Adult Learning

I am taking a class I waited anxiously all summer to start! I do not need this class toward my PhD. I am taking this class because I am interested in the topic and feel I have a lot to learn from this professor. It is an adult learning course taught by Dr. Gene Roche. Gene blogs over at Techfoot and I owe it to him for truly helping me to see the scholarly value of blogging in another course I took from him.

New Twist
One of the assignments in this class is to keep a 15 week reflective learning that focuses on documenting what I have learned, how I  learned it, what I might do to learn better in the future, how I might be able to use that learning to help another adult learn more effectively.  (My  blog meets most of those requirements, but to make certain, I thought I would create a new category called EPPL 714 to make it easy for anyone in the class that would like to follow along with my progress in this course.

Learning to Learn
The learning journal assignment is the most important tool in making that transition from learning to learning to learn.  There are four big questions to be looking at:

1.  What have I learned (today, this week, whenever)?

2.  How did I learn it?

3.  Could I have learned it better/differently?

4.  How could I use what I've learned to benefit someone else.  (In other words, could I teach/coach/help someone to learn more effectively based on my experience?)

Learning Contracts
In addition, we are developing learning contracts to negotiate what our assignments will be and what grade we want. I will be contracting for an "A". To do so, the first assignment we have is to create a competency model about what we want to learn. I am designing my competency model from a lifelong learning model. It will extend far beyond the 16 weeks of this class. You can follow along in the development of my contract here. This process will be an experiment in adult learning in and of itself.

So I just wanted to share that every so often I will use the four question template above to analyze my postings and give you a heads-up as to why I am doing that. Please feel free to weigh-in with comments and questions about the process and we can all learn together.

Comments

[thebizofknowledge]

Wow, the class sounds absolutely fascinating! I am especially impressed that you are taking the course simply because you are interested in the subject! Good for you! Those four questions strike me as something we should all be considering on a daily basis, especially those of us who are educators!