be.
Active listeners make a decision to listen and thereby strengthen
their commitment to
24
learn. Listen for repeated terms, words, ideas, or signal words.
For example, a speaker
might say, "There are three major views regarding the
relationship between the
testaments." The signal word or phrase here is "three major
views." This should trigger a
response from you that alerts you to listen for those three major
views.

Here is an interesting vein of research that has developed over
the last ten years.
Italian neuroscientist Vittorio Gallese, identified the
phenomenon of mirror neurons in
the brain. He found that while watching someone perform an
action like drinking water
from a bottle or glass – the person watching or observing
automatically activated the
same neurons that would light up if that person took the drink
themselves. As far as our
brain is concerned observing someone do something is like
doing it ourselves.
However, the follow-up research of three professors from
Princeton University
(Stephens, Silbert, and Hasson, 2010) is even more intriguing.1
They asked the question,
“I wonder if this same mirror neuron effect is present when
simply listening to someone
speak about drinking water without the person being present?”
They found that the same
regions of the brain activated just as they did in the original
research but now simply by
listening not by observing. The Princeton researchers referred to
this as neural coupling

because the neural activity of the speaker and the listener
couple during a communication
event. Instead of viewing an audience as passive during a
communication event – the
brains of the audience are extremely active. In fact, the
audience members in the
research, so attuned and engaged with the speaker, were often
able to predict or anticipate
what the speaker was going to say next. They could predict, at a
very high rate of
accuracy, what words the speaker might use before the speaker
uttered them. In short,
1 “Speaker-listener neural coupling underlies successful
communication,” Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010:107
(32): 14425-30.
25
they found that “the listener’s brain activity mirrors the
speaker’s brain activity with
temporal delays” (p. 14428).

Active listeners are made, not born. We acquire listening skills
by imitation of
good listeners and by learning them deliberately. Active
listening/viewing promotes
speaker-listener neural coupling and produces effective
communication and
understanding.
The hidden curriculum of previous generations in higher
education was the
teaching of critical thinking skills. Recently, these skills have
come to be a more obvious
part of our intentional instruction. Critical thinking refers to the
ability to consider
logically, react, and process information or data in a
sophisticated manner. Many Liberty
University professors base learning outcomes on Bloom's
Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives in the Cognitive Domain.2 The Taxonomy proposes a
hierarchy of critical
thinking abilities from simple comprehension to more complex
critical evaluation and
judgment. We expect students to be able to use the higher order
skills of critical thinking.

Even within a degree program, the first courses are more
general in nature and require
less critical thinking than courses of a more theoretical or
technical nature. Rather than
assuming you have already acquired these skills, or that you
will obtain them by osmosis
simply by taking online courses, this section of our orientation
intends to be more
deliberate.
2 Bloom B., B. Mesia, and D. Krathwohl (1964). Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives in the Cognitive
Domain (New York: David McKay).
26
Probing
Harvard researcher D. N. Perkins in the Graduate School of
Education has
observed that competent thinkers proceed by challenging and
altering premises,

accumulating and abandoning assumptions, until they reach a
tentative conclusion. This
kind of effective reasoning interrogates one's own knowledge,
assumptions, information,
and possibly even conclusions because the learner holds them
tentatively. This kind of
thinking is not "knit-picking" but reflects an intense desire and
curiosity to understand
and assess a matter or issue carefully. Critical reasoning is
inquiry and discovery through
probing strategies that enlighten and inform. In short, the
questions, "what?" "why?" and
"why not?" form the query base of solid critical thinking and
reasoning in an academic
setting.
Plausibility
The term derives from the Latin plaudere literally meaning,
"deserving of
applause" and refers to the believability or credibility of ideas
and thoughts. Ideas or
concepts that are credible have survived the test of stringency.
Typical scientific inquiry
follows this approach when tests of significance are established
and the assumption of the

procedures is that the tougher the test, the greater the credibility
of the thing being tested.
Reasoning and critical thinking attempts to determine what
among competing data are the
most plausible. Most plausible data often undergo development
into a theory. Plausibility
or believability runs along a continuum from "strong" to "not
sure" depending upon the
available evidence and the source of the evidence. For instance,
we may hear a politician
declare that he/she is going to win an election by a certain
percentage margin and we may
hear a scientific pollster report similar information. We may be
more inclined to believe
27
the pollster than the politician, even when the data is the same,
simply because we have
more confidence in the pollster to predict such things than we
do in politicians who have
stakes in the outcome of the election.
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning

