I cringe every time I hear an educator or administrator in higher education use the word pedagogy when referring to instruction of students. For a long time, I thought it was just me who felt this way, but as I did research for this article, I found others with the same ear for differentiation between the two 'gogy' terms. My favorite review was done by Forrest and Peterson (2006) in their article "It's Called Andragogy" that appeared in the Management Learning & Education Journal. I agree and sympathise with their andragogy plight. Even the spell checker in blogger.com doesn't recognize the word! For me, it was one of my "ah ha" moments in my PhD education and now it is a passion of mine to identify the differences between the two philosophies as a way to improve my teaching techniques.
The difference between these two words should be critical to educators. "Peda" meaning 'child' and "andra" meaning 'adult'. Pedagogy originates from the word pedagogue, which according to Websters is a "dull, formal, or pedantic teacher". Further origins relate to the original Greek translation of the word paidagogos which means to lead the child. Interestingly the word Pedagogy was originated by monks between the seventh and twelfth centuries as a means to train young boys (Kelly & Perkett, n.d.). The monks used repetition as a means to educate the boys.
Andragogy has had an oppositional history. Early documented uses of this word leads us to a German Teacher - Alexander Knapp (Kelly & Perkett, n.d.). Knapp used the word to help develop the understandings of the differences in education in relation to Plato and his adult theories on education. These theories were controversial for his time so the word had limited exposure, and hence has been overshadowed by the much overused - Pedagogy.
Why is the difference between adult and child (or andra and peda) so important to educators in higher education? It deals with the way we educate adults versus the way we can educate children. Adults bring lived experiences with them into the classroom. They often have their own judgements and perceptions about the world that they gained through these lived experiences. "Learning is not an isolated experience but it is inextricably bound up with other life experiences" (Bloomer & Hodkinson, 2000, p. 3). In other words, we can not ignore the adult learner's lived experiences when we educate. What shocked me most about this transition from peda to andra is the age in which it happens. Many researchers cite the ages of 19 - 24, however some identify ages as young as 15. As an undergraduate educator, these are the ages I work with everyday.
It is important to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our adult learners in the classroom. Merriam's research identifies that adults, as they increase in maturity, increase in their desire for self-directed learning (2004). They have the desire and motivation for results and are more intrinsically motivated. Pedagogy, and the focus on the child learner, uses techniques in the classroom that may attempt to appeal to the student, however they are based on the traditional use of lecture, repetition and directed learning. Instructors who use the andragogy philosophy look to emphasize the "why" in the objectives, provide more facilitation than direction, and encourage collaboration and sharing of student's experiences. We find ways to incorporate lived experiences into the learning process and promote self-directed learning.
These techniques include discussions, collaborative learning environments, challenging case and topic analysis. It also includes the ability for adult learners to identify with the topic, finding how this relates to their current career, future career, etc. Allowing the adult learner to express their own experience and knowledge of a topic in the classroom helps develop the trust and relationship, and allows the adult learner to develop a relationship between the material being taught and their life. This relationship helps the adult learner identify application potential.
It is not enough to only design classroom techniques to appeal to one age group or another. As I mentioned earlier, we transition from childhood learning to adulthood learning between the ages of 19-24. Most of the students in undergraduate courses are within this age range so we must, as educators, consider the needs of all learners. We face a classroom of students in which some want to be directed and some want to be facilitated. It can be a challenge to incorporate both extremes in the same learning environment. Careful consideration must be made on the appropriate level of lecture vs. the appropriate level of application and discussion. Finding this right balance will help all your students gain as much as possible from the material.
