Malcolm Knowles (1984) has defined andragogy, a theory widely used in the adult learning literature. The term is based on the psychological definition of adult, which states that people become adults psychologically when they arrive at a self-concept of being responsible for their own lives, of being self-directing.

Andragogy is based on six fundamental assumptions about the unique characteristics of adult learners:

• The learner's self-concept. Once adults have arrived at the stage where they take responsibility for their own lives, they develop a deep psychological need to be seen and treated by others as being capable of self-direction.
• The role of the learner's experience. Adults enter a learning experience with both a greater volume and wider diversity of experience over children.
• Readiness to learn. Adults are ready to learn what they need to know and be able to do in order to cope effectively with their real-life contexts.
• Orientation to learning. Adults are problem-centered, or life-centered, in their learning orientation. They are motivated to learn to the extent that learning will help them perform tasks or deal with real-life problems.
• Need to know. Adults need to know why they should learn something before devoting the energy to it.
• Motivation. The best motivators are internal, such as self-esteem, quality of life, or increased job satisfaction.

Personality Typing

Myers-Briggs Indicator is most widely used, based on Carl Jung's theory of personality type. Personality typing has been widely used in career development and counseling and business environments, and also as a tool for understanding in education. As a design tool personality type could be tested (assessed) and used as a basis for decision-making about instructional strategies.

Basically, this theory assumes that our whole personality can be divided into four independent scales: energizing, attending, deciding, and living. Within each scale we have a preference for one of the two opposites, making for a total of 16 different combinations. In reality, preferences are not exclusionary, most people make decisions depending on the circumstances.

1. Energizing - from where does a person draw energy for living?

Extroversion (E) the outside world of people, activities, and things

Introversion (I) from the internal world of ideas, emotions and impression

2. Attending - what a person pays attention to

Sensing (S) preference for taking in information through the five senses, what is real and actual

Intuition (I) preference for taking in information through a 'sixth' sense, what might be.

3. Deciding - how a person makes decisions

Thinking (T) information is organized and structured in a logical, objective way

Feeling (F) information is structured in a personal, value-oriented way

 

4. Living - the type of lifestyle adopted

Judgment (J) preference for living a planned, organized life

Perception (P) preference for living a spontaneous and flexible life

Perceptual style refers to the preferred sensory modality for receiving information. Generally, learners prefer either a visual, aural, or kinesthetic mode, although most use a combination of perceptual strategies for selecting and processing information. For the designer, the key is to provide key concepts in more than one modality, with learner control built in.

Visual

This learner prefers to see, i.e. read the information. He/she works well with text. Providing multiple channels, such as text and graphics, enhances the learning opportunities for this individual. Most people, especially academically successful learners, fall into this category.

 

Aural

Hearing is the preferred sensory modality here. However, if included this should be a learner option. If an audio track is provided, the information must be redundant with other forms of information on the screen such as text and graphics.

 

Kinesthetic

The kinesthetic learner learns best if given the opportunity to work with new information in a "hands-on" mode. This learner would benefit from manipulating real objects and/or acting on them in a simulated environment.

Cognitive styles refers to the preferred way an individual processes information. It is usually described as a personality dimension which influences attitudes, values, social interactions, and belief systems over the years.

Example: field dependence vs. field independence refers to the way an individual tends to approach the world. A field dependent person tends to approach the world globally, where a field independent individual tends to approach it analytically. Knowing where the target learners fall on this scale implies whether the instruction takes a holistic or a parts/whole approach.

Learning styles deal specifically with a characteristic style of learning new material. David Kolb (1984) proposes a theory of experiential learning that involves 4 principal stages:

• concrete experiences (CE)
• reflective observation (RO)
• abstract conceptualization (AC)
• active experimentation (AE)

CE/AC and RO/AE are polar opposites. Kolb suggests that there are four types of learner, depending on their position on these two dimensions:

• divergers
• assimilators
• convergers
• accommodators

For example, an accommodator prefers concrete experiences and active experimentation.

Theoretically, knowledge of cognitive and learning styles could be used to predict and design for individual learning tasks. Because the target learners will be a diverse group, this implies designing a number of different treatments for a learning task and giving learners control over which one(s) they choose.

Conflicting Learning and Teaching Styles

Student and Faculty Learning Patterns:

ES pattern, concrete active - 50% of high school seniors, 10 % of faculty

IN pattern, concrete reflective - 75% of faculty, 10% of high school seniors

other patterns are:

IS, concrete reflective EN, abstract active

For whom should we design?? Generally, learners are more successful if both holistic and analytic learning styles are supported. How can we provide a learning environment in which all learners feel embedded, or connected? The following suggestions come from MacKeracher (1996), Making Sense of Adult Learning.

