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. 

 

I finally decided on a topic for my final project narrowing down the many learning theories to just one. I am studying the theory of environment and context in adult learning.  I am excited to have the opportunity to dive into this concentration.  The concepts of ‘contextual learning’ and ‘situated learning’ have become hot topics in the field of adult education (Mackeracher p. 186). In the research I have done to this point, I found that much of the theory of environment and context in adult education will surround topics like the role of the physical environment with ergonomics and technology, the culture in learning, power in teaching-learning interactions, the role of hegemony, and the ‘real-life’ environment. 

 

I ended up working alone rather than in a group mainly because no one else chose this topic to research.  I am fine with that.  I plan to review the group blogs and discussion postings so I can understand the group interactions.  It will be interesting to see what we all learn through this process up to our final project.

 

My next step is to start researching for the literature review paper.  I am interested to learn about all the theorists and scholars and their point of view on the subjects and practices related to the environment and context in learning.  In starting my project, I like to begin with the end in mind.  Therefore, I need to nail down the related adult education programs I plan to use in my research and determine the type of course I will be writing the syllabus for.  This is always helpful to me as I begin projects like the literature review.  I am able to process ways to incorporate information into my project as I come across relevant facts and ideas.