BY: GLENN JOHN M.

BALONGAG

Adult learning is defined as the entire range of formal, non-formal and informal learning activities which are undertaken by adults after a break since leaving initial education and training, and which results in the acquisition of new knowledge and skills.

Part of being an effective educator involves understanding how adults learn best (Lieb,1991). Andragogy (adult learning) is a theory that holds a set of assumptions about how adults learn. Andragogy emphasizes the value of the process of learning. It uses approaches to learning that are problembased and collaborative rather than didactic, and also emphasizes more equality between the teacher and learner.
Andragogy as a study of adult learning originated in Europe in 1950's and was then pioneered as a theory and model of adult learning from the 1970's by Malcolm Knowles an American practitioner and theorist of adult education, who defined andragogy as "the art and science of helping adults learn" (Zmeyov 1998; Fidishun 2000).

What do you mean by 'adult learning principles'?

Knowles identified the six principles of adult learning outlined below.

Adults are internally motivated and self-directed Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences Adults are goal oriented Adults are relevancy oriented Adults are practical Adult learners like to be respected

How can I use adult learning principles to facilitate student learning on placement? Here we will discuss some ways to facilitate learning by applying Knowles' Adult Learning Principles: 1. Adults are internally motivated and selfdirected Adult learners resist learning when they feel others are imposing information, ideas or actions on them (Fidishun, 2000).

Your role is to facilitate a students' movement toward more self-directed and responsible learning as well as to foster the student's internal motivation to learn.
As clinical educator you can :

Set up a graded learning program that moves from more to less structure, from less to more responsibility and from more to less direct supervision, at an appropriate pace that is challenging yet not overloading for the student. Develop rapport with the student to optimize your approachability and encourage asking of questions and exploration of concepts.
Show interest in the student's thoughts and opinions. Actively and carefully listen to any questions asked.

Lead the student toward inquiry before supplying them with too many facts.
Provide regular constructive and feedback (both positive and negative), specific

Review goals and acknowledge goal completion Encourage use of resources such as library, journals, internet and other department resources. Set projects or tasks for the student that reflect their interests and which they must complete and "tick off" over the course of the placement. For example: to provide an in-service on topic of choice; to present a case-study based on one of their clients; to design a client educational handout; or to lead a client group activity session.

2. Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences

Adults like to be given opportunity to use their existing foundation of knowledge and experience gained from life experience, and apply it to their new learning experiences. As a clinical educator you can: Find out about your student - their interests and past experiences (personal, work and study related)

Assist them to draw on those experiences when problemsolving, reflecting and applying clinical reasoning processes.
Facilitate reflective learning opportunities which Fidishun (2000) suggests can also assist the student to examine existing biases or habits based on life experiences and "move them toward a new understanding of information presented"

3. Adults are goal oriented

Adult students become ready to learn when "they experience a need to learn it in order to cope more satisfyingly with reallife tasks or problems" (Knowles,1980 p 44, as cited in Fidishun, 2000). Your role is to facilitate a student's readiness for problem-based learning and increase the student's awareness of the need for the knowledge or skill presented. As educator, you can: Provide meaningful learning experiences that are clearly linked to personal, client and fieldwork goals as well as assessment and future life goals. Provide real case-studies (through client contact and reporting) as a basis from which to learn about the theory, OT methods, functional issues implications of relevance. Ask questions that motivate reflection, inquiry and further research.

4. Adults are relevancy oriented Adult learners want to know the relevance of what they are learning to what they want to achieve. One way to help students to see the value of their observations and practical experiences throughout their placement, is to:

Ask the student to do some reflection on for example, what they expect to learn prior to the experience, on what they learnt after the experience, and how they might apply what they learnt in the future, or how it will help them to meet their learning goals.
Provide some choice of fieldwork project by providing two or more options, so that learning is more likely to reflect the student's interests. "Students really benefit from regular 'teaching sessions' - time spent going through assessments such as how to do a kitchen assessment, and having in-services presented on specific topics such as Cognition or Perception" " I find they understand more about a topic when it is directly relevant to the work context. This is invaluable as it ties theory to practice." S. Bartholomai, OT clinical educator, Ipswich Hospital (personal communication, May 31, 2007)

5. Adults are practical Through practical fieldwork experiences, interacting with real clients and their real life situations, students move from classroom and textbook mode to hands-on problem solving where they can recognize first hand how what they are learning applies to life and the work context. As a clinical educator you can:

Clearly explain your clinical reasoning when making choices about assessments, interventions and when prioritizing client's clinical needs. Be explicit about how what the student is learning is useful and applicable to the job and client group you are working with.

