Knowle’s Assumptions #3 – The role of learner experience
Posted by Mark Winegar on August 28, 2008
“Adult learners have a variety of experiences of life which represent the richest resource for learning. These experiences however are imbued with bias and presupposition.”
Jimi Hendrix asks “Are you experienced?” and the answer is yes. We are all experienced. Everyone on campus has years of rich experiences but they aren’t the same from one individual to another. This is what makes us unique.
Our experiential diversity makes us valuable to society. We learn from each other through open discourse. Of course our experiences are shaded by learned bias and presupposition but the process of sharing with others allows us to peel away our biases like the skin of an onion. It works because we of our vast commonalities. George Carlin did a comedy skit about our common experiences.
We laugh at Carlin’s jokes because of they ring true. We’ll miss him even though his comedy could be a bit crude at times.
Experiences are powerful because they are anchored into our personality. We can remember better when we make connections between new information and past experience. This is called grounding. A wise instructor looks for ways to ground new information into the common experiences of mankind.
One way to help students ground new information is to explain how it applies to their aspirations. For instance, you might want to tell computer programming students that professionals work together to make their software products better by performing a structured walk-through before discussing the process itself. This way learners understand the significance of the new information in their desired profession.
Another technique is to use an analogy. You can describe the structured walk-through as a group of programming students helping each other by presenting their code to peers at dinner. We actually did this back in the old days at Lansing Community College. Students may more easily identify with the scenario because it connects with their experience. The skills and process are the same. Once they understand you can reveal the process as a professional practice rather than a study group activity.
Metaphors can also be powerful tools for grounding new information. I often talk about my stereo system and the nature of its components as a warm up to teaching the concept of modular programming and functional cohesion. We move through the metaphor as though we were having a personal conversation and naturally slide right into the new information to be learned. The students get it every time! When component stereo systems will be out of memory I’ll shift to the roles of baseball players. All it takes to use a metaphor is a little imagination and an understanding of the nature of material presented.
The trick of helping students ground is to have an understanding of their world. This takes work but it can be a lot of fun. Hang out with your students. Listen to their music. Learn about their concerns. Listen to them and observe their behavior. Get to know them as a group. Show you are concerned for them and never be judgemental.
A little self-deprecating humor can help too!
