Technology and Innovation in Adult Learning

Kathleen P. King

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781119051015
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación de adultos

A comprehensive exploration of technology's role in adult learning

Technology and Innovation in Adult Learning introduces educators and students to the intersection of adult learning and the growing technological revolution. Written by an internationally recognized expert in the field, this book explores the theory, research, and practice driving innovation in both adult learning and learning technology, and illuminates a powerful approach to recognize and leverage these opportunities. Building on current trends and research in technology and its use, each chapter illustrates the need, opportunities, and examples of current and future technologies that scaffold adult learning, and provides comprehensive coverage of both current and emerging challenges.

Many adult learning faculty, practitioners, and students realize that technology presents a growing and ever-present set of issues, yet few feel confident in identifying the opportunities that arise with each step forward. This book clarifies the interplay between adult learning and learning technology, and characterizes the cyclic exchange of information and opportunities that link these fields now and in the future.

• Understand the critical issues currently affecting adult learning
• Learn how technology is presenting both opportunities and challenges for the teaching and learning of adults in different contexts
• Examine recent research on learning technology for adult learners
• Discover how technological innovation can be applied now and how it will continue to shape the future of learning

Adult learning is on the rise, and there is no mistaking technology's role; whether they're learning with or about technology, today's adult learners come with unique sets of needs and skills that demand specialized approaches. Traditional pedagogical techniques don't transfer directly, and learning technology requires its own unique approach to development and use. Technology and Innovation in Adult Learning equips practitioners to further adult learning and shape the future of the field, while providing a rich perspective for classroom inquiry and research.

Part 1

A FOUNDATION FOR NEW LEARNING

Chapter 1
THE DIGITAL AGE SECRET FOR SUCCESS: ADULT LEARNING

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Checkout Challenge!

At the convenience store, Henry and Lucinda walked up to the counter with their coffee and pastries and were not greeted by the clerk; instead, she gestured them toward a large, flat screen monitor. There was a message on the screen, “Click to Begin.” Lucinda felt around the screen for a cord or computer pencil but could not find one.

1. She said to Henry, “I can't find the stylus.”
2. Before Henry could respond, the clerk came to their machine, simultaneously glancing at the growing line and Lucinda.
3. The clerk said, “Please, click to begin!”
4. Lucinda responded, “Yes, but there is no stylus.”
5. The clerk replied, “Ma'am, it's a touch screen; just tap it with your finger.”
6. Henry reached over and poked the screen. “Lucinda, we didn't think about it. It's just like at our bank.”
7. The screen lit up with bright colors and said, “Please swipe your items.”
8. Henry exclaimed, “Okay, that is different! Swipe, what do you think that means?”
9. Lucinda said, “I think maybe we are the clerks. Try holding the donut package over the screen, with the bar code facing it. Let's see if that works.”

Sure enough, Lucinda and Henry had used their adult learning skills to solve the day's first technology dilemma.

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Whether we are waiting for a seat at a restaurant, shopping for groceries, visiting the doctor's office, or buying gifts online, when we examine our surroundings, we recognize scores of technology tools in use. From many users' perspectives, it seems as if these interfaces change so frequently that it is impossible to keep up with how to use them for their originally intended purposes. For instance, the many ways in which we use our cell phones today can be so distracting that one might wonder whether talking on the phone is an essential function any more.

The hand-cranked register and operator-assisted phone call are in the memories of only a few of us. Instead, people born after 1980 accept the rapid succession of new versions and generations of technologies as routine, even as the changes increase in pace demanding attention and mastery! From the touch-screen checkout terminal, to annual new smartphones and innumerable on-demand entertainment services, the confusion, choices, and demands that surround new devices are often overwhelming. Whether it is in our personal, recreation, or work lives, technology changes mean people have to constantly figure out different ways to reach their goals. It is a daily challenge to survive the constant onslaught of new technologies and related practices. Adult learning is the key to success in conquering this relentless wave of change.

Most of the examples presented at the beginning of the chapters are drawn from the context of adults' personal lives. However, the stakes and tensions escalate more quickly and to greater heights when related to workplace changes. Of course, those who adore technology, “techies” and “geeks,” thrive on such changes. Technology experts are interested, invested, and talented in using technology as well as finding new ways to modify and incorporate it. If you recall the events surrounding the frequent new iPhone releases, you will remember that its early adopters consider them pivotal. These debuts are so thrilling to techies that many will camp out for days at local electronics stores to be first in line to purchase and own the “latest and greatest” gadget.

However, the world is not solely composed of techies (and my partner says, “Thank goodness!”). Indeed, vast percentages of the population are not technology aficionados, and they may struggle, even dread, these incessant technology changes. Why? Because it means learning yet another device or program. Plus, the stakes are high in this challenge: They must master these new technologies in order to meet organizational demands and retain their income.

The crux of the matter is that new technologies not only force people to master new features and devices but also they require them to determine how to incorporate those technology capabilities in their work flow. Often, this latter requisite is not addressed in the little, if any, training that organizations provide. Instead, somehow, everyone is supposed to make the leap from technical skills to work-flow application. This constant call for critical connections is a major example of when people need to employ self-directed learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Such independent learning has become a frequent part of life in the digital age because we need to operate these gadgets to communicate with our family and friends and to accomplish our work assignments.

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This constant call for critical connections is a major example of when people need to employ self-directed learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

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Yet, as recently as 1980, in school, these same adults were trained to not only be dependent on their teachers for instruction but also to focus on routine learning. Dominant forms of instruction were rote memorization, work sheets, multiplication charts, and regurgitation of information exactly as the teacher transmitted it (Fink, 2014; Freire, 1972; Jonassen, 1994). Since that time, there have been several significant shifts of educational philosophy and instructional practice across grade school through college level (the P–20 continuum, as it is now called) (Elias & Merriam, 2004).

Fink's (2014) Creating Significant Learning Experiences is one of the most comprehensive approaches to classroom instruction and instructional design and builds on adult learning principles. For example, Fink's work effectively articulates the need for and ways of incorporating learner-centered instruction, learners' prior experience, peer learning, and strategies for using technology platforms. First published in 2003, this book introduced the model of integrated course design (ICD), which provided a welcome departure from the teacher-centered course design that had previously dominated higher education.

In the digital age, more schools have begun to focus on student-centered, peer-, and self-directed learning rather than teacher-centered instruction (Christensen, Horn, & Johnson, 2008; Conrad & Donaldson, 2012; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2015). Since the technology revolution of the late 1980s, the need for and vision of these dramatic instructional changes have developed, and it has been an exciting, albeit at times frustrating, revolution to experience.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been a nationwide effort in the United States to explicitly connect critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-directed learning skills to independent learning, yet state to state these standards have been unevenly communicated to students because of several obstacles. According to Kober and Rentner (2011), challenges to successful CCSS implementation include insufficient resources, unclearly stated CCSS implementation guidelines, the shifting focus on mandatory state tests, and so on. It is evident that such conditions create an unstable foundation for refocusing the national educational system.

In the adult learning field, there are a variety ...