Malcolm Knowles Andragogy Essay

Yavetz, Zwi. Julius Caesar and His Public Image. Aspects of Greek and Roman Life. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983. Web.

This paper is a research on Malcolm Knowles topic “andragogy”. Knowles describes andragogy as the art and science of adult learning. Andragogy focuses on special needs od adults learners, he classifies these need into six different categories: (1) need to know, (2) self- concept, (3) prior experience, (4) readiness to learn, (5) learning orientation, and (6) motivation to learn.

Malcolm X, a civil rights leader in the 1960's believed that blacks and whites should be segregated. He also believed that white man was evil and were trying to brainwash all blacks and that Martin Luther King's "non-violent protests" weren't working and that violence was needed for change.

Are people too stubborn and independent to learn once they become adults? The Adult Learning Theory focuses on the difference between how adults learn and how children learn. There are three main central ideas that support the Adult Learning Theory. These ideas or theories are known as andragogy, self-directed learning, and transformational learning. Andragogy is the teaching of adults, self-directed learning is the individual controlling their learning, and transformational learning is the individual learning from life experiences.

Today's workers need to prepare with continuous job training, growth and development. Given the increased age, experiences and diverse lifestyles of the working population, it is understandable that adult education practices must move beyond the traditional model of teachers and learners, while new skills, working with local companies to match their needs and sending staff into factories and other workplaces to spread the word about state and federal retraining assistance. While trying to decide how to rebuild your life after loss of employment and lack of job opportunities following the current recession, or devastated from a divorce? Adult students faced with other struggles; studies have shown that older adult students face different hurdles, family problems, and poor self-image. These along with poor time management, weaker academic preparation and a need for remediation an increased focus on adult learners and their needs can help. (armour)

Which clarifies why Malcolm Knowles first started marking his work in grown-up training as andragogy in the late 1960's (Knowles,1980). Knowles found through his work with grown-ups that educators expected to think about the real premiums of learners as opposed to concentrating on what teachers accepted were learners' intrigues (Carlson,1989). As Knowles would see it (1980; 1984) the best instructive encounters were helpful, guided cooperations between the instructor and learner with numerous accessible assets. Amid these encounters, the educator manages the learner to build up his or her own potential (Carlson, 1989). Taking into account his own perceptions Knowles (1980; 1984) added to an arrangement of five suppositions that concealed his idea of andragogy.

     “ No, I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million people who are victims of Americanism, one if the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or flag-saluter, or a flag waver. No, not I. I am speaking to you as a victim of the American system. And I see America through the eyes of a victim. I don’t see any American dream. I see an American nightmare!

ADULT LEARNING THEORY 3 significant mentors in his life—Eduard Lindeman. By reading Lindeman’s Meaning of Adult Education, he obtained a profound understanding of adult education, which later became his source of inspiration and concepts. Major Works In 1943, Knowles was recruited into the Navy, and began to read extensively in the field of adult education, which contributed to his final decision to undertake a master’s program at the University of Chicago (Smith, 2002). His adviser at the University of Chicago was Cyril O. Houle, who had been a role model in rigorous learning for Knowles. Carl Rogers, “the founder of 'client-centered' or 'non-directive' therapy” (Smith, 2004, para. 1), and Arthur Shedlin, an associate of Rogers, had also exerted a great influence on Knowles—he began to consider learning as an exciting incident. In 1949, Knowles gained his Master’s degree and published his first book Informal Adult Education, which was also his master thesis (Smith, 2002). In 1951, he became “executive director of the newly formed Adult Education Association. ” and also “attended a couple of summer sessions of the National Training Laboratories in 1952 and 1954” (Smith, 2002, para. 7). The founders of the labs—Kenneth Benne, Leland Bradford, Ronald Lippett and Kurt Lewin—consequently impacted Malcolm and his wife, Hulda, who co-authored books on leadership (1955) and

The world of adult learning was changed by Knowles’ (1973) when he identified four assumptions about andragogy, meaning “the art and science of helping adults learn” (Knowles, 1970, p. 42). These assumptions are: self-concept; experience; readiness; and orientation. Knowles later added two more assumptions; the critical need to know, and motivation (Knowles, Holton & Swanson, 2015; Knowles, 1980). Knowles’ second assumption, experience, plays a significant role for individuals to create, retain and transfer knowledge based upon prior knowledge and skill, (Argote, McEvily & Reagans, 2003, p. 575). I will search for evidence on how the elements of Knowles’ theory align with the knowledge retention and engagement.

The topic will advance the practice of the adult education specialization drawing attention to issues affecting adult students’ retention, which exist when colleges and universities seek to meet adult learners’ needs without understanding basic tenets of andragogy (Dreggs, 2011).

Knowles, M. S. (1980). The modern practice of adult education from pedagogy to andragogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Cambridge Adult Education.

Many people think that andragogy is a theory of adult learning, Merriam, Caffarella, and Baumgartner in 2007 indicated that it is actually more of “an enduring model for understanding certain aspects of adult learning.” (p. 92). This “enduring model” is important to the study of adult learning, nevertheless, because it is one of the most well known, and was instrumental in a profound way in changing and improving the way people approach adult learning. Malcolm Knowles first introduced Andragogy in 1968 (Merriam, Caffarella, Baumgartner, 2007). The authors of the text also lay out six different “assumptions” or ways of the model, and those area as follows:

My impression of adult education has changed immensely. First and foremost, the first lesson learned that teaching adults are a separate, intensive, and long debated process. Portions of certain theories learned illustrated below. I have extended knowledge about Meizrow (Transformational Learning) and Knowles (Andragogy). The six key features of Adult Learners are:

Adult learning methods and their implications for the field of human resource development has a largely implemented the way adults learn and develop. The adult learning methods are highly linked to the fields of human resource development. They are used in the development of andragogy as well as other fields of adult education. For this research paper, we will discuss four methods of adult learning, these include accelerated learning, coaching, guided learning, and just- in time learning. There have been studies tested using these four methods along with common strategies such as learning skills, understanding, and how each individual learns. The implication of how an adult learns is based off of the learning methods that are being

The study of adult learning – ANDRAGOGY – originated in Europe in the 1950s and was then pioneered as a theory and model of adult learning from the 1970s by Malcolm knowles, an American practitioner and theorist of adult education. He defined androgogy as: „the art and science of helping adults learn“