Approach to Adult Education

Forward-thinking towards my future career goals as an instructional designer, my concentration on workplace design and passion for the medical field combined into an ultimate dream of designing courses for medical students. With a focus on workplace and adult learning, the approach to teaching and my approach to design is focused to fit the unique needs of adult learners.

Andragogy emphasizes the assumptions of the learners’ need to know, readiness to learn, and motivation to learn. Adult learners need to know why they need to learn specific content before beginning to learn it. Adults will become ready and motivated to learn what they need to know once they know the “why”, but it is also important to time their learning experiences to coincide with developmental tasks (Knowles et. al., 2005, p. 67). Clinical psychologist Abraham Maslow sees the goal of learning to be self-actualization where students gain the full use of their talents, capabilities, potentialities, and the like. Assignments and developmental tasks for medical students, such as case studies and simulations, need to line-up with the learning experienced throughout clinical rotations and what they are enduring working with patients first-hand to reach their full potential. Focusing on these principles drives the development of my philosophy for adult education particularly in the medical field. No singular theory or approach is suitable for all situations in learning, so a well-rounded and collective philosophy is necessary to achieve effective teaching and design.

My personal philosophy for the education of adults and strategies to foster their learning originates from a combination of many historical cognitive theories of learning. The constructivist learning theory proposed by Piaget, Froebel, and Montessori offers that newly gained information is constructed in the mind. To thrive in any field, learners need to obtain a very deep understanding of all topics and to do so they gain a base knowledge of field specific content then “as new information enters [their] minds through experience, [they] develop increasingly more complex understandings of how the world works” (Drew, 2022). Building off the constructivist theory is the social constructivist theory that incorporates constructivism concepts but believes that the process of learning is characteristically a social practice. This implies that students will learn best when they interact with a “more knowledgeable other” based on Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development concept which “highlights that students need to be taught things that are just too hard for them to complete alone, but achievable with the support of the more knowledgeable other” (Drew, 2022). Adult learners are typically seen as independent learners but, in many cases, there needs to be an individual with a deeper understanding of the topics mentoring the students that are newer to the concepts such as superior class level students, teaching assistants, tutors, and teachers themselves available for the less knowledgeable students to learn from.

Bloom’s domains and taxonomy of learning emphasize the levels seen within learning and developing an understanding of concepts. The domains differentiate between higher-order and lower-order approaches. In a higher-order approach students demonstrate a deeper knowledge of topics and a greater ability to apply those topics in the real world while lower-order approaches enable the students to replicate pre-existing knowledge in simpler and less creative ways. The taxonomy of learning expands on the different levels of learning that students’ work can demonstrate. Ideally medical students would reach the analyzing, evaluating, and creating levels of learning through higher-order learning such as projects, case studies, simulations, virtual reality, and clinical rotations leaving them with an understanding of the content on a deeper level and the ability to apply that knowledge to their future career.

The pragmatic education theory emphasizes that any knowledge being learned needs to have a purpose which directly corresponds with Knowles’ andragogy assumption of the learners need to know. Providing the “why” for learning content increases students’ motivation to learn as they know how the information will directly apply to their own lives and future careers. Project-based learning is also significant in the pragmatist approach because students will design and produce physical products that can be used outside of the learning environment. Developing “lessons that have practical outcomes, and that preferably have outcomes that can be applied in students’ lives outside of school” (Drew, 2022) such as simulations and virtual reality patient cases for medical students promotes practical knowledge rather than theoretical knowledge. The use of simulated mannequins is increasing exponentially in all fields of medicine from nursing to dentistry since the life-like figures allow students to practice their practical skills in a safe environment.

Multimodal learning, or the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, concentrates on how learning is promoted in the age of screen-based technologies. This theory suggests that individuals learn through two channels, aural and visual. For effective learning to take place it is required that the aural and visual inputs from these screen-based technologies are in sync and not overwhelming. Mayer’s 10 teaching strategies offer insight on how to teach using technology to ensure that the inputs are used in a way as to not overstimulate the learners and prevent cognitive overload. Cognitive overload is extremely prevalent in higher-level education as “the professional activities to be learned require simultaneous integration of multiple and varied sets of knowledge, skills and behaviors at a specific time and place” (Young et. al., 2014, p. 371). Utilizing Mayer’s 10 strategies to reduce the cognitive load on medical students stemming from technology use will help to lessen the overall cognitive stress.

Applying these principles and theories to my own design of instructional materials for adult learners, whether in the medical field or not, will allow me to better suit their needs and provide them the guidance they need as adults while still offering an independency in their learning. My belief is that all students have the potential to excel in their learning given the right materials and assistance and creating those effective materials is my career goal. My instructional design work will be adapted to best support each individual learner on their pursuit to their dream profession.

References

Bates, A. W. (2015). Choosing and using media in education: the SECTIONS model. Teaching in a Digital Age. (8.1 – 8.10).

Drew, C. (2022, July 5). 31 Major Learning Theories in Education, Explained! Helpful Professor. https://helpfulprofessor.com/learning-theories/

Knowles, M.S., Holton, E.F., & Swanson, R.A. (2005). The adult learner: the definitive classic in adult education and human resource development.(6th ed.). Elsevier.

Young, J. Q., Van Merrienboer, J., Durning, S., & Ten Cate, O. (2014). Cognitive Load Theory: Implications for medical education: AMEE Guide No. 86. Medical Teacher, 36(5), 371-384. https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2014.889290