Download File - Melanie Willden`s Adult and Higher Education

Mel Willden
AHE588
Portfolio Foundations Page
Foundations of Higher Education and Continuing
Education
Assignment:
Compare and contrast the historical, philosophical, and sociological foundations of higher education
and continuing education as they apply to current practice.
I don’t profess to teach in one specific style. My teaching style has been influenced by a
number of different philosophers and philosophy styles. My approach to any teaching
situation is to first evaluate the material that is to be taught. From there, I evaluate my
audience, and try to get a sense for their needs. Once in front of the students, my
instruction takes on a life of its own, being fitted for the needs of my students. When I
first began teaching elementary school, I had two amazing teachers who mentored me,
Linda Lemke and Terry Scholsser. Both teachers were of the opinion that good teaching
is good teaching. Philosophies, curriculum, and directive teaching methods come and go.
But, great teachers can adapt to any teaching request made by administrators, parents, etc.
It seems basal to make such a statement, but I have come to learn that good teaching is in
fact, good teaching. I learned the educational philosophies to have a solid understanding
of the theory and the teaching styles. I teach from the heart and the head, utilizing my
experience of practicing individual philosophies, and most importantly meeting the
individual needs and interests of my students.
If I were asked which adult education philosophies have been most influential in my
work and why they are important, I would tell you that it depends on what I’m teaching.
While humanism, liberalism, post-modernism are definitely a part of my teaching style,
the philosophies, which have been most clearly delineated in my teaching, have been
behaviorism and progressivism. As I stated earlier, my teaching style is holistic.
However, I’d like to give an example of behaviorist and progressivism styles of teaching
in my classroom.
If I am teaching a class on how to triage people in a disaster situation, I am going to
follow the behaviorist philosophy. This means that when we enter a triage zone,
emergency staff will be assessing patients based on the ABC criteria: airway, breathing,
and circulation. John B. Watson founded behaviorism in the 1920’s. Behaviorism is
based on the idea that human behavior is based on a person’s prior conditioning and is
determined by non-controllable external conditions. Elias and Merriam (2005) wrote,
“Probably no other system of psychology has had as much impact on general and adult
education, or had its principles be the cause of as much debate, as behaviorism.”
Although Watson founded behaviorism, it is B.F. Skinner that popularized the theory
with his Operant Conditioning method. In operant conditioning, students are taught how
to respond to specific stimuli. The operant conditioning philosophy is critical for training
disaster preparedness situation. When an emergency happens, how will the emergency
staff respond? Teaching adults how to respond in an emergency or the rules of English
requires the implementation of a behaviorist philosophy. Applications can be found in
curriculum development, computer based instruction, and any instructional content,
which remains constant, such as grammar and writing skills.
Progressivism, a learner-centered, inquiry-based approach, can be traced back to the
sixteenth century with Comenious, Rosseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Darwin.
Progressivism can found in Malcom Knowles Androgoy model, and the writings of Carl
Roger.s Elias and Merriam (2005) say that, “Progressivism has had a greater impact upon
the adult education movement in the United States than any other single school of
thought” (p. 51) Progressivism aims to liberate the minds and talents of individuals.
Individuals learn by questioning and hyposthesizing. Nature provides the testing grounds
for the experimentation of questioning.
None has had a greater influence in progressive education than American philosopher
John Dewey. Dewey opined that education flourished if student’s participated in a
democratic process. In Dewey’s 1916 Democracy and Education, Dewey said,
democracy “is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated
living, or conjoint communicated experience” (p. 90). Dewey’s work has been influential
in my work as an educator. I have found the Process of Scientific Inquiry to be the basis
for most of my instruction.
I use Dewey’s Process of Scientific Inquiry model to guide my curriculum development.
In beginning any new topic in the classroom, I find it useful to ask students what they
know, what they want to know, how they want to learn and then setting about the process
of experimenting to learn those specified goals and objectives. I should add that the goals
and objectives of the course are predetermined. It is in honing the details, which have
been identified by the students, that we are able to work through the progressive style of
education. I find great power in asking the students what they think, why they think that,
and then guiding them through the process of experimenting and testing their hypothesis.
In this way, the progressive approach to instruction has become a format, which easily
allows for other teaching styles to be blended in to my instruction. This blended
instruction of philosophies is how I fit my instruction to meet the needs of my students. I
find great value in understanding educational philosophies and key philosophers, who
have influenced our learning societies of the past and present. I liken this to my own
ancestors in my family. In knowing my ancestors, I’m able to have a solid base of where
I’ve come from. While my heritage is a part of me, I take an active role in defining the
kind of person that I will become. I see a similar pattern in my teaching. I have a better
understanding of my teaching, because I know of the philosophers, who’ve established
the basis for education. I reflect these philosopher’s theories in the ways in which I pull
from my knowledge, my training, and my love for my students to create my own style of
teaching. My ultimate goal is for students to leave my classroom saying, “She is a good
teacher!”
