Adult learning

Reading the last chapter in learning in adulthood made me reflect on where I am myself in my own learning. Bateson, on page 430, laments the fact that learning for adults is often studied as this compartmentalized activity that does not seemed to be recognized as an integrated facet of adult life. I would have to agree. It seems another way of erroneously intermingling childhood learning , which certainly is compartmentalized in formal education systems, with adult learning. Bateson makes the point that learning occurs every day within common tasks that adults perform.

I would have to agree. I was recently asked to participate in a focus group at work in which the purpose was to gain a better understanding of the development needs of HR personal. While some in the group saw that as gaining certifications in various areas, my interests were less in formal programs and more in experiences where I can learn more about the business I support. As an instructional designer, I have to focus not only on my core craft, but learn as much about the industry that I’m working in to be as effective as I can at my job. For the past 5 years, every day was almost a mini-medical school for me as I worked with individuals running clinical trials. In my new position, I am learning manufacturing from all facets – engineering, operating and planning. Not a day passes where I do not learn something new and it doesn’t require any kind of formal program to do so. In fact, a formal program would probably hinder, not help, my learning, since I would not be able to direct my own learning and it would not be experience based.

After reading this chapter, I also began to think that one of the key differences between children and adults learning is reflection. Merriam emphasized experience as a key difference, but it seems to me that the increase of experience is just a trigger for the increased reflection that occurs. I also find myself nearing my mid-thirties and after dealing with my own health issues, losing a parent, supporting a sibling through 2 divorces and almost losing my best friend in child birth this year, doing far more critical reflection than I would have just a couple of years ago. I personally think I’m a bit ahead in the time table than my peers and feel like I’m at a point that most people don’t reach until their 40’s, according to Kegan, in terms of dialectal thinking (Merriam, 433).

Horizontal violence

Rather than dealing with a boss for a bully, what about a co-worker who is a bully? That is pretty much the concept of horizontal violence. It seems fairly ironic that it is rampant in nurses. Nurses? Aren’t they supposed to be rather caring and nurturing people? Huh?

In one tale I read, an inexperienced nurse was having a difficult time separating her emotions from her patients. Other nurses belittled her, instead of trying to give her tips on how to handle. In my last job, I think about a quarter to half of the people I worked with had been health care professionals of some sort – nurses, technicians, pharmacists. And I do have agree that it was the nurses I heard the most tell their war stories and talk about all the idiots they worked with. One former nurse was so awful to me, I had to call in 4 other co-workers just to help me deal with her at a meeting. I remember someone saying to me after the meeting “Just because she got dumped on by doctors doesn’t mean she should do it to you…”

Although you never know the full story. It made me think of times where there have been co-workers struggling and I have been not so helpful myself. I don’t think I have ever called someone names or used very critically aggressive tactics that the aforementioned nurse used on me, but I know one person I lost all patience with. Why? They never followed through on any of their commitments, would be very passive aggressive to you when you confronted them, could not have been depended on for anything and caused extra work for everyone in the department. This person drove everyone nuts and it was pretty clear that he didn't enjoy his job and wasn't a good fit. We really all wanted him to quit and maybe that nurse struggling with her emotions was cut out for the job int he first place. The funny thing he was a nice guy – just completely inept at his job. Is that horizontal violence? I have rarely encountered situations where someone who was doing their job well was gossiped about or belittled. I should not use this as a justification, but if someone is getting treated poorly by their peers, there’s usually a reason, other than people being mean…

Slings and arrows

When I choose to blog about something, it is usually because I respond strongly to the subject, either positively or negatively. I look to my emotions about the subject matter to guide me, rather than my intellect. Perhaps mine is more of a spiritual approach, as defined in Learning in Adulthood. I do know that reading the chapter on spirituality was incredibly painful and almost embarrassing for the authors as I read the stilted language trying to define it. The authors also at least acknowledged the awkwardness of writing about spirituality as an academic exercise.

