Environment and Context in Adult Learning: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

September Monthly Summary

September Monthly Summary:

September has been a busy month and I know we are all happy that the literature review papers are complete! For my literature review, I studied the popular literature and theories available dealing with the environment and context in learning. I struggled with this paper because the subject matter is so very broad. I completed an in depth review of the physical environment, knowledge environment, political environment, situated cognition, and the cultural environment and how each of these contexts effect learning. That is a lot of information to digest! In the end, my paper turned out to be too general due to the overall amount of information I covered. After reviewing my work and communicating with Dr. Chang, I have decided to scale back and focus on the physical environment and situated cognition, or the real life environment rather than all the contexts that affect learning.

Literature Review

The Environment and Context in Adult Learning

Angela Shafer

Ball State University

Abstract

By the mid-twentieth century, three foundational theories had emerged in the field of adult education: andragogy (Knowles, 1968), self-directed learning (Tough, 1971), and transformational learning (Mezirow, 1978). However, all three theories have been criticized for not acknowledging how the context and environment where the learning occurs impacts the learning process (Merriam and Clark, 2006 p. 29). The context in which learning takes place is crucial to the learning process.

Friday, September 14, 2012

August Monthly Summary:

It’s amazing to think that 11 days have already gone by since the start of Strategies for Teaching Adults. Obviously, August is a short month to summarize, but just because it was a short month does not mean there has been a lack of activity.