Mark K. Smith (1999): Various meanings of adult:

• biological state (post-puberty),

• legal state (aged 18 or over; aged 21 or over?),

• psychological state (their 'self concept' is that of an 'adult')

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• form of behaviour (adulthood as being in touch with one's capacities whatever the context)

• set of social roles (adulthood as the performance of certain roles e.g. working, raising children etc.).

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Five assumptions on the adult learner:

1.Self-Concept: As a person matures, he or she moves from dependency to self-directness.

2.Experience: Adults draw upon their experiences to aid their learning.

3.Readiness: The learning readiness of adults is closely related to the assumption of new social roles.

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4. Orientation: As a person learns new knowledge, he or she wants to apply it immediately in problem solving.

5. Motivation (Later added): As a person matures, he or she receives their motivation to learn from internal factors.

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• Malcolm Knowles is a pioneer of the art and science of andragogy, adult learning and it can be summarized as follows:– Changes in self-concept; adults more

independent.– Experience; more mature individuals have a

certain experience that can serve as an important resource in learning.

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– Adults are more willing (ready) to learn on a problem that seem relevant to them (readiness).

– Learning more self-centered to a student (orientation).

– Adults are more motivated to learn, especially to lesson that has a significant influence on his own (motivation).

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• Andragogy, means "the art and science of helping adults learn" (Knowles, 1980).

• The term andragogy was originally formulated by a German teacher, Alexander Kapp, in 1833 (Nottingham Andragogy Group, 1983).

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• Andr is meaning 'man'. • Paid is meaning 'child‘.• Agogos is meaning 'leading‘.• Roget's defines pedagogy as "The act, process,

or art of imparting knowledge and skill."• The American Heritage® Dictionary of the

English Language defines pedagogy as "The art or profession of teaching."

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• Andragogy is associated with mature-aged learners whereas pedagogy is associated with younger, leass mature learners (Kember, Jenkins & Ng, 2003)

• A comparison of the assumptions of pedagogy and andragogy following Knowles (Jarvis, 1985); http://www.infed.org/lifelonglearning/b-andra.htm

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• Quoted from Stephen Pew (2007: 14) http://www.insightjournal.net/Volume2/Andragogy%20and%20Pedagogy%20as%20Foundational%20Theory%20for

%20Student%20Motivation%20in%20Higher%20Education.pdf: “Maintaining this dichotomy of educational existence and balancing the competing demands for teacher attention is often a challenge for university educators, but one worth pursuing. Understanding the andragogical or pedagogical foundations of adult-to- adult learning in an environment of higher education can help meet this challenge, in that adult-to-adult interactions are more facilitative of adult learning than are parent-to-child interactions (Tyrell & Johnston, 1983).”

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• Adult learning principles described by Knowles (1984) as follows:1. Adults should be involved in planning and evaluation instructions.2. Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for learning activities.3. Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to their job or personal life.4. Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content oriented.

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• Therefore, adult learners should be engaged in (Swee-Choo, P.G. & Matthews, B, 2010: 289):– An act of challenge.– Critical reflection.– Sharing.– Support.– Risk taking.

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• Jarvis (1995), however, see the contributions of Knowles is not a theory but as a form of adult learning philosophies and concepts are very important.

• Knowles did not establish a proven theory, rather he introduced a "set of well-grounded principles of good practice" (Brookfield, 1986, p. 98)

• Example of theory: Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

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• Self-directed learning.

• Critical reflection – transformational learning.

• Experiential learning.

• Learning to learn.

• Self-regulated learning.

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• Notes by Dr Roziana

• http://elearningindustry.com/the-adult-learning-theory-andragogy-of-malcolm-knowles

• Selected articles.