So it seems that some discussions of adult education lends itself better to poetry over prose. I was heartened to see Shakespeare passages (and even quotes from his work put in a flow chart to explain an idea!), Thoreau and the Bible quoted from in Keith Main’s paper. It seemed appropriate in his theory of adult development that a sense of play and the use of leisure time with some artistic expression are included. What also struck me was his 6th facet of adult development, one that has the adult always in some cycle of growth and regression. It was heartening to see that it is something everyone goes through and that some kind of regression leads to increased growth. Rather than fight the regression phases, it seems like its best to use the opportunity to reflect. You could also see this as a struggle between the internal and external and that according to Main, adult development is at its highest when that individual has a strong internal locus of control.

Spirit and Place

After reading chapters 8 & 9 in Learning in Adulthood, which examined the role of spirituality and multi-cultural perspectives in adult education, it struck me that spirituality (as defined by the authors) and multi-culturalism have some similarities. They have a strong emphasis on community, meaning making and connection that are often lacking in Western cultures. It is almost as if the authors are saying that Western cultures are not spiritual ones. In my opinion, tt may be more that spiritualism is often considered a deeply private and individual practice and that due to the ever growing heterogeneous nature of these cultures, spiritual tolerance is often executed as spiritual silence. The more homogenous a culture is, it may make the societal expression of spiritual beliefs more acceptable.

I found it interesting, though, that there was little, if any, discussion around formal education settings when examinging multi-culturalism. While there may be more narrative learning, in for example, African cultures or more apprenticeship type learning in Hindu or Asian cultures, it left me wondering how different or similar educational philosophies are across cultures. How does each culture’s pedagogical styles influence their adult education approaches? I would have liked to see these aspects discussed more in depth by the authors. And other than the example of the teacher witnessing a Turkish brother beating his sister because it was acceptable behavior in their culture, much of the culture discussions seemed sanitized and idealized. The chapter focused mainly on the role of the educators and the overall purposes of some form of education. The authors made very little distinctions between formal and informal learning.

Things that left me thinking more about, in a broader since of oppression and culture were: How does India’s caste system impact learning? In Muslim countries, what about the lack of educational opportunities for women (and in other countries as well)? What about the Confucian approach to education, with the belief that it is how much a student is willing to work to learn, rather than innate ability? It seemed like these chapters were focused mainly on respecting fairly surface level differences, such as Asian cultures’ deference to the teacher. Much more could have been learned from examining in depth learning practices or approaches, from childhood through adult learning, not only to gain a deeper understanding of educating adults from different cultures, but also to gather best practices for designing programs based on strategies used by these cultures.

Transformation as grief?

As I was reading Brookfield’s model of transformative learning in Learning and Adulthood (p 146), it struck me that there are similarities to this model and other transformative learning models and the 5 stages of grief, as defined by Elizabeth Kubler Ross. While hopefully the transformative process is one of gain and enrichment, any time a person under goes a major shift in perspective, they do lose parts of their former self.

All transformative learning tends to begin with an event of some sort that the individual is having difficulty handling. Likely there is some element of denial as the individual tries to process the experience. Anger is Ross’s second stage. I’m not sure where that fits in to all transformational learning models, but I could see that be an aspect of some social emancipatory philosophy as the learner becomes more aware of the forces that work against them. In the stages where the learner is talking to their peers, doing research and gathering information, I imagine some of the research may be driven by a bargaining need (“maybe there are other options to this problem…”; “maybe this really isn’t happening”) that could also be accompanied by depression, as the learner finds their perspective shifting in a new and different way. Finally as they learn to integrate their new knowledge, there comes an acceptance in their new found perspective.

Serendipity in learning...

Merriam and Caffarella, in Learning in Adulthood, cite a paper by G.E. Spear in which he presents a model of self directed learning that has opportunities, knowledge and chance all play roles in self directed learning (112).

It gave me pause to think about how chance encounters have furthered my own learning. At first, I was hard pressed to think of much, other than a series of rather random, sometimes unfortunate events (including a layoff) that led me to the job and career that I have now. And I would say that the chance event of getting my job led me to meet someone who was to become a mentor. From that, I figured out what I wanted to do when I grew up. So, I guess in the end, my whole career as I know it now and my decision to work on my masters in instructional design were all very much based on a couple of chance events. Who knows what I would be doing today instead.

