Sunday, September 19, 2010

Andragogy v/s Pedogogy Learning

The subject of androgyny v/s pedagogy learning often appears to be a subject that is taken lightly by some educators.  Anyone researching this subject will not have to look far before finding people who use the terms interchangeably.  Some educators believe that an adult should be taught the same way as a child should be taught. There may also be a few learning theorists who believe the same. Are these people correct? Can an adult be taught using the same learning principles and theories used as when teaching a child?  Or does it depend on whether we view learning as a  product or a process?
Through my Adult Information Processing Research I came across a very interesting article titled Adult Learning Theory: It Matters. (http://faculty.darden.virginia.edu/clawsonj)  The writer, James G. Clawson, a professor who has taught at various higher learning facilities compares learning theories of Malcom Knowles to David Kolb.  Later, he collaborates with Gib Akin, and Gail Pearl to produce the Akin/Pearl/Clawson  learning model that was the result of he and his colleague's research studies on the subject of adult learning.
Another interesting article that I discovered during my web research which surveyed adult learning models is titled Learning Theory. (http://www.infed.org/)  This article produced by infed organization gives facts on the comparisons of viewing learning as a product or a process.  It looks at learning under the Behaviourist, Cognitivist, Humanist and Social and Situation orientations. 
Both of these websites offered valuable information for the beginner Instructional Designers that are interested in adult learning. It appears that most research indicates that adults do learn differently than children.  After reading the cited articles, let me know what you think.

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