Learning Philosophy at Adler
July 26th, 2013 // 1:08 pm @ Linda J. Page
From Adler’s Mission Statement and Academic Goals: No. 6 of 16 Academic Principles: Adult learning. Adler subscribes to an adult education model, expecting students to take responsibility for their own learning; at the same time, Adler provides learning opportunities for working professionals and those who must travel in order to study. Adler strives to provide and continually improve resources that support students in becoming responsible learners.
I invite you to consider this principle: “We can change only by starting from where we’re at.”
If we accept that principle and recognize that learning is a type of change, don’t we have to conclude that learning starts from where we’re at?
I see this as a basic principle underlying adult education theory, or andragogy.*
From teaching…
The old approach to teaching math, for example, (as opposed to learning, which I’ll discuss below) makes this assumption: the student is empty, without math knowledge, or is wrong and needs correcting. Given this assumption, teaching requires a lecture and/or reading where the student receives information and the correct answer is given. Even for adults, who couldn’t be empty and be adults, old style teaching is about moving students from where they’re at (student’s perspective) to…
- The instructor’s perspective, developed through years of personal and professional experience, and/or
- The “correct” perspective, as supported by the type of evidence accepted by those in power in that context.*
(Frankly, I think my perspective is the correct one. Surprisingly, others disagree. What do you think?)
Some students just won’t or can’t go to that new and different perspective—it’s too big a leap starting from where they’re at.
Some will take a blind leap and land in the new perspective without knowing how they got there. Then they’ll be asked to reflect and think critically about the journey, which means trying to go back to their starting perspective, but they don’t know the way.
A very few will go with the instructor every step of the way and not be aware of any big leaps. We academics love this response and call these students the “best and the brightest.” Maybe, though, this is a result of the student accidentally happening to be in a perspective that is close to the Instructor’s or to the “correct” one. Or maybe these people have a looser hold on their own perspective. This could be called curiosity.**
To learning
The new purpose of learning, as I see it, and as was discovered by adult educators at the end of the last century, is to start an inquiry that is both relevant to the subject matter AND asks the student to become aware of where they are, here and now. One way to do this is to ask a question that prompts students to become aware of their experience, including whatever memories occur in that context, and then observe where those students go from there, trusting that human beings inevitably go to meaning-making.
Here’s a sample of an exchange I overheard the other day as I walked past one of our classrooms where music was playing. The facilitator (what we call an instructor) turned off the music and asked, “Why did I pick this music to play?”
Answers: you wanted to wake us up, you like it, it reminds me of….
Facilitator: “Yes, good, but why did I pick this music to play for this class?”
The discussion carried on, and the Facilitator added his rationale, which had something to do with collaboration and self-expression, but I recognized the process as one I learned from Melinda Sinclair, a master curriculum designer who was responsible for putting together our Coach Certificate Program: experience prompts inquiry, which prompts rethinking, which prompts action, which results in experience…and back to the beginning. Coaching students may relate this to the “action-learning” cycle, one of many models for praxis, or what I refer to as transforming research into action and vice-versa.
Being able to do this is a central goal of Adler’s learning philosophy. It is the defining characteristic of “Reflective Practitioner.” In every program at Adler, there is nothing more important for students to develop. It can be nurtured in many ways other than by asking a question in class—by various exercises, by changing learning environments and faculty members, by bringing clinical case material into class, by having students write reflections or share them orally, by assigning presentations on topics chosen by the students…by asking these experienced learner adults how they learn best!
The new perspective that students AND facilitators reach by this collaborative process is co-created learning.
Yes, there will be a diversity of perspectives, and that can feel chaotic, which is why we need faculty members who can facilitate. But I’ve never done this without learning something new about the subject because of those different perspectives. That is, after all, what diversity is about.
And yes, this is a bit scary for someone like me who is set up, merely by being at the front of the room, to be the “expert.” What if someone else’s perspective trips me up and makes me doubt that my perspective is the correct one? I might have to change…but, oops, isn’t this what learning is about?
*It is a disservice to children and their teachers to think that this principle doesn’t apply to their learning, too–for a quick overview of the background and current applications of education theory in human services, see pp. 223-243 in Rock, D., & Page, L. J. (2009). Coaching with the Brain in Mind: Foundations for Practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
** I have first-hand experience with this dynamic, as my top VIA Strength is curiosity.
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