Collaboration post

My partner Mohamed and I had a great chat about adult education. Just like me, Mohamed seems passionate about learning. I feel like we connected and were able to acquire knowledge from each other.

We talked about his research on competency based education (CBE). We both feel like this is a particularly good model for trades. It is simple and straight forward. Students only move on and progress if they can prove that they have mastered the technique at hand. I was able to quiz him about the strengths and weaknesses of CBE. He feels like this concept is quite new for a lot of people and some students might have difficulty switching to this coming directly from high school.

I think the biggest idea coming out of our chat was the fact that students don’t become adult learners because they have completed high school. It is not a simple division from pedagogy to andragogy. Some young students are entering post-secondary colleges and universities and have no desire to be there. This happens for multiple reasons but the fact is that they are with us never the less. Some students are perfectly fine doing the absolute minimum and they are not yet able to be in fully charge of their learning. A lot of fascinating theories in adult education would only work with mature or motivated students. I find that this “gap” between children and adult learners is getting bigger as we move towards online self-paced learning. Becoming in charge of your education is an education in itself!