Finally, using the term pedagogy as a 'catch all' for all teaching philosophies is not appropriate. We must identify that there are differences in the way our students learn and retain the materials we are teaching. This difference is best described by the separation of andragogy and pedagogy teaching techniques. By helping educators realize that there is a difference may help them develop alternative techniques in the classroom that help all levels of our students.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Saturday, May 5, 2012
A Time to Reflect...with Online Learning
Earlier this week I was asked to evaluate an online training program developed by a firm for employees. Like so many other online programs I have reviewed or written myself, there was a heavy emphasis on discussion boards. Research on this topic state that social activities increase motivation and satisfaction in the classroom (Richardson & Swan, 2003) and discussion boards are an obvious way in an online program to replicate the social experience. However, this is not the only tool that should be used in these types of programs. Alternatives are required to allow students time to reflect and to ensure appropriate levels of understanding.
Discussion between students through the use of forums is a great way to encourage engagement and social learning in online classrooms. However, engagement with instructors through this tool can be spotty and intermittent. Online classrooms are known for large student enrollment. Most of the courses I have taught online average 35 - 40 students. I typically require 2 discussion boards a week, two responses for each discussion by each student. In a class of 35 students, that would require me to read and respond to 70 discussions a week and review upwards of 140 responses. It takes approximately 15 - 20 minutes to respond to a graded discussion with feedback. This is nearly 23 hours a week on discussion grading alone! This can vary, of course, depending on the length and content. For many of us we have more than one class we are teaching, and we like to enjoy a little bit of personal life as well. It is difficult for the instructor to provide relevant, real-time feedback on every student's discussion board. What ends up happening is that instructors grade on participation, and provide feedback to only one or two discussions a week. And the grading feedback doesn't happen until the topic being graded has completed and the students have moved onto a new topic. Not very relevant or real-time. If the student does read the feedback given, they quickly disregard it as they have moved onto something new.
Students need consistent and timely feedback to ensure they truly understand the objectives of the course. It is to easy to fall through the cracks when discussions are the only tool used to assess learning in online courses. It is not feasible to add another assessment that requires review and grading feedback by instructors. This just adds to the original issue. Rather, instructors need to identify other assessment methods that allow the students to reflect on what they have learned and gain instant and automatic feedback on their progress.
I often provide critical reflection questionnaires (CRQ) to my students throughout the course to gain their feedback on what is working well, and what they would recommend changing, in regards to the class structure and instruction. This semester a student asked a great question that helped me identify a way to provide this automatic and and instant feedback. I was using a collaborative learning environment for one of the first times and the student asked that I provided them with ungraded tests each week so they can validate that they are "getting it". As the collaborative environment was team based, the student wanted to ensure that they were understanding the materials discussed on an individual level.
A month after getting that feedback I was asked to join a group of students and another instructor on a trip to an entrepreneurship conference. Although my interest areas are leadership and education, I attended because I was told that a well-known instructor would be speaking there. She taught entrepreneurship, but I was more interested in her teaching techniques. She had a history of providing unique and alternative teaching methods in her classroom. The university she worked for is known for developing some of the best entrepreneurs in the country. I had an opportunity to discuss with her some of my experiences in the classroom and she made a comment to me that hit home. She stated that students need a time to 'reflect' on what they have learned. It is not only important to provide them with the knowledge, reinforce it through discussions and assignments, but to allow them to look back on what they have done and reflect on what they have gained.
I applied these two pieces of knowledge to my online classes first. One of the easiest ways to incorporate reflection and instant and automatic feedback in the classes was to develop (as my student recommended) ungraded quizzes each week that included application driven questions on the current topics. It not only provided the students with a safe method for them to identify immediately if they were 'getting it', but it also provided me with instant feedback on their progress. I now had the ability to identify trends in learning and a method to evaluate if the reading, discussions, and recorded lectures were helping the students understand the required objectives. If I noticed that several students were missing a few of the questions on a particular topic, I could reinforce that in a later week, or add a supplemental lecture on it. These quizzes were optional for the students each week, and I realized approximately a 50% participation rate. I may adjust that in future classes to see if I can get better participation. I also plan on incorporating the same technique in my bricks-and-mortar classes.