Another chance event that I think about is an English professor I had in college. I enjoyed his Shakespeare class so much (a huge undergrad affair – I think a couple hundred…) that I signed up for his next class. How, I don’t know, but he remembered my name from my tests and papers (I had never bothered to talk to him in the lecture series). From taking the smaller class, we became friends and he encouraged me to apply for a grant to study overseas in a program he was working with. I actually got the grant that paid for my plane ticket to London, where I took classes and worked on a paper on the British theater. By another chance, a friend of my sister’s husband who was living in England helped arrange interviews for me with the financial directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company and that National Theatre. Not bad for chance.

I would say that I think I have had more planned learning experiences than ones by that happen by accident, but it does seem to reinforce the theory that the more random events have had the most impact than anything else.

The multiplicity of learning

I’m wary of consultants and sales people and such who claim they have a single solution to all my problems. I would be just as wary if a teacher or researcher was to tell me there was only one way to learn. It seems like there are multiple learning theories, because, well, there are different ways to learn. After reading chapter 11 in Learning in Adulthood, I would posit that the way you learn depends on where you are at in the learning continuum from novice to expert in that particular task or knowledge base.

As fashionable as it is to downplay the importance and relevance of behaviorism in learning circles these days, it strikes me as a darn good method to use to build basic skills and knowledge. I think back to my days of when I first was learning music. There was lots of repletion and feedback, with the instructor setting the agenda and my learning goals. It made sense because when you don’t know anything about a subject, how could you know where to begin? I can’t imagine taking a constructivist approach. Although, today, I need to pick my own repertoire and identify my own learning needs as I now have 20+ years of expertise.

In contrast, I’m learning ball room dancing, and I pretty much need that same behaviorist, teacher centered approach with lots of reinforcement. When I think of my work on the job, though, I get pretty bored quickly sitting in classes and excel when I get to make my own learning choices, explore my own path and especially if I have a mentor to nudge me here and there. The humanist and cognitive approaches speak to me most in this regard. Finally, as I strive to enhance my business partnering skills, the social cognition approach would work best for me, where I get to observe someone very experienced work through conversations and difficult issues.

Barriers to adult education

Merriam, in “Learning in Adulthood” identifies a number of barriers to education in adults, including cost, time and motivation. It seems like one of the biggest, though, is confidence.

At 33 years old, my friend Sara has a GED and is now considering going for her undergrad. She had her first child this year and realizes she needs to go to work to help support her family. She knows she needs a degree to do this.

Now, if I read the paragraph above, I might think that Sara came from a poor, low income family and that she may not have strong intellectual abilities. However, both her parents and two siblings have their masters. Her 2 younger brothers are both finishing their undergrad in their late 20s.

Both Sara and one brother have learning disabilities and were deemed below average by more than one teacher. Further testing showed that they had extraordinarily high IQs, but were performing poorly in the standard academic setting. Their parents made the decision to home school. As a result, Sara probably is one of the most self directed learners I’ve met. Her father, being a chemist, even set up a lab in their basement. They joined up with others in the home schooling community for field trips and were active volunteers at the local living history museum. She also was seriously studying the violin and considering a career in music. At the age of 19, her family moved to Israel, where she mastered a second language, earned a brown belt in jiujutsu and picked up gourmet cooking techniques from working in resturants. Because of her many health problems, I actually call her first when I feel sick before I go to my own doctor. She is that knowledgeable. I’ve even seen her wipe the floor with a gastroenterologist that was not a specialist in her particular disorder.

It is interesting now to see that despite all her learning experiences, she, as well as potential employers, view her as un-educated. Her parents made the decision to take a path that would actually give their children a better education than was possible in their own well respected school system, and yet, all three have returned to the traditional path because in most cases, a degree is a pre-requisite in this society to obtain a professional, well paying job.

While Sara has many of the typical barriers that adults seeking to further their education (time, money), I realize now that I can help build her self confidence, that crucial barrier that needs to broken. I plan on sharing my view of her story with her and hope to support her in her endeavors.

Graying of the workforce

I work with a small team of individuals in my workplace. There are four of us assigned to support a certain functional area and after reading Hudson’s recommendations on integrating older adults back into the workforce, I realize I’m in a unique position.