Promote active participation by allowing students to try things rather than observe. Provide plenty of practice opportunity in assessment, interviewing, and intervention processes with ample repetition in order to promote development of skill, confidence and competence.
"I like to encourage students to select and use a clinical model, such as Chapparo and Rankin's OPM, to apply to practice. It helps students to identify what performance components (e.g. endurance, tone, organizational skills) they want to assess for example, in a dressing task. This helps to reinforce why OTs do things, and how the link to occupation differs from other disciplines." (S. Bartholomai, personal communication, May 31, 2007)

6. Adult learners like to be respected

Respect can be demonstrated to your student by:

Taking interest

Acknowledging the wealth of experiences that the student brings to the placement;
Regarding them as a colleague who is equal in life experience

Encouraging expression of ideas, reasoning and feedback at every opportunity.

It is important to keep in mind that the student is still developing occupational therapy clinical practice skills. However, with the theory and principles of adult learning in mind, you can facilitate the learning approach of the student to move from novice to more sophisticated learning methods. This facilitates greater integration of knowledge, information and experience; the student learns to distinguish what is important when assessing and working with clients; how to prioritize client needs, goals and caseload; when rules can be put aside and how/when the approach to occupational therapy practice and professional communication emerges from strict modeling of behavior into a unique therapeutic and professional expression of self. (Fidishun,2000;Lieb,1991)

 The

Australian National Training Authority (ANTA 2002a) defines workplace learning as learning or training undertaken in the workplace, usually on the job, including onthe-job training under normal operational conditions, and on-site training, which is conducted away from the work process (e.g. in a training room).

Reeve & Gallacher

Workplace

learning is seen as a flexible form of learning which enables employees to engage in the regular processes of up-dating and continuing professional development which have been increasingly emphasized. Moreover, insofar as the learning is workbased it is also seen as facilitating forms of learning, and types of knowledge which are of particular relevance to the work in which the learners are engaged.

Boud and Garrick observe: The workplace has become a site of learning associated with two quite different purposes: The first is the development of the enterprise through contributing to production, effectiveness and innovation; the second is the development of individuals through contributing to knowledge, skills and the capacity to further their own learning both as employees and citizens in the wider society.

This is expounded by Candy and Matthews), who state how: Coming from a range of fields of study (adult education, higher education, cultural anthropology, organizational theory, innovation studies, industrial economics, management studies, vocational education, etc.), a variety of theoretical perspectives (behaviorism, interpretivism and critical theory), different points of view (the manager, the learner/worker, the development practitioner), various contexts or environments (manufacturing/production-based industries, knowledge- or service-based organizations, the public sector, universities, professional practice etc.), and using every imaginable methodology (from surveys and interviews, to diaries and participant observation) they have generated a bewildering array of models.

Why is workplace learning important? Education and training is increasingly viewed in terms of a broader system involving workplaces, educational institutions, individuals and a variety of other government and community organizations. The increasingly competitive nature of the economy, and demographic, occupational and workplace change, have had a significant impact on the nature of the workplace. These changes have meant that the skill level of employees must be continuously developed. The skill mix required by organizations is changing, with employers demanding generic skills such as communication and problem-solving skills, in addition to technical skills. As such, workplace learning, both formal and informal, is taking on an increasingly important role in the education and training of the workforce (Johnston et al. 2002). Currently, much of the training in the workplace is not accredited; however, the total extent and diversity of workplace learning is vast.

Four main sets of factors which are most relevant to learning in the workplace. Key aspects of workplace learning

Organizational Level
Formal & Informal Learning Capability Context & Work learning

Performance

Team level
Individual level

The capabilities an individual has in the broadest terms including personal attributes, skills, knowledge, experience, understanding Their performance at work and how this is perceived by others and themselves
The formal and informal learning which takes place for that individual and the processes by which this happens. Such learning is not necessarily planned or conscious The context in which the individual is working and learning. This includes both the job and its wider context, especially the workplace culture and social interactions as well as more formal management processes.

