From Andragogy to Heutagogy by Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon

In the spirit of all that is heutagogical I am able to say that I (the instructor) learned something from this student selected article: what the heck heutagogy is. I also found out that academics in need of terms to describe learning methods are coo-coo for the gogy suffix, see ubuntugogy for example. I should add both words are perfect for googlewhacking, but I will stop there before I stray too far from the subject of heutagogy.

So what the heck is heutagogy? Well, Adriana was correct when she said "don't worry about looking [heutagogy] up in Merriam Webster, it's not there." And I concur. I looked at the Oxford English Dictionary and it isn't there either. Luckily the authors did a good job of defining both the term and the practice. Simply put, heutagogy is "the study of self-determined learning." The authors see heutagogy as a logical transition from andragogy because as learners obtain more access to information there is more of a need for teachers to teach learning and not information. As they explain, "learning is increasingly aligned with what we do [...]". In other words, the heutagogical approach is significant because the knowledge of learning becomes more important as information is more immediate and ubiquitous.

Beyond the simple definiton of heutagogy is the understanding of the heutagogic approach, explained as student-centered, not teacher-centered. The authors succinctly describe the student-centered, self-determined approach as teachers and students engaged in "knowledge sharing" and not simply teachers engaging in "knowledge hoarding." The role of the instructor is not the wisened teacher imparting wisdom to the student but the partner who helps students understand what it means to learn. They make clear that the defintion Knowles supplies for self-directed learning is narrow, and yet the defintion is a good foundation for understanding student-centered learning:

"The process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes."

They expand on Knowles definition by adding that the practice of heutagogy "takes account of intuition and concepts [...] that are not linear and not necessarily planned. It may well be that a person does not identify a learning need at all but identifies the potential to learn from a novel experience as a matter of course and recognises that opportunity to reflect on what has happened and see how it challenges, disconfirms or supports existing values and assumptions."

The authors explore different educational approaches to clarifiy what heutagogy is, which are also good points for further research into student-centered learning, approaches such as self-directedness or flexible learning. I personally found the concept to be fascinating because the authors describe an environment where the teacher is forced "into the world of the learner" and is asked to "look beyond their own disciplines and favourite theories." Without doubt the concept of students directing their own learning is not an easy pill for some to take and as this discussion indicates there is little support for the student-centered approach in non-academic circles. One participant describes the idea as "educational gobbledeygook" and "the latest rhetoric being put out by the educational establishment." Of course the pill is easier to swallow once student-centered learning is defined as the "sage on the stage versus the guide on the side." On yet another tangent, if someone can come up with a more trite cliche for student-centered learning, please do. I thought up "teachers: info crankers or student flankers."

I guess it goes without saying that as a member of the "educational establishment" I am excited by the heutagogical approach. In fact, I am willing to argue that what Kristen and I are doing in this class is trying this approach out. Since the course focuses on the examination of constantly changing and widespread issues too broad for a single expert, it makes sense that what is discussed is not simply "organised by [teachers] who make the appropriate associations and generalisations on behalf of the learner," but is instead selected from "random individual experiences" and interests.

I am somewhat concerned about what may be lost with the heutagogical approach (there is some comfort in the teacher role descriptions on this chart) as I see a few problems with what Hase and Kenyon refer to when describing the teacher as being a parallel learner to the student. I would argue that those concepts need to be answered to before going forward, such as what is the difference between managing and teaching or what is learned when information is obtained for survival rather than knowledge?

Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Base, Experiential and Inquiry-Based Teaching by Paul A. Kirschner, John Sweller, Richard E. Clark

This article was a great selection. The authors raised some important issues regarding guided and unguided learning. They suggest that unguided learning can be detrimental to learning. They argued against PBL, inquiry based teaching, and constructivism in favor of a guided approach. The authors argue for direct instructional guidance and define it as “providing information that fully explains the concepts and procedures that students are required to learn as well as learning strategy support that is compatible with human cognitive architecture. Learning, in turn, is defined as a change in long-term memory” (Kirschner, Sweller, Clark, 2006, p. 75).

The question that must be asked is there a time where unguided learning is an appropriate educational technique? If so, when?

Unguided Learning: When does it happen?

I would argue that unguided learning techniques can be effective in certain situations. We probably all engage in unguided learning everyday. When we go out search the Internet and click on a link that interests us or when we try a new food. Granted these are simple examples, but they are used to illustrate an experience has something to do with learning as we don't always a coach around to guide us towards the "correct" experience.

Novices vs. Experts

How many students here feel as though they are an expert in online education?

How many students feel that they are a novice in online education?

How many students feel that they are somewhere in between?

Cast your vote here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=720772683088

See results here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/Report.asp?U=268308852045

I am willing to anticipate that many of us feel that we consider ourselves somewhere in between novice and expert. In the article, the authors focused their research on the use of unguided instruction with novices who had inadequate knowledge for thinking and learning.

Constructivism and Novices

I agree with the authors that novices may not have the prerequisite knowledge necessary to operate in a constructivist environment.

However, before we can discuss constructivist activities and constructivism we should all have some background knowledge. Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_%28learning_theory%29 for an overview of constructivism.

Here are some examples of constructivist learning environments:

http://www.coe.missouri.edu/~jonassen/courses/CLE/

Think about a student trying to construct his own experience about chemistry who starts randomly mixing chemicals together. The outcome may be that the student causes an explosion, receives third degree burns and learns an important lesson through failure.

Of course mixing chemicals together randomly is unsafe and perhaps in a chemistry class the teacher would choose not to implement unguided learning techniques, especially if the students were novices. However, the “advantage of guidance begins to recede only when learners have sufficiently high prior knowledge to provide ‘internal’ guidance” (Kirschner, Sweller, Clark, 2006, p. 75).

So the question to consider is what is the research on unguided instruction with students who are not novices? When should the use of unguided instruction be considered? Do you see a place for unguided instruction in your own work or research?