• utilize small groups to foster the development of trust, attachment, validation, and mutuality
• focus on global aspects of an object, skill or idea before examining its various parts, then move back and forth between the two views
• use strategies such as:

  consciousness-raising

  journal-keeping

  group discussions

  case studies

  experiments

  simulations

  field placements

• use cooperative and collaborative learning structures such as learning partnerships, to equalize the power relationships in the group
• use cooperative evaluation techniques such as negotiated learning contracts, peer evaluation, etc.
• set protocols for appropriate discourse styles
• shared leadership

When designing interactive materials, in particular:

• increase interactions with embedded practice and feedback sequences
• make use of simulations and modeling, where appropriate
• embed content in authentic contexts. For example, use a short video clip to show the Nuremberg Rally, rather than telling about it
• require learners to synthesize and problem-solve, using the information in new ways, before going on
• have learners manipulate objects on the screen if appropriate. Provide natural feedback
• provide learning opportunities in a variety of modes, and give learners a choice of which to access and when

Gender

Technology has great promise for equalizing the learning experience for marginalized groups such as women, but we need to remember that technology, as technology-based models of teaching and learning, are not value-neutral, and at the moment tend to reflect a rational stance to knowledge and learning. This ideas is expressed by Leslie Regan Shade, in In Gender Issues in Computer Networking, who emphasizes the importance of vocabulary used on the Net: "we must pay close attention to the metaphors that people will use and see in this new world, so that they won't exclude women, or include them in undesirable ways."

Women are disadvantaged with technology from childhood through post-secondary educational experiences, and at work in a technology-dominated culture. In one study reported by the Sacramento Bee (1995) a group of women engineers talked about internal communications networks in which alienation is heightened by the 'in-your-face' style of communication. In a carry-over from the days of college-like brainstorming sessions, a premium is placed on confrontation and blunt criticism. Also, the style tends toward finding weaknesses in ideas rather than encouraging creativity at the outset. Deborah Tannen calls this report-talk vs. rapport-talk.

If content arrangement is dominated by concepts such as information, representation, and problem-solving, it signifies that the subject is governed by a rational knowledge ideal and not relativistic-oriented traditions, such as those in the humanities - structures preferred by women who prefer interactional styles. Language often reveals this alienation in terms used in the computing field, where military origins are reflected in aggressive and masculine technical vocabulary such as killing a file, aborting a function, fatal errors. crashing, and booting up.

There is some suggestion that women have been silenced and even pursued and frightened in this medium.

Research suggests that there is a pattern of difference in contribution on the Net, as well. For example, Wylie (1995) found that:

1. in studies of Internet discussion groups, men contribute more consistently. In fact, if women contribute more than 30% of conversation, they are perceived to be dominating the conversation. Even in feminist forums (such as the newsgroup alt'feminism, men contributed 74% of the postings, even on nights designated women-only.

2. although many institutions have developed strong policies for pornography and harassment, it continues to be a problem. Women must be cautious about publishing any information about themselves for fear it show up in 'babe' catalogues or in alt'sex forums.

3. Men have adopted female pseudonyms to belong to restricted conversations (as have women, probably). Women report being harassed due to their identified gender. Many report more credibility with a male pseudonym.

4. Women are harassed for strong (and unpopular) feminist positions.

Liz Burge (1990), in The Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education. reports 3 major problems:

1. women are under-represented as learners in distance education courses. Or, they have a higher attrition rate than their male counterparts.

2. problems of access to technology, women at home with no workplace which offers support, mean that women are marginalized by their families and other social structures in the community

3. designs that focus on the solitary learner, rigid timelines, little consideration for prior experience or authentic context, and synchronous activities based on workplace demands highlight a lack of support

vonPrummer (1993) noted an emerging dichotomy for women: their tendency to place higher standards on themselves in their domestic and mothering roles when they begin to study in compensation for being 'allowed' to pursue their own educational interests. Male students, on the other hand, report no role conflicts and mention being relieved of household and childcare duties and being given uninterrupted time and space for studying.

Women may have different needs for support than men because of their tendency towards inter-relatedness and inter-connectedness, but this tendency or preference is seen as 'needy' by the institution.

Women talk about a discomfort with isolation, not necessarily related to negative personal circumstances or emotional neediness, but to a greater value placed by women on connecting with others.

Women often cannot sit for exams or go to seminars and meet tutors at times planned by the institution. Success depends on flexibility.

Finally, new initiatives are large-scale and technology-driven, and women are proportionately less likely to have access to computers. As Kirkup (1988) says, "Although the issue of economic disadvantage is now being taken seriously in attempts to get institutions to subsidize equipment, decision-makers do not take seriously the issue that computers might be gendered in a way that our other distance teaching technologies were not..."

In the Classroom

• required computer classes at all levels, because increased use and exposure improves attitudes and decreases anxiety
• group projects, as a preferred female style (connectedness)
• use computers to teach humanities and social sciences divesting them of the relationship with math and science, which discourages women
• learning with computers rather than about computers
• use computers for authentic activities such as the yearbook. Stress social uses for computers, emphasize authentic use and not 'the machine and how it works'
• same sex computer classes, eliminating competition for access and turn-taking; no anxiety about learning style, etc.
• same sex groupings
• plan for computer use in neutral spaces, make the space attractive by putting computers in libraries, different parts of schools away from the science wing, moving stations into pods of four to invite social culture, etc.
• stress applications over programming
• designated 'women-only' lab time: there will be less competition, personal interaction can be values-based, eases fear of 'not-knowing, their own style is privileged
• female role models

Things to look for (or design)....

