Humans never stop learning. We of course learn from books, social media, our parents and teachers, but often times experiences go forgotten as our most influential teacher. With 7 years working as a K-6 teacher under my belt, I have a solid understanding of Pedagogy and how to use it as a guide during instruction. But what I don't know, is how it applies to adult learning. And what is Andragogy? Moving forward into the Instructional Design field, I deeply understand the value of becoming familiar with learning theories and Andragogy just as I was with Pedagogy in the classroom. I think I can convince others to see the value you in them too.
BREAKING NEWS! Not every skill can be taught the same way and not every employee will grasp new concepts the same way their colleagues do.
With the understanding that different skills may require different instructional methods, it makes the job of Instructional Designer a little more challenging. If you do not have the knowledge of adult learning theories to guide your instructional choices or use as evidence (if questioned) to support your design choices, your job could become more complicated. While some argue Andragogy is not a “learning theory” like behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, Andragogy does provide six assumptions about adult learning that are beneficial to Instructional Designers. Adult learners face different challenges than children do and require different strategies to ensure they still get the chance to be successful learners.
While transitioning from an Elementary Educator to an Instructional Designer, I was most interested in learning the difference between instructing adults and instructing children. During that initial dive I wondered what the best learning theory was or if there was at least one that was more praised than others. I learned that their isn't just one superior learning theory.
I learned that there isn't just one superior learning theory.
At least that is what I believe at the beginning stages of my ID career. I do believe that there are theories that work better for different scenarios and that taking methods for multiple theories could be what works the best. If I compare them to Bloom’s Taxonomy Cognitive Domain, I relate behaviorism to remembering, understanding, and applying branches, cognitivism to analyzing and evaluating, and constructivism to creating. I do not see a linear connection between the two but I did notice a similarity among the types of learning that is best explained by each theory.
If you are going to instruct, you better know how. Now I am certainly not implying that without knowledge of learning theories you cannot be an effective instructor. But wouldn’t you want to trust that your instructors know how a learner can process information? Trust they know which strategies that best match the skill you are learning, and the assumptions of how adults learn? Learning theories is not the golden ticket to becoming an effective instructor. I spent the first year as an elementary teacher not having any real knowledge of Pedagogy or learning theories but was still able to produce the test results I needed to impress my administrators. But I was still being questioned by parents and the administration as to why I was making my instructional choices, but I couldn’t give them an explanation or provide evidence that supported my choices. Once I dug into how my students were learning and researched strategies that are supported by learning theories, I watched my students demonstrate their learning for longer than just a month. I wanted my students to genuinely learn new skills and transfer them to build upon throughout the year, and they did once I started to implement my research of learning theories.
Adults have different motives for learning than children do. But my goal has stayed the same. I strive to create long-term learning, learning that is relevant and becomes part of the learners long-term memory. Learning theories and learning assumptions can be a helpful guide when creating learning content. However, I believe knowing which theory works best for the specific type of learning that is required makes that knowledge useful. You will eventually reach a destination without being guided by a map. But why would anyone choose to ignore a map and save themselves from circling around lost for hours? Use the map. Learning theories and learning assumptions are your instructional design map.
Learning theories and learning assumptions are your instructional design map.