I am the youngest in the group and am responsible for making sure the work gets done. The remaining 3 team members range in age from early to late 50’s. One co-worker, we’ll call Pam, had actually been downsized by the company, only to be brought back as a contractor. She is nearly 60 and I have to say, is a bit of an anomaly in my company, which is full of ambitious 30 and 40 some-things. Pam and I spoke of this once - - I remarked that I was probably at the top of my career and my desirability to the company is likely to go gradually down as the years past. Pam agreed and also lamented the fact that it was so. She also views herself as one of the pioneers that will make businesses value older workers more.

I think also of Doug, who always has a good story to tell and a wealth of experience. When I think of Hudson’s coach/mentor, Doug is who comes to mind. He too, is a contractor – not a permanent employee. He fits the perfect model of an older worker who is seeking more to influence, rather than “do,” but stuck in a rather thankless technical writing job. I’ve tried to listen to his concepts (although I will challenge them when I disagree) and he also is a patient listener to my thoughts and ideas. Dave, close to retirement, is laid back, supportive and knows just about everything there is to know about the area. I would also have to say their computer skills are fairly strong, except for Dave, who spent most of his work life out on the factory floor.

How do I take advantage of this wealth of experience? One thing I think I definitely need to do is watch for ways to learn and listen.

A comfort with contradiction

Another Unit 1 post

During undergrad, I spent a summer semester in London. While there, I stayed at a friend of a friend’s house and hung out with a business man named Simon. Simon was very sad because he worked for an American company. And what made him sad was that he had just 2 weeks of vacation – a near abusive, intolerable amount of time required at the office.

During that summer, I had many conversations around the American tendency to be goal and action oriented, while the British and European ways are less so. The thinking was that non-Americans are more in tune with the complexities in every day life and more likely to approach things more in a cyclical than linear fashion.

I thought of those conversations again, with the American’s un-relentless focus on results and productivity with the more laid back aims of other countries (not counting Germany!!), when reading of a study (in Learning in Adulthood) that tried to measure dialectical thought. According to Kegan, this is a level that is reached through conflict and is described as “testing of paradoxical and contradictory formulations” (Merriam, 344). Most adults do not even begin to achieve this until their 40s.

So where does culture come to play? According to Simon, American’s are action oriented and not prone to very deep reflection. The cultural differences in dialectical thinking seemed even more pronounced when comparing Chinese and American preferences for proverbs – the Chinese students were more comfortable with the dialectical ones, the American’s with the non-dialectical. East meets west. And while the authors describe this factor a trait of adult intelligence, it seems less to do with intelligence and more with culture and upbringing, as well as the values of society. The authors do mention a study that seemed to indicate this – one researcher found that there was no difference in ability, just in the tendency to display the thought processes (Merriam, 346). So I guess Americans are no more or no less complex than anyone else – we’re just less comfortable showing it.

Intellectual development and aging

Okay, I did the post math – I thought for some reason, week 1 didn’t count and I see its now in the “8” post total – so here I go!!!

I had read once that your intellectual abilities start declining in your mid-30s. I’m not sure what the researchers based this on, but I recall it being a somewhat scholarly article on the difference between high performers and the regular folks.

I was kind of depressed after reading that article. I turned to a co-worker around 7 or 8 years older than my early 30ths and gently told him the bad news that he was past his prime. I started thinking of all the things I wanted to try and better get a move on (guitar lessons! Start today!!!).

It was with great relief that in chapter fourteen of “Learning in Adulthood”, Merriam and co. de-bunk this myth. While the authors do confirm that intellectual ability may decline some, it is not necessarily disastrous for all, compared to what the aforementioned article may have you believe. They do show that it is a complex issue, as complex as measuring intelligence itself and may disappoint those looking for hard fast rules (“… after 30, your mental abilities decrease by x amount every year”).

What the authors do present is, well, that it all depends. It depends on how the intelligence is measured, and there’s about as many ways to measure it as there are intelligence researchers. If a narrow and single facet of intelligence is measured, it does decline. What can help counter those declines is what the adult does to keep their mind active (plasticity) and how they deal with the more obvious declines in overall bodily function (compensation). I am personally fascinated with the concept of plasticity, as I once heard a neuroscientist speak on the topic – not only do humans have the ability to reshape their brain, it is possible to do this in relation to mental illness and brain injuries – depending on the individual. I think this may be where all the aging tips I’ve seen of doing cross word puzzles come from. And what has also been found is that the decline starts far later than once thought, in the 60s and 70s. But it is an very individual process, and likely has a lot to do with their general attitudes towards aging.