The time I spent creating the assessments averaged 30 minutes per test. In a traditional semester of 16 weeks (with a few weeks off for midterms/special projects/etc) I average approximately 20 hours of total development time. This is a much smaller impact than changing my grading behavior on discussions. I can now continue to leverage the social rewards of discussions, while giving the students time to reflect on the topic of the week. I also now had a method of measuring student progress in a way that was more objective than just student interaction and participation.
Discussion between students through the use of forums is a great way to encourage engagement and social learning in online classrooms. However, engagement with instructors through this tool can be spotty and intermittent. Online classrooms are known for large student enrollment. Most of the courses I have taught online average 35 - 40 students. I typically require 2 discussion boards a week, two responses for each discussion by each student. In a class of 35 students, that would require me to read and respond to 70 discussions a week and review upwards of 140 responses. It takes approximately 15 - 20 minutes to respond to a graded discussion with feedback. This is nearly 23 hours a week on discussion grading alone! This can vary, of course, depending on the length and content. For many of us we have more than one class we are teaching, and we like to enjoy a little bit of personal life as well. It is difficult for the instructor to provide relevant, real-time feedback on every student's discussion board. What ends up happening is that instructors grade on participation, and provide feedback to only one or two discussions a week. And the grading feedback doesn't happen until the topic being graded has completed and the students have moved onto a new topic. Not very relevant or real-time. If the student does read the feedback given, they quickly disregard it as they have moved onto something new.
Students need consistent and timely feedback to ensure they truly understand the objectives of the course. It is to easy to fall through the cracks when discussions are the only tool used to assess learning in online courses. It is not feasible to add another assessment that requires review and grading feedback by instructors. This just adds to the original issue. Rather, instructors need to identify other assessment methods that allow the students to reflect on what they have learned and gain instant and automatic feedback on their progress.
I often provide critical reflection questionnaires (CRQ) to my students throughout the course to gain their feedback on what is working well, and what they would recommend changing, in regards to the class structure and instruction. This semester a student asked a great question that helped me identify a way to provide this automatic and and instant feedback. I was using a collaborative learning environment for one of the first times and the student asked that I provided them with ungraded tests each week so they can validate that they are "getting it". As the collaborative environment was team based, the student wanted to ensure that they were understanding the materials discussed on an individual level.
A month after getting that feedback I was asked to join a group of students and another instructor on a trip to an entrepreneurship conference. Although my interest areas are leadership and education, I attended because I was told that a well-known instructor would be speaking there. She taught entrepreneurship, but I was more interested in her teaching techniques. She had a history of providing unique and alternative teaching methods in her classroom. The university she worked for is known for developing some of the best entrepreneurs in the country. I had an opportunity to discuss with her some of my experiences in the classroom and she made a comment to me that hit home. She stated that students need a time to 'reflect' on what they have learned. It is not only important to provide them with the knowledge, reinforce it through discussions and assignments, but to allow them to look back on what they have done and reflect on what they have gained.
I applied these two pieces of knowledge to my online classes first. One of the easiest ways to incorporate reflection and instant and automatic feedback in the classes was to develop (as my student recommended) ungraded quizzes each week that included application driven questions on the current topics. It not only provided the students with a safe method for them to identify immediately if they were 'getting it', but it also provided me with instant feedback on their progress. I now had the ability to identify trends in learning and a method to evaluate if the reading, discussions, and recorded lectures were helping the students understand the required objectives. If I noticed that several students were missing a few of the questions on a particular topic, I could reinforce that in a later week, or add a supplemental lecture on it. These quizzes were optional for the students each week, and I realized approximately a 50% participation rate. I may adjust that in future classes to see if I can get better participation. I also plan on incorporating the same technique in my bricks-and-mortar classes.
The time I spent creating the assessments averaged 30 minutes per test. In a traditional semester of 16 weeks (with a few weeks off for midterms/special projects/etc) I average approximately 20 hours of total development time. This is a much smaller impact than changing my grading behavior on discussions. I can now continue to leverage the social rewards of discussions, while giving the students time to reflect on the topic of the week. I also now had a method of measuring student progress in a way that was more objective than just student interaction and participation.
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