• no arcade-style designs: thus no competition, hierarchical information, violence, women as victim or prize rather than problem-solver
• stress characterization and relationships. For example, in one study females preferred to work on tasks creating characters or finishing a story rather than create new task levels
• avoid male metaphors such as games, sports, adventures, wars, etc.
• evaluate for bias in language, imagery, design
• harmony with nature, concern for others, empathy and compassion. Women show a preference for working with scientific concepts with social value, concern with consequences of action on others, ethic of care
• holistic representation of object under study
• constructivist design, multiplicity of perspectives
• intuitive ways of knowing, subjectivity. value experience
• science in the hands of the public. for the good of all, not acting on the world but with it...
• strengthen collaborative process. inter-connectedness, helping each other
• creative tasks with sex-neutral, open-ended programs such as collaborative writing using a word-processing application

• use female role models, balance citations, use books by men and women, examine historical sources that have been silenced, use different narratives and perspectives to examine 'facts'
• ask, 'whose authority? whose knowledge?' Value opposing views and standpoints
• insist learners examine the cultural context in which knowledge was produced
• use cooperative learning, or do collaborative projects; peer coaching and mentoring; build consensus, use narrative and story-telling; allow intuition and emotional experience as evidence where appropriate
• encourage learners to use their own feelings, intuition and imagination as resources and strengths for learning
• strengthen cooperative and collaborative processes as distinct from competitive and hierarchical ones
• work towards self-empowerment - I do know, I can contribute, my contribution is valuable (again, collaborative work)
• maintain a climate safe enough to encourage open questions and appropriate personal disclosures - establish protocol and adopt a zero tolerance policy for harassment or power plays, strong language, discounting personal opinions, etc.

The literature suggests different learning styles that are somewhat gender-related. Since 1986, and the release of the path-breaking Women's Ways of Knowing , (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule), theorists in adult learning have suggested two paths of "normal development"

1. the autonomous, separate, or independent path, which typifies the majority of men (and some women)

2. the relational, connected, or interdependent path, which typifies the majority of women (and some men)

Quite possibly, the two paths may diverge in early development but converge as we get older.

Some authors urge us to pay attention to how relatedness develops, since it is central to life, and to how it becomes increasingly differentiated as we develop, and begin to explore autonomy within relationships.

Advocates of this position believe that the use of relational concepts in learning design will accommodate learners who are autonomous or separate; whereas learning design based on autonomous learning principles will place barriers in the way of relational learners (MacKeracher, 1993, 1996).

MacKeracher (1996), after researcher such as Carol Gilligan, identifies a continuum 'knowing' which has received knowledge at one end and subjective knowledge at the other:

Maturity in learning occurs as the learner is able to integrate both sources of knowledge.

What does each type of learner look like in your classroom?

• are concerned with controlling or mastering their environment
• adopt highly critical and adversarial stance when disagreeing with another
• force a choice if there appear to be opposing views of the truth
• are independent, wary of collaborative learning
• use analytical thinking styles
• look for logic and consistency as signposts of truth
• prefer to keep thoughts and feelings separate

• are concerned about remaining connected to others and to the environment
• adopt a narrative or descriptive stance when disagreeing
• search for a way to incorporate the ideas of others in the "big picture"
• are interdependent
• use holistic thinking styles
• test for truth by using believability measures
• integrate thoughts and feelings

The following is a set of principles for classroom facilitators, from MacKeracher (1996). The same principles can be applied to facilitators in the distributed classroom, using strategies such as computer-mediated learning.

References

• Belenky, M., Clinchy, B., Goldberger, N., & Tarule, J. (1986). Women's Ways of knowing.. New York: Basic Books.
• Briggs-Myers, I. & McCaulley, M.H. (1985). Manual: A guide to the development and use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Consulting Psychologists Press.
• Burge, E. (1990). Women as learners: Issues for visual and virtual classrooms. The Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education., 4(2), 1-24.
• Cennamo, K.S., & Dawley, G.W. (1995). Designing interactive video materials for adult learners. Performance and Instruction, 34(1), 14-19.
• Damarin, S.K. (1991). Rethinking science and mathematics curriculum and instruction: Feminist perspectives in the computer era. Journal of Education, 173(1), 107-123.
• Kirkup, G. (1995, July). The importance of gender as a category in open and distance learning. Paper presented at the conference Putting the Learner First: Learner-Centred Approaches in Open and Distance Learning. Cambridge, UK.
• Knowles, M.S. (1984). The adult learner: A neglected species. (3rd edition). Houston: Gulf.
• Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• MacKeracher, D. (1996). Making sense of adult learning. Toronto: Culture Concepts, Inc.
• Schwier, R., & Misanchuk, E. (1993). Interactive multimedia instruction. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
• Tannen, D. (1990). You just don't understand: Women and men in conversation. New York: Ballantine Books.
• Wylie, M. (1995). No place for women: Internet is a flawed model for the Infobahn. Digital Media, 4(8), 3.