Living vs. aging

“You are old when regrets take the place of your dreams” – Jimmy Carter in “The Adult Years” – Frederic Hudson.

I viewed a documentary once on PBS that looked at how individuals deal with aging.
The documentary contrasted a couple in a nursing home with the mother of one the producers, who was in her early 90’s and still lived in her own Manhattan apartment.

The couple was in the nursing home because the wife was suffering from Alzheimer’s and her husband could no longer care for her on his own. He looked straight at the camera, while is wife incessantly jabbered at him incoherently and said “Old age is for the birds.”

The one on her own in an apartment was chipper, happily clanking away in her kitchen and completely scared her daughter by her pleasant yet steadfast refusal to live her life any other way. Her lifestyle exemplified the best possible scenario that Hudson discusses on how to have a good old age.

For some reason, I find myself thinking of economics and privileged lives when reading Hudson’s later chapters on what the 60s, 70s and beyond would look like. It seems that a rather optimistic and rosy portrait is painted.

I think of my own mother, who in her early 70’s, does seem to typify many of the strategies Hudson advocates to have good elder years. She keeps active in her church and many community groups, works out every day, vacations and maintains many friendships and acquaintances. And she also has the fortune to have the resources and good health to do so.

I think about Hudson’s prescriptions for longevity and I wonder how people not like my mother are able to do so – those in poor health and without the economic means. Although my mother’s good health may be in direct relation to her positive attitude, rather than a comfortable economic status. I imagine it’s a lot easier to have a positive attitude, though, when you have financial security.

Self reflection and cognitive abilities

“It is my position that critical reflection and reflective discourse assume a certain level of cognitive development, most likely something beyond Piaget’s fourth stage of formal operations” – Sharan Merriam, “The Role of Cognitive Development in Mezirow’s Transformational Learning Theory”

This struck me as an incredibly elitist statement to make. It seemed to me geared maybe to those living in trailer parks or something like that, while those in the educated class have higher evolved reflective abilities. The author goes on to discuss that Paiget’s higher levels are mostly achieved only by graduate students and above. It struck me that this could be more about how the reflection is measured in more academic terms than the actual ability.

There is a Garrison Keillor quote that goes something like this “Intelligence is as useful to you as four-wheel drive – it just gets you lost in more remote places.” While self reflection is mainly a cognitive endeavor, it seems like there are ways to go about it in other ways, such as through a spiritual belief that oes not have to correlate directly with the level of an individual’s personal academic achievements.

I think of highly educated people I’ve met who can still manage to make incredible messes out of their life, repeating patterns and never quite figuring out where they got it all wrong. I’ve also met a grandmother who had custody of her granddaughter and lived in section 8 housing. Both parents were "missing" (likely in jail). Would this grandmother score high on the GRE? Probably not – but there was a wisdom and likely hard self reflection that led to her to get her granddaughter off the street and enroll her in after school programs that would build the girl’s self esteem. I work with a man with a high school diploma who has spent 20+ years working on the factory floor and he seems to be fairly adept at self reflection, while I think of a former supervisor of mine with a masters and a high paying job that was always living a life full of drama and mistakes. Perhaps my experience of these individuals is unique – but I would have to disagree with Merriam’s take on self reflective abilities.

Transformative learning events & phases of change

When first diagnosed with asthma 3 years ago, it was a trigger for me to learn as much as possible about the condition. I considered myself highly knowledgeable and felt confident that I knew how to manage.

My subsequent “un” diagnosis led me to much deeper transformative learning. I felt betrayed by my body and could care less about the clinical issues that had interested me before. I decided to leave science to my doctors and focus on my overwhelming emotions.

Here’s how it all worked for me, using Hudson’s model of change.

Phase 1: Go for it. I don’t think I’ve reached it. Prior to the illness, I was gearing up for what would be a challenging fall. Starting another class, kicking into gear for a huge project at work, prepping for concerts and continuing on with dancing lessons. Definitely a grueling schedule. My body (probably thankfully) made other plans for me.

