This was completed for AET 505. The first discussion question for Week 5, created by Prof. Laura Armer, asked us to "answer both reflection questions found at the end of Chp. 17." I'd like to include that analysis here.

My total score was 94. As you can see in the graph, my result falls about midway between the pedagogical and andragogical orientations of teaching. According to Knowles, "Scores of 120-150 would suggest a stronger andragogical orientation. Scores of 60-30 would suggest a stronger pedagogical orientation" (in Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2005, p. 292). While my individual scores lean more toward andragogy than pedagogy, they are also situated between the max and min points for pedagogy and andragogy (Ibid).

These results don't surprise me because my primary goal for pursuing the MA in Education/Adult Education and Training was to gain a better appreciation for adult learners. I see myself as a facilitator, which means balancing what will be my expert position in a classroom with the learning experiences of my students. My goals include moving students from a self-referential to critical framework.

This can be accomplished in a number of ways. How I design my course, for example, will impact the learning structures of my students. Specifically, the type of assignments I offer them will affect how they engage with the material they're learning. As LDesilva-Johnson (n.d.) suggested, I want to develop "the Student as Scholar" which involves students "actually 'learning' the material" (Freeing the discursive voice: stories and observations from the classroom, para. 3).

In my experiences in the online environment, I don't feel that the andragogical model is the best tool when the students are primarily working adults whose interests in learning are tangential to their psychological need for economic security. I have yet to encounter an adult student whose primary motivation for a degree wasn't job-oriented rather than learning-centered.

Yes, I'm still hopeful about one day having the opportunity to teach online college classes. My motivation for this program, though, had more to do with my needing to understand the adult learner than a specific career orientation. That predisposition drives my learning, but my background as an academic also defines how I interact in the classroom which hasn't been well received.

As my recruitment counselor at University of Phoenix and I discussed, the issue may have more to do with my relationship to most members of the class as a peer rather than as an instructor. My behaviors, moreover, reflect my training experiences in academic discourse that have solidified over the years; but my learning-centered framework is the context in which I seek clarification, raise questions, and extend the dialog, etc.

At this point, therefore, I don't know that I need to change anything. My frustrations as a student stem largely from a lack of critical engagement. As a future educator, I am still navigating the divide between traditional and andragogical approaches. In my personal view, adults of all ages are capable of critical engagement; at the same time, too many programs targeted to workings adults tend to dummy down the curricula so that what learners end up with is the challenge of a lot of assignments rather than fewer assignments that require critical depth.

My intention is to create the critical framework for online learning such that students are substantially engaged with learning. By creating connections between what they're learning and the real world, I also hope to shake them out of their passivity. In other words, my primary goal is to help develop active, critical thinkers in any context (work, school, etc.).

References

Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., III, & Swanson, R. A. (2005). Personal adult style inventory: Developed by Dr. Malcolm S. Knowles. In M. S. Knowles, E. F. Holton, III, & R. A. Swanson, The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (6th ed.)(pp. 282-295). Amsterdam, Boston, Heidelberg, London, New York, Oxford, Paris, San Diego, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo: Elsevier Butterworth Heineman.

LDesilva-Johnson. (n.d.). In the classroom of the critical mind. CUNY Graduate Center Advocate. Retrieved from http://www.gcadvocate.com/2008/01/in-the-classroom-of-the-critical-mind/