At the beginning of September, we
discussed about andragogy and self-directed learning. Knowles presented this
concept and its four assumptions regarding adult learners. With self-directed
learning, we learned that self-directed learning can be found in all adults at
some time during their life. For self-directed learning, the adults plan and
learn on their own and are able to evaluate their learning. During this week,
groups were created based on our responses to the topic summary. I was placed
in Group 3 under the Narrative Learning group.
Under Week 5, we learned and
discussed different learning styles like embodies, spiritual, and narrative.
Embodied learning addressed the ability to learn from the body. Spiritual
learning addressed the ability to learn and connect learning with one’s
spirituality. Narrative learning was able to show us that one can learn from
our past and present experiences by telling of stories (narratives). Finally,
in Week 6, we learned about transformational learning that is a learning style
and changes a person’s perspective on oneself and the world.
Under narrative learning, I was
able to learn that narrative learning can come in three forms (“storying” the
curriculum, storytelling and autobiography). I also learned that narrative
learning can be considered a form of transformative learning. We tell are
stories which also help us transform our thought process of ourselves and the
world. I found two articles concerning narrative learning during Week 5. I have
struggled with the understanding of the assignments and the requirements thus I
have put myself behind on completing assignments as required. Going into the
next month, I hope to plan ahead and reach out to my group and instructor for
any assistance I may need in understanding what is needed for assignments. I
hope the group will be able to video conference or conference call together.
ReplyDeleteSeptember Month End Review
We began our month familiarizing ourselves with many of the terms associated with adult education vs. childhood education, andragogy vs. pedagogy. The exercise to complete definitions that I was unfamiliar with, was helpful as I focused on each topic as the month progressed. I felt some success in recognizing terms, and success is what it is all about. And at this point in time, I am beginning to see detailed differences in the learning theories that we have addressed. I particularly appreciate the spiritual learning theory, as I see a deep need for self-examination in the students I see at the community college, as well as the local grade school and high school. I can see a time line unfolding between the different authors as well, Freire, Knowles, Kolb, Mezirow, to Merriam and the many others. I struggle with the concept of Transformative Learning in that it takes a major event to bring about change or significant learning. I would hope lots of learning goes on every day without a major, life-changing event. For example, when my husband got his job in Indiana, I would not call it a life changing event for me. New location, new challenges, but yet I wanted to continue to learn, continue to discover everything available to me (as much as I can handle) at this point in my life. I don’t see my situation much different than ten years ago, so what do we term the learning I have done in the last ten years?
Our group has created a blog, but we are having difficulties figuring out the full capabilities for use of the blog. We have yet to find a suitable way for our group to communicate effectively. We have all touched base via e-mail, and have all contributed to the Narrative Learning topic that we focused on earlier in the month. I think the challenge for us in the coming months is to determine the different context in which Narrative is used and focus on some examples of good uses of Narrative Learning in adult education because narratives can touch every aspect of a lesson. We could look at the three modes of narrative learning: learning journals, concept focused autobiographical writing and instruction case studies, and build a case from there.