Student Presentation for EDU200 (Foundations in Education) at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, (Spring, 2015). This slide show is part of a larger project located at https://www.thinglink.com/scene/649755907130916864

1. helping millions of grown-up people all over the
world to transform themselves into mature adults
~Malcolm Knowles
“Adult” Education

2.  Arose in the early 20th century as an answer to workforce
needs during the Great Depression
 Job training through F.D.R.’s New Deal
 Adult literacy & GED
 Community College
 Focuses on Skills, Understanding, Attitudes, and Values for
specific occupational and social needs
What Is “Adult” Education?

3.  Champion of andragogy, self-direction in learning and
informal adult education
 Influential figure in the adult education field.
 His work was a significant factor in reorienting adult
educators from ‘educating people’ to ‘helping them learn.’
Malcolm Knowles

4. Pedagogy / Andragogy
“the art and science
of teaching children”
“the art and science
of teaching adults”

5.  Malcolm Knowles originally adapted the word
“Andragogy” to distinguish learning differences
between children and adults.
 For Knowles, andragogy was premised on crucial
assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners
that are different from the traditional pedagical
assumptions about child learners.
Pedagogy / Andragogy

6. Pedagogy / Andragogy
Assumption Pedagogy Andragogy
1.) Need to
Know:
Learners only need to know
that they must learn what
the teacher teaches if they
want to pass or get
promoted; they do not
need to know how what
they learn will apply to their
lives.
Adults need to know why
they need to learn something
before undertaking to learn
it. The first task of the
facilitator of learning is to
help the learners become
aware of the “need to
know.”

7. Pedagogy / Andragogy
Assumption Pedagogy Andragogy
2.) Self-
concept:
The teacher’s concept of
the learner is that of a
dependent personality;
therefor the learner’s self-
concept becomes that of
a dependent personality.
Adults have a self-concept of
being responsible for their
own lives. . . with a deep
psychological need to be
seen and treated by others
as being capable of self-
direction.

8. Pedagogy / Andragogy
Assumption Pedagogy Andragogy
3.) Role of
Experience:
The learner’s experience is of
little worth as a resource for
learning; the experience
that counts is that of the
teacher (and the curriculum
designers). Transmittal
techniques are the back-
bone of pedagogical
methodology.
Adults come into an
educational experience with
both a greater volume and
different quality of experience
from youths. Andragogy
emphasizes experiential
techniques such as group
discussion, simulation,
problem-solving activities, .etc.

9. Pedagogy / Andragogy
Assumption Pedagogy Andragogy
4.) Readiness
to Learn:
Learners become ready to
learn what the school
requires them to learn if they
want to pass or get
promoted.
Adults become ready to learn
those things they need to
know or be able to do in order
to cope effectively with their
real-life situations. (Readiness
to learn coincides with
psychological and social
developmental stages)

10. Pedagogy / Andragogy
Assumption Pedagogy Andragogy
5.) Orientation
to Learning:
Learners have a subject-
centered orientation to
learning; they see learning
as acquiring subject-matter
content. Therefore, learning
experiences are organized
according to units and the
logic of the subject-matter.
Adults are life centered (task
or problem centered) in their
orientation to learning.
Learning experiences are
organized around life tasks or
problems.

11. Pedagogy / Andragogy
Assumption Pedagogy Andragogy
6.) Motivation
to Learn:
Learners are motivated to
learn by extrinsic motivators
such as grades, the
teacher’s approval or
disapproval, parental
pressures.
While adults are responsive to some
extrinsic motivators (better jobs,
promotions, salary increases), the
more potent motivators are intrinsic
(the desire for increased self-esteem,
quality of life, responsibility, job
satisfaction). Adults are motivated to
keep growing and developing, but
this motivation is frequently blocked
by negative self-concept,
inaccessibility of opportunity, and
time constraints.

12. Andragogy as a Philosophy
 Andragogy is not restricted to adult learning styles
 Andragogy supports life-long learning as a lifestyle
 Andragogy develops competence rather than knowledge
 Andragogy combines humanist and behavioral psychology