Test 1 CAE 213

Megan Medford
CAE 213 Introduction to Adult Education
Due: February 19, 2016
TEST #1 with Rubric
1. Explain in your own words each of the six assumptions of the adult learner as
outlined on pages 43-47. In 3 of your explanations, provide a personal illustration
of the assumption from your own experience as a learner. (20 pts)
1. The adult learner needs to be able to recognize and understand the
benefits they will receive from learning about a certain topic so that
they will be able to be more successful in their learning endeavors.
2. For an adult to learn successfully they need to be more self-directed. It
is not in an adults nature to let others impose their will upon them,
and when people try to an adult will often try and leave the situation.
3. Unlike children, adults have experiences that often color their views
and opinions of the world. It is necessary that an adult educator try to
recognize this because a persons experiences shape who they are, and
how they learn.
4. Relevancy is key to adult education. If a topic is not something they
need or are ready to learn, then they wont learn it. This is most
frequently related to what stage of life they are in at the moment.
5. Adults learn better when the education is less about learning a subject,
and more about learning how to fix a problem. In other words, the
real-life application is necessary in adult learning.
6. While most adults want to learn and develop, it can often be hard to
get past limitations such as time and accessibility with this as the sole
motivator. When an adult is successfully learning there is typically
more than just the wanting to learn as motivation. In order to push past
the limitation they face, there is usually an external factor like a raise
or increase quality of life motivating them. An educator should keep
this in mind so that they can better help them stay motivated, and can
help them work toward their goals.
Personal illustrations:
Concept 3: In many of my English classes in high school, when we would discuss
novels, you could always see how peoples experiences influenced how they
interpreted the text. I have also seen that a lot here and at church when talking
about the Bible. People will often say things like well this is what that means to
me, which is not something that happened when I was younger or with a group
of younger people. It is not only our previous experiences, but what we are going
through right now that shape how re view and respond to things.

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Concept 4: I have a friend, who when she was in high school was taught how to
breastfeed a baby in her health class. She told me that the boys in the class had to
learn too. Though it is not my personal experience, it is a great example of being
taught something they were not ready to learn. As for an experience of my own
there is red ribbon week. Red ribbon week was one week out of the school year
where the teachers taught us that we shouldnt do drug. The thing about it though,
is that red ribbon week only happened in elementary school; I was not surrounded
by drugs in elementary school, I didnt even know what they were. A better time
to try and educate people of the dangers of drug use would be later middle school
and high school, when people are actually faced with the problem.
Concept 6: As time has gone on my motivation to do well in school has changed
from wanting to make my parents or teacher happy, to wanting to get into a good
college, to wanting to be a productive and educated member of society. The
shifting motivating factors has influenced how I learn, from memorizing facts, or
understanding and applying concepts
# Characteristics [1 pt each]
Explanation [1 pt] 3 Illustration [2 pts]
1 Need to Know
2 Learners self-concept
3 Role of learners experiences
4 Readiness to learn
5 Orientation to learning
6 Motivation
Quality of writing [+ 2 pts]
Total
2. Explain the meaning of theory, education, and learning? What is the difference
between education and learning? Which teaching theory makes the most sense to
you? What learning theory makes the most sense to you? (20 pts)
Theory is a set of guiding assumptions. Learning is the process of gaining
knowledge and expertise. Education is an activity designed to affect changes in
knowledge, skill, and attitudes. Education emphasizes the educator, and learning
emphasizes the student. Education is an action with the purpose of causing
learning. Learning is the changes that take place within a person due to receiving
either some form of education or an experience.
The teaching theory I would probably have to pick would be liberal. I like the idea
of teaching for a more whole, broad, and rounded education. I feel like of the
educational theories, liberal education really focuses the most on improving the
person simply for the sake of them being better. Liberal education focuses more
on just enjoying knowledge.
While they all have their merit, I think that the social learning theory makes the
most sense. I have learned a lot by watching others, or hearing about their

Test 1 CAE 213

mistakes. I also remember lessons better if there was a story that went along with
it. It also seems the most relevant to humans. Some of the others, I feel, are based
on the assumption that we act like animals, and everything we do is based on
instinct and automatic reactions.

#
1
2
3
4

Questions
Explain the meaning of theory, education, and learning?
What is the difference between education and learning?
Which teaching theory makes the most sense to you?
What learning theory makes the most sense to you?
Quality of writing [+ 4 pts]
Total

____/4 pts
____/4 pts
____/4 pts
____/4 pts
____/4 pts

3. What is the difference between being a proposer / propounder and an interpreter

of learning theory? Name a proposer / propounder that you read about and
describe what he or she proposed. Why is the task of an interpreter a difficult
task? How do you see yourself (As a proposer / propounder, an interpreter, or
something else)? (20 pts)
A proposer/propounder is someone who looks at the patterns in education and
learning and formulates a theory as to why that specific thing happen that way.
The interpreter tries to see how this theory plays out and can be adapted and
systematized for use in various situations. The interpreter also looks at many
different theories trying to see how they fit and work together, whereas a
propounder usually just works on their own theory. One propounder from the
book is Edward Thorndike. He was one of the first people to investigate and
theorize about learning. He believed that people who hadnt learned yet responded
randomly and automatically to various stimuli. He developed three laws that
dictated how he believed people learn. The laws explained the connections
between a persons circumstances and their readiness to learn, how practice helps
you learn, and how consequences effect learning. His work helped lay the basis
for behaviorist theories.
The main challenge with Interpreter is the sheer volume of theories out there.
They are tasked with the problem of trying to unify and classify all these theories,
and often times people dont agree with each other. I cant really say I see myself
as either a propounder or an interpreter as Im only just learning about all of this,
and thus havent made any type of contribution to the field. If I had to put myself
into a category I would say interpreter since Im looking at and learning about
many different theories instead of trying to develop just one.
# Questions
1 What is the difference between being a proposer / propounder ____/4 pts

Test 1 CAE 213

2
3
4

and an interpreter of learning theory?