Again, we are dependent upon Latin roots to understand our
English words. The
word "inductive" comes from the Latin word inducere
translates, "to lead in" and the
word "deductive" from the Latin word deducere, means, "to lead
out or away." When
used in the context of logical reasoning, both refer to ways of
supporting propositions in
an argument. Alternatively, deduction and induction are ways
our minds relate
reasons/evidence to conclusions. Induction refers to a method of
reasoning that examines
particulars and deduces generalizations. Deduction is the ability
to examine
generalizations and from these to identify particulars that are
consistent with the
generalization.
-taking Skills
Students who know how to write essay answers well will be in a
better position to
succeed academically. Here are some suggestions for writing an
excellent essay exam.
The best advice anyone can give you for receiving a high grade

on an essay exam
is to be sure your answer is well organized. A well-organized
answer sends the right
message to the person grading the essay: this person has spent
some time thinking about
the material reflected in this question. The way to achieve a
well-organized essay begins
with a short outline of the major thrust points you wish to
include in your answer. Write
or type this outline at the top of the page you plan to use. Even
if you do not have
enough time to complete the essay, the professor may give you
partial credit because of
28
the information contained in your outline evidencing your
knowledge and comprehension
of the subject matter. The outline also prevents you from
committing the fatal flaw of
most essay answers: excessive length.
Begin your answer with a brief introduction or background that
conveys the intent

and direction of your answer. This opening short paragraph
should give an overview of
what you intend to cover in more detail as the answer unfolds.
Again, if by some
circumstance, you are unable to finish the answer, the opening
paragraph indicates your
grasp of the subject at hand.
Follow your outline as you build the body of your essay. Each
thrust point in your
outline should be an expanded paragraph in your answer.
Finish off your answer with a summary statement or conclusion
that packs a
wallop. Leave a good impression in the mind of the grader as
she/he finishes reading your
answer. Let your conclusion be short and to the point.
While reading the essay question, pay attention to the key verbs
(compare,
contrast, explain, discuss, define, describe, etc.). Key verbs tell
you how to approach the
topic. Note key nouns in the question because they may often
suggest key topics or
subtopics that you may need to cover in your response. Here is a
sample:

“Compare and contrast the major tenets of the three
monotheistic religions:
Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.”
Based upon the verbs used, you should plan to structure your
answer to reflect a
contrast/comparison format. Based upon the nouns used, there
should be three sets of
major tenets representing all three monotheistic faiths reflected
in your answer.
29
If there is a time limit, be sure to pay attention to point values
and spend the bulk
of your time writing on those questions that have the highest
point value. If the point
values are equal or not identified, then select the sequence in
which you will answer the
questions by answering those questions you find the easiest or
the ones you are best
prepared to answer.
What graders want to know by reading an essay answer is
whether or not you

grasp the essential facets of the question and how well you can
think through the subject.
Do not try to "snow" your instructor with a lot of verbiage that
does not make sense or
with aimless and pointless meanderings. When writing essay
answers, cogent, logical,
and well-organized responses are best and obtain the higher
grade. Attention to these
learning/study skills will make you a better student and will
enhance your learning. The
best students know how to use all of these skills to varying
degrees in any learning
situation. We encourage you to begin today to practice these
skills so that your learning
experience is a profitable and enjoyable one.
Closing
Have you ever noticed what you do when you get in a car you
have never driven
before? Maybe it is a new car or a rental or one you are
borrowing from a friend or
family member. You begin to adjust the seat, the inside mirror,
outside mirrors, set the
radio to a station you like, adjust the temperature controls, and
generally make driving the

car comfortable for yourself. Do you do the same thing when
you enter a new learning
environment? If you have the proper skills, you can. One of
the reasons why adults
often struggle in graduate theological programs is because they
do not know how to
adjust the new learning environment to their own learning
preferences and needs. This
30
course is designed to help you make these learning adjustments
so that you can maximize
your learning and your academic success.

Orienting Adults to Learning in Graduate Theological Educa.docx

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