Adult learning, or andragogy.
You’re perhaps more familiar with the term pedagogy – the
practice of teaching children.
There are subtle differences.
Pedagogy is learning that happens for the sake of learning, setting foundations, focusing
on facts.
On the other hand, adult learning focuses on practical applications and skills, learner
motivation and relevance to one’s context.
Rationale
Adults want to know why something is happening in a very explicit way.
It’s therefore very important to manage their expectations.
How will the learning impact their work?
This is supported through clear learning objectives and relevant but varied examples.
This is an example of learning objectives from one of our own online modules.
For defining learning objectives – Bloom’s Taxonomy is a useful tool, or the SMART methodology
for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely objectives.
You can find more information about these in the workbook provided.
Experience
This aspect links back to “prior learning”.
It is important to understand your audience, their roles in the company, and their required
level of PI System knowledge.
This allows you to structure learning material accordingly and align activities with expectations.
Making sure that the content is meaningful and relevant to your audience.
Readiness
Learning should be available where and when people need it
sometimes called performance support.
For example, our learning channel, can be considered performance support.
Short videos targeting specific topics.
Other examples for this principle include: one-page documents, infographics, and access
to colleagues.
Problem-centered
Learning is stickier when it demonstrates a specific problem being solved, for example
OSIsoft provides AF example kits.
Focus on relevant use-cases and scenarios based on industry, user role or software tool;
for example, in our learning examples we talk about pumps, turbines and condition-based
maintenance.
Concepts that are meaningful to a lot of our customers.
Self-directed
This links back to “meta-cognition”.
It’s all about offering options: the same content using different media or multiple
learning paths through the content.
This helps learners gain a sense of ownership and responsibility.
Other more advanced approaches include progress bars, recommendations based on peer activity,
or even an analytics dashboard that can help them reflect on their learning behavior.
Finally,
community means opportunities for communication and collaboration.
Social media, discussion forums, let students help themselves and others, develop partnerships,
offering greater transparency across the business.
An example of this for our own customers is PI Square.
According to the 70-20-10 model – 20% of learning is social learning through peer interaction.
It’s therefore important to support and offer that.
In any case, people view an activity as more worthwhile if others are doing it too.
So, in summary, rationale includes the definition and communication of clear goals to our audience.
Experience relies on understanding our audience, their learning needs and challenges especially
in terms of their role within the organization.
Readiness emphasizes the need for just-in-time resources, which will assist individuals with
specific tasks in the place and time that they need them.
Focusing on specific realistic scenarios will make the training more engaging and meaningful
to the participants, while allowing for choice and self-direction will make students take
more ownership of the content and process.
Finally, supporting a sense of community with communication and collaboration opportunities
is an essential aspect of adult learning.
Now let’s move over to PI Square and discuss with other colleagues your individual learning
preferences and experiences.