Teaching Adults Using Technology How Thesis

• Length: 7 pages
• Sources: 6
• Subject: Teaching
• Type: Thesis
• Paper: #19724174
• Related Topics: Teaching Strategies, Teacher, Teaching, Adult Learner

Excerpt from Thesis :

While commenting on the works of Baldwin & Ford, Detterman (Detterman & Sternberg, 1993) observed that the American enterprises were more likely to lose in case of teaching employers as they diverted lump sum of $100 billion annually to tutor employees. The loss is experienced because whatever is learned in an adult learning session is not practiced at the workplaces.

This problem is indicative of the dire need for combining knowledge with current practical work. The internships of doctors and people doing Ph. D serve as examples to show the link between learning and practical work (Lave & Wenger, 1991). The variations in practical applications and formal learning make it necessary that lifetime learners find out fresh strategies to tackle these variations. These variations comprise of the high work requirements that make the job training mandatory, unavoidable variation in an occupation, tech-literacy and the disparity created between the skilled and unskilled laborers (Som, 2003).

Constant involvement in the pursuit and application of knowledge by use of technology is what lifetime adult learning is all about. It ought to be restricted to detailed and narrow aims such as adult learning in the light of genuine cases, incentive-driven adult learning that is associated with learning, need-based adult learning's promotion, promoting workplace learning as it helps in the exchange of different ideas and lastly the creation of expertise and methods that make lifetime learning important (Som, 2003).

Furthermore, technology has also changed the role of teachers and their pedagogy styles. For instance, Som (2003) writes, "The use of information and communications technology (ICT) in education is transforming learning and teaching practices in significant ways. For instance, the integration of computer-mediated communication with multimedia courseware, electronic libraries and databases has led to the emergence of a whole new kind of educational experience, namely e-learning or networked learning. Affordances and opportunities offered by ICT are also causing educators and educational providers to rethink and reengineer the nature of their educational practices. A significant product of this reengineering includes a shift in the roles of teachers from being 'providers and deliverers of subject matter content' to becoming 'moderators and facilitators of learning' within student-centred models of learning and teaching. Some of these models of learning and teaching include 'computer-supported collaborative learning', 'computer-supported problem-based learning', and 'distributed problem-based learning'."

Conclusion

Involvement and approval of self-learning occurs when we are motivated to do something for ourselves rather than doing something just for the sake of it. Educational institutes should try to teach self-learning expertise to their students as this is the basic practical application in personal and practical lives. Fischer (1991) found self-study as beneficial because it serves as a driving force and enables one to get more knowledge. The instruction-based online tutoring where an instructor passes on information to the student is viewed as a form of collaborative learning (Fischer, 1998b). Hence we can say that education or adult learning is not restricted to the school and universities that we go to. Technology being used today has certainly redefined the roles of both students and teachers. Furthermore, in the today's market economy, the process of learning is never finished till one is alive. Lastly, learners need to comprehend that the knowledge acquired through formal training cannot be kept aloof from the knowledge that is acquired through practical experience.

References

Detterman, D.K., & Sternberg, R.J. (1993). Transfer on trial: Intelligence, cognition, and instruction. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing,.

Fischer, G. (1991). Supporting learning on demand with design environments. International Conference on the Learning Sciences, pp. 165-172.

Fischer, G. (1998c). Making learning a part of life-beyond the 'gift-wrapping' approach of technology. In P. Alheit & E. Kammler (Eds.), Lifelong learning and its impact on social and regional development. Donat Verlag, Bremen, pp. 435-462.

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Lawrence a.T. (1999). Concentration and Infusion -- Two Approaches for Teaching Technology for Lifelong Learners. Contributors: THE Journal. 26: 9.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Norman, D.A. (1993). Things that make us smart. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley,.

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Sachs, P. (1995). Transforming work: Collaboration, learning, and design. Communications of the ACM, 38(9), pp. 36-44.

Som Naidu. (2003). Learning & Teaching with Technology: Principles and Practices. Kogan Page. London.

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