Week 4 Discussion Summary: Philosophies, Theories and Me

This is a milestone for me. I am joining the blogging generation for the first time. My kids will be so proud…

This week, we all had to take the Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI) to get a picture of our beliefs in this area. While some of the questions were a breeze to answer, a few required deeper thought. I had to think of actual experiences to situate myself in and come up with the most honest answer I could give. In my final result, I scored highest in Behavorist and Progressive. I scored lowest in Humanistic, citing the reason as “probably due to my belief that you can learn the CONCEPT of affective/emotional elements through training but would require more than instruction to learn it (in this case, apply it). “

I am not a big fan of learning philosophies and theories, although I would concur to their great value in our profession. What I found interesting in the discussion were some of the perspectives we had based on what we do. Classmates teaching in schools articulated their Liberal and Humanistic philosophies, while those in the corporate learning field discussed our tendency towards Behavorism and Progressivism.

The fundamental reason for our existence influences how we think. In the academic field, teachers prepare the students to be the best they can be; the goals are more general. In the training field, where resources are scarce and results are more specific, the instruction is more specific to meet organizational goals (Results!). Therefore there is wider latitude in education (just in case instruction will be needed) than in corporate learning (where instruction is just-in-time to deliver desired performance).

The above thought was what I perceived to be my best contribution because it helped clarify the distinction between training and education.

My biggest takeaway from the discussion was that our beliefs are quite set. Demanded by our profession is the flexibility to adjust to our learners’ requirements, and we do that by using the theories to operationalize the instructional values.