ETEC 5303

1. Malcolm Knowles
From Pedagogy to Andragogy
Tyler Senn
ETEC
5303

2. About Me
I was born April 24, 1913 in
Livingston, Montana and died
November 27, 1997 at the age of
84. I received my Bachelor of
Arts from Harvard in 1934, my
M.A. from the University of
Chicago in 1949 and my Ph.D. in
1960. While working towards
these degrees I was married,
served in the Navy, and had two
children. I am best known for my
work in adult education and
popularizing the concept of
Andragogy and Learning
Contracts.

3. Andragogy
The model of andragogy is based on 5 assumptions:
1. Learners move from being dependent personalities toward
being self directed.
2. Adults come to an educational activity with both a greater
volume and a different quality of experience from youths.
3. The timing of learning activities is related to developmental
tasks
4. Adult learning is problem centered rather than subject
centered.
5. Adults are internally rather than externally motivated to learn.

4. Andragogy
• This chart shows the Process Elements of Andragogy
http://web.utk.edu/~start6/knowles/process_elements.htm
• This video shows an overview of the Assumptions of
Andragogy as wells as a list of things for educators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4iMFu4CnLQ

5. Learning Contracts
Learning contracts specify:
1. The knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to be
acquired by the learner.
2. How these objectives are to be accomplished
3. The target date for their accomplishment
4. What evidence will be presented to demonstrate that the
objectives have been accomplished.
5. How this evidence will be judged or validated.

6. 8 Steps to Developing a
Learning Contract
1.
Diagnose your learning needs: A learning need is the gap
between where you are now and where you want to be in regards
to a particular set of competencies.
2.
Specify your learning objectives: Be sure that your objectives
describe what you will learn, not what you do to learn them.
3.
Specify learning resources and strategies: When you have
finished listing your objectives, move over to the second column of
the contract, 'Learning Resources and Strategies,' and describe
how you propose to go about accomplishing each objective.
Identify the resources (material and human) you plan to use in
your field experience and the strategies (techniques, tools) you
will employ in making use of them.
4.
Specify evidence of accomplishment: After completing the second
column, move over to the forth column, 'Evidence,' and describe
what evidence you will collect to indicate the degree to which you
have achieved each objective.
http://web.utk.edu/~start6/knowles/malcolm_knowles.html

7. 8 Steps to Developing a
Learning Contract
5.
Specify how the evidence will be validated: After you have specified
what evidence you will gather for each objective in column four, move
over to column five, "Verification." For each objective, first specify
what criteria will vary according to the type of objective... indicate the
means you propose to use to have the evidence judged according to
these criteria.
6.
Review your contract with consultants: After you have completed the
first draft of your contract, you will find it useful to review it with two or
three friends, supervisors, or other expert resource people to get their
reactions and suggestions.
7.
Carry out the contract: Simply carry out the contract... as you work on
it you may find that your notions about what you want to learn and
how you want to learn it may change... so don't hesitate to revise your
contract…
8.
Evaluation of your learning: When you have completed your contract,
you will want to get some assurance that you have in fact learned
what you set out to learn. Perhaps the simplest way to do this is to ask
http://web.utk.edu/~start6/knowles/malcolm_knowles.html
the consultants you used in Step 6 to examine your evidence and
validation data and give you their judgment about their adequacy."

8. Past
In the past adult education fell by
the wayside. When taught it was
based the same as would be in a
youth education class. The focal
point of education was the youth.
What little education set aside for
adults was remedial and poorly
constructed. The transition to
andragogy will be the best benefit
for adult education.

9. Present
Making known the concept of
andragogy and learning contracts,
it is now more widely understood
the proper way to educate self
motivated and self directed
individuals. Individuals learning as
well as teachers now understand
that this concept will help to be
more successful in achieving their
education oriented goals. This
concept aligned with the
technology of today will only
further the self direction learning
process.

10. Future
Future technology will only increase self motivated
learning. Distance learning and online courses are only
the tip of the iceberg for what is in store in the education
field. Although Brookfield, Pratt, and Merriam all have
critiqued the concept of andragogy I still proclaim the
importance in adult education.
“Adult education faces a task of immense proportions in the
immediate years ahead…the task of helping millions of
grown-up people all over the world transform themselves into
mature adults. By perfecting its science now, it will be equal
to the task.”– Malcolm Knowles

11. References
http://web.utk.edu/~start6/knowles/malcolm_knowles.html
http://infed.org/mobi/malcolm-knowles-informal-adult-education-self-directionand-andragogy/
http://www.qotfc.edu.au/resource/?page=65375
http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/andragogy.html
http://deoracle.org/online-pedagogy/teaching-strategies/an-overview-ofmalcolm-knowles'-concept-of-andragogy.html