Andragogy: Knowles' framework of assumptions about adult learning, distinct from pedagogy¶

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Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Andragogy is Malcolm Knowles' theoretical framework of assumptions about how adults learn, argued since 1968 under the banner of "andragogy, not pedagogy." The essay explains that the term predates Knowles, going "back to nineteenth-century Germany," and that Lindeman brought it to American education discourse by 1926. Knowles set forth six assumptions in 1980, and the framework treats andragogy as a set of assumptions that includes the pedagogical ones and adds to them.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A set of explicit assumptions about adult learners, as Knowles set forth in 1980, distinguishing adult from child learners

Constraints¶

• The essay notes critics (St. Clair, Clardy) fault Knowles for overreach and imperfect empirical sources

Target Learners¶

• adult learners in adult and continuing education

Target Learning Objectives¶

• tailoring adult education to adult learners' characteristics and motivations

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Knowles' andragogy (Adult Learning Theory) as the framework for adult immigrant instruction
• Five adult learning theories — andragogy, experiential learning, self-directed learning, transformational learning, and neuroscience — as a design framework for adult-learning technology

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Moberg, E. (2006). Pedagogy is for Kids: Andragogy is for Adults. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED507785