Trends & Roles - Article 1

As part of this assignment I am to post two articles or websites that discuss some the trends and roles of adult educators. I've had a surprising difficult time trying to find full articles that I don't have to subscribe to or pay for or be a student with the institution. Let's just say today was frustrating when I thought it was going to be fairly interesting. The one thing I did take away was that I read a lot of partial articles and journal entries and have taken away some interesting information. At least there was a positive! Okay then on to posting my entries. I still haven't determined how to import websites into this blog site, which is disappointing, so I'll just copy and paste what I've found.

ROLES OF EDUCATORS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformative_learning

My comments for this article from wikipedia have to do with the role of the educator. For adult learners to embrace new information they need to link it with six things according to Knowles (Wikipedia).

1. Adults need to know the reason for learning something (Need to Know)
2. Experience (including error) provides the basis for learning activities (Foundation).
3. Adults need to be responsible for their decisions on education; involvement in the planning and evaluation of their instruction (Self-concept).
4. Adults are most interested in learning subjects having immediate relevance to their work and/or personal lives (Readiness).
5. Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented (Orientation).
6. Adults respond better to internal versus external motivators (Motivation).

 In this article I want to comment on the role of the educator. It discussed tranformative learning. The role the educator has is to make the learners aware of their assumptions, as well as those of others. To also initiate discussion of those assumptions and how they relate to the persons beliefs, and assess how those beliefs and values effected their assumptions. Through this the educator will open learners to think autonomously. It is also important that the educator show that they themselves are able and willing to change and adapt, as well as learn. This will show learners that they are individual and authentic.

(Andragogy. (2012, September 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:24, December 17, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andragogy&oldid=513085505)