The Accidental Trainer – Innovative Andragogy

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Innovative Andragogy

In this Trainer Fuel we’re going to focus on the science of progressive training of the adult learner using the well known Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of the different objectives and skills that educators set for their students (learning objectives). BLOOM’S taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. The taxonomy now includes six levels of learning; Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating.  The well-known version of this taxonomy focuses on the learner’s cognitive domain.  In this post we’ll also look at the learners affective development and psycho-motor skill improvement as well.

Here are a few articles and blog posts to add to your weekly reading time.  These are quick reads that bring together a variety of sources of information related to learner development.

When writing training outcomes trainers should look at the task to be trained and write the lesson in a way that trains against all three domains simultaneously.

1. A Simple, Easy to Understanding Guide to Andragogy

Much of the material related to training and education focuses on a well known study and practice of pedagogy. However, this term and its associated practices are related to the education of children who learn differently than adult learners. The term, “andragogy” relates to the study and practice of adult learning theory. This contrasts to pedagogy, which is the understanding of the science and practice of children learning.

Andra = adult
Peda = child

In the Greek, andragogy means “man-leading” while pedagogy means “child-leading.”

In this post by Steve Graham from Cornerstone University the Key Concepts and Outcomes of effectively applied andragogical techniques are explained in detail.

Key Concepts of Andragogy:

  • Pillar One: A Maturing Self-Concept
  • Pillar Two: Increasing Experience
  • Pillar Three: An Increasing Readiness to Learn
  • Pillar Four: A Shifting Application and Orientation
  • Pillar Five: An Internal Motivation to Learn

Ouctomes of Andragogy

  • A Mature Self-Concept
  • Acceptance, Respect, and Love Towards Others
  • Adaptive, Dynamic, and Fluid Attitude Toward Live
  • Understanding and Reacting to Causes, Not Symptos
  • Understanding the Human Experience
  • Appreciating the Ability to Change Society

2. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Objectives

This post provides guidance on how to use Bloom’s Taxonomy to write effective learning outcomes.  It provides practical examples of how to write outcomes at each level of learning.

3. Bloom’s Taxonomy: The Affective Domain

The affective domain (Krathwohl, Bloom, Masia, 1973) includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes.  The importance of training the affective domain is easy to overlook for many trainers.  However, a large amoount of police work relies upon effective use of the affective domain.

4. Bloom’s Taxonomy: The Psychomotor Domain

Psychomotor skill development is central to police training.  This post looks at the application of Bloom’s Taxonomy to psychomotor skill development.

5.  Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy: Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor

This job aid can be used as a quick reference for training developers to effectively write learning outcomes and explain learning levels appropriately.

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