Adult Learning In Groups :: Learn Education Adults Essays

Adult Learning In Groups Groups [can] exert powerful influence both to advance and to obstruct learning. A group can be an environment in which people invent and explore symbolic structures for understanding the world, learning from each other and trying out for themselves the discourse of the domain of knowledge they seek to acquire. Alternatively, groups can encourage conformity, squander time and energy on ritual combat, revel in failure, and generally engage in all sorts of fantasy tasks that have little or nothing to do with learning. (Knights 1993, p. 185) The use of groups has deep historical roots in adult education, and, if asked, most adult educators would say that learning in groups is a fundamental principle of the field. Adult educators use groups frequently in structuring learning experiences, and groups also form the basis for much informal adult learning both within and outside institutional boundaries. Although group theory once played a major role in shaping the field, the topic of learning in groups has been relatively unexamined in the recent literature. This Practice Application Brief provides information that can be used in developing adult learning groups in formal educational settings. First, the nature of learning in groups is considered, followed by discussions of the role of the facilitator and forming groups. Guidelines for structuring group learning experiences for adults conclude the Brief. The Nature of Group Learning Little research exists on how learning occurs in groups (Cranton 1996; Dechant, Marsick, and Kasl 1993). Futhermore, when forming groups, adult educators tend to focus on helping learners work effectively together rather than on helping them understand the learning processes that may be occurring in the group (Dechant, Marsick, and Kasl 1993). By drawing on Habermas' domains of knowledge and interests, Cranton (1996) has developed a helpful way of thinking about how groups can accomplish or facilitate different types of learning. Cranton suggests that there are three types of group learning, each affiliated with the following kinds of knowledge proposed by Habermas-- instrumental (scientific, cause-and-effect information) communicative (mutual understanding and social knowledge) emancipatory (increased self-awareness and transformation of experience) As outlined by Cranton, the type of learning that occurs in groups varies according to the learning tasks and goals. Group learning that has as its goal the acquisition of instrumental knowledge is called cooperative. In cooperative learning groups, "the focus is on the subject matter rather than on the inter- personal process .