Principles Of Andragogy Analysis

Question 1
Define andragogy and explain the principles of adult learning.

Andragogy

Andragogy derives from a combination of two words andro and ago, which come from ancient greek words. The meaning of andro is man and the meaning of ago is to lead. It short, it means man leading. However, in recent context andragogy has been defined as the art and science of understanding with a practical approach to the education of adults as being prescribed by Malcom Knowles(1968). This definition could be elaborated in two main areas. The first part, refer to the self-directed learner with its autonomy and the second part, is the main role of the teacher as the facilitator in the learning process instead of as a presenter of the content. In short, andragogy

It means that they are free to choose their direction of their own learning programme and they should be assumed to take responsibility for their own learning process by engaging themselves in discussions, group-based task, presentations, participation in multiple learning activities whether it is in classroom based activities or outdoor activities. At the same time, they also should involve excessively in exploring the detail of the topic of discussion. Either it is distance e-learning course or it is classroom based course, the role of teacher or instructor is to act as a facilitator or supervisor by guiding them on how to gain their own knowledge acquisition instead of supplying them the fact in total. Through this principle, they could be learned effectively and will have strong inner motivation to drive them to acquire the new skill or any particular type of knowledge that they want to gain.

The second principle of adult learning is the adult learners could bring their previous knowledge and experience into each of their current learning activities. As an adult, they already have vast of life experiences which might be related to and relevant to new material of the course. Besides that, they also possessed precious of existing knowledge, work-related experiences and previous education that could be linked or combine to the theories and conceptual of the newly learned module or

Despite their highly motivated in gaining knowledge, sometimes their commitment toward family, demanding job and communities have diminished their passion for pursuing ones learning process. In order to overcome this matter, it is important that adult learning should be convenient to the learners, being delivered at manageable pace and mode, strategically approach by using webcast, podcast and modularization of e-learning or informal training initiatives.