Artifact: Video of Post-Modernism Style of Teaching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWWPC2K6P9E
Melanie Willden
CCE554
Behaviorist Artifact
Behaviorism is a part of our education today. We use it in all kinds of settings, within
the education field. The negative side of behaviorism is the idea that there is no
difference between men or animals, in terms of the behavior/response training. John B.
Watson, a recognized leader of behaviorism wrote Psychological Review in 1913 where
he said, “The behaviorist, is his efforts to get a unitary scheme of animal response,
recognized no dividing line between man and brute.” (Elias and Merriam, p. 87). E.L.
Thorndike, who was a contemporary of Watson, explained learning as a process of
association. His connectionism theory said that, “An organism, when presented with a
stimulus, formed a connection or bond with a response.” (Elias and Merriam p. 87). Of
course, no behaviorism discussion would be complete without B.F. Skinners work.
I am presenting two artifacts to demonstrate behaviorism. The first piece is a YouTube
about the Picture Exchange Communication System, which is primarily used in training
children. I had personal experience with this when I worked in a Special Education
Preschool in the Stanwood/Camano School District. Here, we worked with the Speech
therapist and occupational therapist to implement the PECS system with preschool age
students who had speech delays of any sort, including autistic children. Please watch the
following YouTube presentation of PECS in operation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP48lxnNdHM An explanation about what PECS is
from the Indiana Resource Center For Autism. http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/?pageId=525
This video of implementing PECS as a way of communicating with children is a clear
example of B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning. In operant conditioning, the person is
rewarded when the desired outcome is displayed. In the PECS video, you can see that
when the child presents the picture, he is rewarded with the actual item. You may recall
the bread. When the child presented the picture of the bread, the trainer affirmed “bread”
vocally, and presented the child with the bread. This nonverbal communication system is
developed solely on the operant conditioning system, and is a successful means of
communication for a nonverbal child or adult. In this system, and from my experience in
working with speech-delayed children, the behaviorist’s theory is extremely beneficial
and functional.
The second artifact that I am sharing with you is an interview with Temple Grandin,
an autistic adult who has successfully navigated a career in working with animals, and a
professor of education. From the perspective of American’s in the general setting, outside
of education, I feel that Temple Grandin has done more than any other person to give
voice to the world of autism. Please watch the following video, which discusses Temple
Grandin’s book The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum. Retrieved from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxsv4f5SQE0
In the interview Temple talks about the two types of autistic learners as being
pictorial visual learners or pattern mathematical learners. She identifies herself as a
pictorial visual learner. She mentions that it is especially important to train children how
to communicate when they are young. She also mentions the importance of teaching
children to work, in order to help them develop their strengths, which will translate to
being able to have a job as an adult. She emphasizes jobs don’t just come to autistic
adults; they need training when they are young teenagers, to establish patterns of being
able to work with others.
The behaviorist philosophy lens would support this idea of practicing to reinforce a
positive outcome. Repeated practice, with positive reinforcement, results in the desired
outcome. Behaviorism in education is often used in computer and program instruction.
Elias and Merriam say that, “These instructional methods are based on the principals of
operant conditioning and on the assumption that learning is acquired through repeated
reinforcement of behavior. They all define learning in behavioral terms, and almost all
shape the student’s behavior through a gradual progression toward the goal.” (Elias and
Merriam, p. 98) B.F. Skinner summed up his writing of The Steep and Thorny Way To a
Science of Behavior by saying, “The problems we face are not to be found in men and
women but in the world in which they live, especially in those social environments we
call cultures. It is an important and promising shift in emphasis because, unlike the
remote fastness of the so-called human spirit, the environment is within reach and we are
learning to change it.” (Merriam, p. 72) The manner is which we view autistic people,
and the manner in which, we as a society, approach solutions for providing opportunities
for productive members, are certainly not limited to, but must include utilizing principles
of behaviorism.
From the perspective of teaching autistic children to work, and to fit within the adult
working world, I consider the behaviorists theory a key piece to success. Pattern and
order are vital in the successful function of an autistic person. If an autistic person can
learn what the expectations are within the given context of their job, and dealing with
other adults within their job, then they will be able to demonstrate the positive behaviors,
which will allow them to demonstrate their highest strengths and skills.
Resources
Elias, J. L. & Merriam, S. B. (2005). Philosophical foundations of adult education (3rd
ed.). Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Co.
Grandin, T. & Panek, R. (2013). The Autistic Brain: Thinking across the spectrum.
New York: First Mariner. Retrieved from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxsv4f5SQE0
Vicker, B. (2002). What is the Picture Exchange communication System or PECS? The
Reporter, 7(2), 1-4, 11. - See more at:
http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/?pageId=525#sthash.7B1WOh5G.dpuf Retrieved from:
http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/?pageId=525
Resources
Elias, J. L. & Merriam, S. B. (2005). Philosophical foundations of adult education (3rd
ed.). Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Co.
Merriam, S. B. (Ed.). (1995). Selected writings on philosophy and adult education (2nd
ed.). Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Co.