Name a proposer / propounder that you read about and
describe what he or she proposed.
Why is the task of an interpreter a difficult task?
How do you see yourself (As a proposer / propounder, an
interpreter, or something else)?
Quality of writing [+ 4 pts]
Total

____/4 pts
____/4 pts
____/4 pts
____/4 pts

4. Select a class that you have taken or are currently taking at TFC. Using the
process elements of andragogy (p. 52 in TAL) write HOW you would carry out
each of the 8 elements of the Andragogical Approach as if you were the professor.
Be sure to identify the name of the course. (20 pts)
Contemporary literature
1. Id give an overview of what I expect from the students, including how many
and the length of assignments, how they will be graded on these assignments
as well as participation, and what subject areas we will cover.
2. Try to incorporate as much discussion as possible, limiting the lecture on the
literary analysis. Then, when we discuss the readings in class always let
students finish speaking before responding, and try to encourage students to
respond to each other. If what someone says is incorrect, be gentle, and fully
explain why that isnt the best interpretation.
3. Have a basic plan of what subject (as in what book) will be discussed and
when, but allow the students to lead the discussion. So if they found some
aspect of the reading particularly interesting or confusing let that be the
subject of the discussion rather than trying to force a discussion that nobody is
interested.
4. Encourage individual meetings to discuss where a student is struggling. Give a
rubric with assignments and encourage them to score their own paper before
turning it in. Also it is important to give good feedback on assignments and
welcome questions.
5. Discuss what the class hopes to get out of taking the course, then incorporate
that with what you want to teach them.
6. Allow discussions to end naturally rather than cutting them off to move to a
new work. Take as many class periods as seems necessary for the students to
fully understand and discuss the topic. At the same time, dont drag on a
discussion of something everyone seems to get.
7. Let the discussion be guided by student questions rather than a preset agenda.
8. On small assignments just grade them and give good feedback and
suggestions. On major assignments meet with the student to discuss how they

Test 1 CAE 213

think they did, how much effort they put into it, what grade they would give
themselves, and what kind of progress they have made since the beginning of
the course.
#
1
2

Questions
What is the name of the class?
How is each of the 8 elements applied to the Andragogical
Approach?
Preparing Learners
Climate
Planning
Diagnosis of Needs
Setting of Objectives
Designing Learning Plans
Learning Activities
Evaluation
Quality of writing [+ 3 pts]
Total

____/1 pts
16 pts
____/ 2 pts
____/ 2 pts
____/ 2 pts
____/ 2 pts
____/ 2 pts
____/ 2 pts
____/ 2 pts
____/ 2 pts
____/ 3 pts

5. Provide a one page summary overview of what you have learned in the first half
of this course. (20 pts)
One of the first things we did this year was study the difference between
education and learning. Learning is the process of gaining knowledge and
expertise, while education is an activity designed to affect changes in knowledge,
skill, and attitudes. Education emphasizes the educator, and learning emphasizes
the student. We also focused on the relationship between theory and practice. With
theory as a set of guiding assumptions, and practice as theory in application. The
general summary of the two is that practice is what we do, and theory is why we
do it. After learning these things we were able to move on to see how they had
changed and developed throughout history. We mostly focusing on the influence
and development of adult education within the United States, but also looked a
little bit at a few other countries. The first educator we talked about was God.
Jesus not only specifically acted as a teacher to the disciples, but God also taught
people since the beginning of time, from teaching Adam and Eve not to eat from
the tree of knowledge, to teaching Moses how he would help take the Hebrews
out of Egypt. Christians often followed this model and were some of the first
organizations to begin formal schooling as a way to spread Christianity. As time
went on, more and more organizations, including the US government, began to
support adult education. As adult education became an increasingly prominent
field, more research was done on the best ways to educate adults. This was when

Test 1 CAE 213

the ideas of andragogy and pedagogy came about. Both forms of teaching have a
list of assumptions that cover the basic understanding for requirements for
successfully teaching children or adults. These assumptions focus on clarifying
the essential differences between how to teach a child versus an adult. Some of
the main differences were motivation, self-concept, experience, relevancy, and
orientation to learning. After learning these main differences, we were able to
move onto learning about how specifically people learn and teach, this is called
learning theory and teaching theory. We learned a few specifics theories, like
Behaviorist, cognitivist, humanist, social learning, and constructivist, but we also
learned where these theories come from. Propounders/proposers and interpreters
work to develop, organize, and test these various theories in order to try and find
the best way to help adults learn. On top of learning all these things, we were also
able to get a brief experience of what it is like to teach adults. In doing this we
were able to better understand and put to practice some of the assumptions and
theories we were learning.