Foundations
This page covers the foundational elements that support the Design, Deliver, and Analyze sections of this website.
What about Distance Learning?
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(Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 2017, p. 98)
The context of why an adult is engaged in a learning program is an important factor to understand. The student may be taking a course about a hobby they love and thus will have high motivation to participate and engage. On the other hand, the student may be enrolled in a specific course as a work requirement (for example), and they may not be very excited to participate.
Wlodkowski and Ginsberg (2017) developed a motivational framework as a guide to help educators and learners. Below are the four conditions of their framework with my interpretation of each and why they are important.
Establishing Inclusion is getting the learners involved to build a sense of community with each other and with the educator and fostering mutual respect. This is important for motivation because it creates an atmosphere that is conducive to learning: learners are excited to learn and work with people who are also interested in the same topic, it challenges them to think deeply about the subject, and have a constructive exchange of ideas.
Developing Attitude is creating a positive view of the education event through a personal connection. This is important because curiosity about the topic emerges from a positive attitude. A learner with a positive attitude is interested and engaged in the learning process.
Enhancing Meaning is building on the learner's experience to learn new things that relate to the learner. This is important because it provides the learner stepping stones to learn more complex concepts. It is taking the prior meaning (experiences) and enhancing it with new, richer material.
Engendering Competence is ensuring that a learner knows that they are more effective in learning something that is important to them. This is important because it is the entrance into a positive back and forth between competence and confidence. A learner strives for competence and in the (learning) process becomes more confident about their knowledge and abilities. That in turn provides the learner with more competence in the subject, and the upward cycle continues.
Stephen Lieb (1991, p.1) identified 6 characteristics of adult learners that I find useful to consider:
Adults are autonomous and self-directed.
Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experience and knowledge.
Adults are goal oriented.
Adults are relevancy oriented.
Adults are practical, focusing on the aspects of a lesson most useful to them in their work.
Adults need to be shown respect.
Certainly, there are exceptions to the above points and I do not identify these considerations as absolute, but it is a good foundation when planning for adult learning.
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is getting the learners involved to build a sense of community with each other and with the educator and fostering mutual respect. This is important for motivation because it creates an atmosphere that is conducive to learning: learners are excited to learn and work with people who are also interested in the same topic, it challenges them to think deeply about the subject, and have a constructive exchange of ideas.ext goes here
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Motivation
Characteristics
Teaching Philosophy
Having a philosophy of teaching is valuable because it:
Defines your preferred approach to adult learning
Serves as a reminder when you are facing challenges
Is something you can share that reflects your educational values
"The foremost benefit is that you now have an organizing vision for your practice. With such a vision, it gives you a sense of stability and direction and a greater understanding of self in relation to the decisions and practices you employ in the classroom, training session, workshop or seminar. It serves as a foundation for critically thinking about your practice, ideas and the political and social structure dimensions" (Galbraith, 2000, p.13).
My Philosophy
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Learning Theories
Comprehensive Learning Theory
Illeris’ (2003) theory attempts to comprehensively address all factors involved in learning, including making note of the interaction between the learning elements. The backbone to his comprehensive learning theory is the three dimensions of learning, which he identifies as content, incentive, and interaction.
He believes learning involves two different processes: an external interaction between the learner and their environment and an internal psychological process of acquisition and elaboration (Illeris, 2003). The environment is not just the physical, but also the social and cultural (Illeris, 2003). The internal learning acquisition process is broken down even further into content and incentive functions (Illeris, 2004). Content includes what we could consider cognitive processes, such as knowledge, skill building, opinions, etc. Incentive includes the learner’s emotions, motivation, and interest (Illeris, 2003). These two functions form two of the dimensions of learning.
The third dimension is “the social dimension of interaction, communication, and cooperation – all of which are embedded in a societally situated context” (Illeris, 2007, p.88), which is represented as interaction.
What draws me to Illeris’ comprehensive learning theory, and more specifically the three dimensions of learning, is that it takes into consideration the balance of content, incentive, and interaction that make up the learning process. Furthermore, I appreciate how he believes that the learning process begins with an external interaction with the learners’ environment and then follows with individual internal processes.
