New way of learning: Adults and Educational Technology

 

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When we are young, we can't wait to grow up and be an adult. Seriously, there are days where I wish I could be a kid again, especially as I look at my own children. As a child, I thought when I graduated college, that was it for my education. I don't have to learn anymore. Truth is, we are always learning. My father is nearly 80 years old, and he is constantly reading two or three books at once. He is still learning. 

When it comes to technology, Adults are often hesitant to jump into that web of knowledge. Digital learning technology continues to evolve, impacting adult education efforts (Bliss, 2019). 

Adults now have the internet at their fingertips when it comes to learning. Research shows that the internet is replacing traditional sources of information, such as printed newspapers, which is sad for me as a journalist (Bliss, 2019). 

We, as adults, learn differently than our children. We were not raised with tablets and smartphones in our hands, and constant access to the internet. Many of us remember a time without internet. 

So, rethinking how adults learn with technology is something that needs to be explored. In education, many teachers still lack skills set and expertise regarding how to use technology and lack pedagogical knowledge in regard to integrate it appropriately (Miller, et al. 2017)

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Adult Learning

Andragogy is the art and science of teaching adults. This term was popularized in the 1960s by Malcom Knowles (Video, 2020)

Knowles adopted six assumptions of Adult Learners:

1. Need to Know: You need to understand what you are teaching. 

2. Self-Concept: Collaborative environment where vast amounts of their learning is self-directed. 

3. Adult Learner Experience: Greater need for individualization within teaching and learning strategies. 

4. Readiness to Learn: Adults want to be able to apply what they learn to the present in real life situations. 

5. Orientation of Learning: Adult Learners want to see how their learning can address and solve problems that they regularly face and how it applies to daily life. 

6. Motivation to Learn: There must be a valid reason behind each activity and learners should understand what skills they'll develop by completing the tasks at hand. 

(Video, 2020)

Misinformation and Digital Citizenship

With the internet the dominant platform for adults to receive information, there is a huge need for better digital citizenship and teaching about misinformation. 

Adults with digital literacy skills are knowledgeable on the use of digital technologies and can locate, communicate, and share information through online environments (Bliss, 2019). 

However, as we saw with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, adults sometimes take it upon themselves to become experts in scientific knowledge. When the coronavirus came it, it was like everyone was a doctor or an expert on the virus. 

"Adults function as consumers, parents, patients, and citizens, and they will need increasingly high levels of scientific understanding to make personal and political choices," according to J.D. Miller (Bliss, 2019). 

Technology has allowed patients to access their medical records, lab test results, and other information online, but it still takes a doctor with medical knowledge to reliably interpret those results. 

The learning transaction is growing more complex due to advancements in the science-based subject matter and technological interface (Bliss, 2019). 

With the internet comes misinformation. Research has identified the need for learners to possess critical evaluation skills to determine the quality of information (Bliss, 2019). People have to have the ability to discern between information and misinformation and the awareness of online resources created to intentionally mislead learners (Bliss, 2019). 

What bothered me the most about COVID was watching people that I thought were intelligent, believe all the misinformation out there, including members of my own family. 

Information literacy is so important in today's world. Information literacy skills allow learners to determine the type and quantity of resources needed while effectively and efficiently assessing the information they encounter in a critically manner (Bliss, 2019). 

I teach my students to be aware of misinformation. To read multiple, reliable, sites when reading about a topic. "At some point in time, we abdicated our responsibility to be critical thinkers in the process. We stopped checking facts. We stopped digging deeper to get the information that we needed to make informed decisions," (Simpson, 2020). 

In her Ted Talk, Simpson goes on to say how adults need to get back to being active participants in the process. We need to get back to being critical thinkers. I agree. We can't just stop at one website when we are learning. We have to read more. We can't just take a person's word as the only sour of truth, no matter how powerful that person is in our country. 

We have to educate adults to find the good and weed out the bad, in order for us to educate the children in our classrooms. 

Changing how adults learn

I love how people think teachers get a whole summer off. Oh how I wish we did. I spent a week in Dallas at a conference and a day in San Angelo for another conference. I will also spend a week at school before students start to go through more training. 

Yes, teachers continue to learn. High-quality professional development (PD) is central to any education improvement effort, particularly those that seek to integrate technology in support of classroom instruction (Martin, et al., 2010). 

Professional development that makes an explicit connection between technology and specific types of instruction that have been shown to be effective can establish a viable chain of reasoning in which technology use can be linked to changes in student learning (Martin, et al., 2010). 

It has been observed that teachers' confidence in one's competence in technology integration is an important contributor to success in the classroom (Miller, et al., 2017). 

Adults are afraid to teach something new, if they don't know anything about it. Adults are hesitant to step out of their comfort zone, if they don't have any support or knowledge available. 

In Knowles' six assumptions, it states that adults are task-centered and problem-centered. If teachers receive great PD, instead of just another day learning how to teach the same subject over again, then that PD will trickle down into the classroom. 

The social aspect of educators working together to make an artifact, learn a new program, or try a new skill, finds that adults are at ease and comfortable trying new emerging technologies (Miller, et al., 2017). 

If we have PD that integrates technology and shows teachers how to implement it into their classroom, that can have positive outcomes for students (Martin, et al., 2010). 

References

            Adult Learning Theory | Knowles’ 6 Assumptions of Adult Learners.
           (2020a). YouTube. Retrieved July 20, 2023 https://youtu.be/SArAggTULLU.

Bliss, A. C. (2019). Adult Science-Based Learning: The Intersection of Digital, Science, and Information Literacies. Adult Learning, 30(3), 128 -137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159519829042

Martin, W., Strother, S., Beglau, M., Bates, L., Reitzes, T., and McMillan Culp, K. (2010) Connecting instructional technology professional development to teacher and student outcomes. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 43, (1), 55-76.

Miller, J., Christensen, R., & Knezek, G. (2017, March). Effect of a makerspace training series on elementary and middle school educator confidence levels toward integrating technology. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 1015-1020). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

TEDxNashville. (2020). Misinformation, the media, and the role you’re playing in both. YouTube. Retrieved July 29, 2023, from https://youtu.be/7byH2HQoJxE