The factors are always affecting each other. Capability is obviously influenced by learning but also current capability influences the ability to learn. Capability is required by job performance but is also developed through job performance. The context in which the individual is working and learning influences how their capabilities are perceived, how they perform and how they learn. An individual can be seen as highly effective in one setting and not another. Individuals are in a dynamic relationship with their work setting, being both influenced by it and being part of it themselves and through their relationship with others.

 People

are engaged in learning in different ways and in different contexts; but they do not recognize much of this learning without being prompted to reflect on particular types of experience or specific changes in their capabilities. Hence attributions of learning to particular experiences may be unreliable unless they are accompanied by detailed narratives; and the influence of prior learning often remains hidden or even unconscious.

For example, most people remember episodes of being taught to read and attribute their reading ability to those episodes, without remembering the drip-drip of their daily contacts with texts in their home or town environment; and the immense progress in reading between the ages of 10 and 30 through engagement with a wide range of texts of increasing difficulty is often disregarded, because their focus at the time was on the meaning and content of the texts rather than on the further development of their reading skills. Researchers in workplace or community-based learning soon came to recognize that questions about learning trigger images of being formally taught in classroom-like environments by teachers, lecturers or trainers. Thus classes have become a default explanation for how, why and where their learning did or did not take place.

Both knowledge and learning can be examined from two perspectives, the individual and the social. An individual perspective on knowledge and learning enables us to explore:

what people know what people can do what and how they learn variations in how different people interpret and use what they learn.

A social perspective draws attention to:

t he social nature of most contexts for learning t he social origins of knowledge that is shared, passed on or developed by groups, networks or communities t he wide range of cultural practices and products that provide knowledge resources for learning.

WHAT HELPS WORKPLACE LEARNING?

INDIVIDUAL LEVEL FACTORS Appropriate degree of challenge in work Frequent and constructive feedback on job performance Time to learn at work, especially through talking to others TEAM LEVEL FACTORS

WHAT HINDERS WORKPLACE LEARNING?

INDIVIDUAL LEVEL FACTORS Unnecessarily restrictive job design Excessive work pressure and stress

TEAM LEVEL FACTORS

Supportive relationships with others, based on Work issues not discussed with others mutual respect Unsupportive or threatening relationships, or social isolation at work Frequent informal discussions of work with colleagues Formal team processes (e.g. team meetings, project reviews) which include discussion of skills and learning Attention to learning opportunities when allocating and designing work processes

WHAT HELPS WORKPLACE LEARNING?

LINE MANAGEMENT

WHAT HINDERS WORKPLACE LEARNING?

LINE MANAGEMENT

Clear role for managers and experienced Line managers who are defensive or workers in supporting learning of others, unwilling to resolve work issues in a and time built into their jobs to do this constructive way

Attention by managers aspects of work

emotional Lack of time & attention on giving employees meta-skills and confidence in learning Tolerance of diversity and willingness to consider alternative suggestions Line managers unwilling to delegate Supporting managers by giving them tools Leaving managers to develop their staff and opportunities to practice the skills of even if they lack the skills or motivation to coaching, giving feedback, delegation, do it negotiation, etc.
Selecting line managers with an interest in, and aptitude for, developing others

to

WHAT HELPS WORKPLACE LEARNING?

APPROACH TO LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

WHAT HINDERS WORKPLACE LEARNING?

APPROACH TO LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

Employees motivated and supported to Seeing on-the-job learning as not needing take responsibility for their own learning any resource or time Courses seen as the main or only means of learning Accessible learning advisers for both managers and employees and a flexible Learning interventions unrelated to current capacity to design bespoke learning or future work needs interventions and work with teams The learning and development function Learning interventions linked closely to the seen as about delivery of courses and not work context, with careful consideration of able to advise/work with line managers or learning transfer to the job understand business needs Overly-mechanistic or bureaucratic approaches to competence, assessment and documentation of learning

WHAT HELPS WORKPLACE LEARNING?

ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT, PROCESSES & LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR Performance & reward systems which pay attention to knowledge-sharing

WHAT HINDERS WORKPLACE LEARNING?

ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT, PROCESSES & LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR

Promotion and reward mechanisms which emphasize the short-term and individual performance at the expense of investing in Clear organizational values underpinning medium-term or collective performance work and personal behavior Political and senior management context in Behavior at the top which discusses which people avoid change to protect their problems and issues and develops other job security and/or power people Encouragement of networking and development of social capital outside the immediate workplace Cooperative employee relations climate