Phase 2: The doldrums. I was focused on pure survival mode. I didn’t have time to reflect as I tried to manage how I would receive care, including lining up people to watch me and cook for me. I was the traveling invalid and it was a humbling experience. "Can you take care of me? Good, okay pick me up." Everything became sharply focused on what mattered, which turned out not to be a whole lot. While some things became very clear, I felt myself become completely unmoored. Questioning what I wanted from life, who I wanted in it and how much longer I might have. I fought, struggled and then I surrendered to it. At 33, I felt I had taken some mid-size steps towards reconciling with my own mortality.

Phase 3: Cocooning. The daily phone calls and e-mails I sent disappeared. I started getting slightly annoyed with people asking me how I was. I just wanted to be left alone to quietness and reflection. I went to a church on my own. The first time ever. I renewed my yoga practice. And I continued asking myself the question: “What matters most?” I tried not to look too far ahead and focus on today.

Phase 4: Getting ready. I am beginning to experience a newly found sense of confidence in myself. I stand tall and say my name distinctly and clearly to those who ask. I realize that I made it through something most people my age will never experience, something that is usually saved for years later in life. I feel empowered. I am ready to start my life again. This with a clearer sense of trying to strive for meaning in my life and shedding what no longer matters in a new paradigm.

Betrayal of the American Dream?

In chapter 1 of “The Adult Years”, Frederic Hudson writes an elegy around of the complexity of the modern world, the yearning for the ideal and the loss of innocence that has been experienced since the 1950s. At the same time, he laments the myth of happiness and security.

While this serves as an effective buildup to the later chapter of the book and how these struggles are effectively addressed (or not addressed) by different generations, I wondered how much this was an American, rather than a universal phenomena.

Do other countries who are less achievement-oriented and more family focused experience this type of crisis? And is this truly a modern phenomena? How universal are these feelings to the lower and upper extremes of society? And were the 50s really that great of a time, full of hope or lots of alcohol and emotional repression?

Wordsworth, in the early 1800s wrote “The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.” The poem is about getting lost in that then modern world. Hudson has subheadings such as “cyncism”, “powerlessness”, “personal isolationism” “hopelessness” , followed by the next section called “the new adult challenge.”

What’s new about any of this? It seems to be just a different way to articulate one aspect of the human experience that everyone struggles with in some way, probably throughout the world. What may be unique to a time and culture is the response.

Oppression?

“In the workplace, 'workers’ experiential learning becomes human capital with great potential economic benefits for the organization” with no attention give to the workers’ dignity and freedom” (Fenwick, 2003, pg 90, from “Learning in Adulthood” p 184)

As an English major, I had a brief introduction to feminist, Marxist and new historicist thinking. I had mixed feelings with these approaches. I enjoyed experiencing the intellectual agility as you try on different thinking hats. The mixed feelings came in where I thought that the theories became overly simplistic and reductionist.

I found those same emotions arising around Fenwick’s perspective regarding training and work place oppression. I think perhaps this passage is taken out of context – maybe the authors are referring to Kathy Lee’s sweat shops or something. Or maybe it is the relatively privileged life I lead on a world wide perspective and my naivety of the struggles of those who don’t live the life I do. Nonetheless, I felt angered and knew that I needed to explore this some more.

My role in my organization is mainly to balance the need for a formal curriculum and learning resources while trying to create an informal learning environment that can be tracked and measured, all driven by government regulation. I hope that learning in the workplace is enjoyable to the extent that the learner is a good fit for the job, the materials are well designed, address motivation issues and the instructor versed in proven instructional methods.

I don’t kid myself that on the job training is fully altruistic in nature – its for the company and indirectly, for the learner, who hopefully earns a fair salary and livelihood for the job they are trained to do. Experiential learning should and does happen on the job, but you need to make sure all the basics are fully covered. Hopefully, the learner’s needs and the company’s needs align somehow. To espouse theories around workplace training as an unfair power structure strike me as extremely naive. Or maybe I just happen to work for a good company who treats their workers pretty well. Hmm… maybe I’m the naïve one.