andragogy – heutagogy March 30, 2009
Posted by kieslinger in : andragogy , trackbackactually I thought that I would no post anymore on this weblog since my most of my work is documented now on the weblog of my group at the ZSI: Technology&Knowledge
…but now I came across the concept of heutagogy, thanks to Stephen Downes and I think that this is actually a nice continuation of some of my thoughts on andragogy. By the way, there is currently no entry for the term heutagogy in Wikipedia, although the term exists at least since 2008, when Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon published their article “From andragogy to heutagogy“.
The article relates to various educational theories to derive some principles of heutagogy defining Knowles concept of andragogy as the most influential theory. The authors argue about how the concept of Knowles could be expanded with regards to self-regulation and a focus on individual capabilities.
The question for me remains, why do we need another name for this concept. Couldn’t it just be an advancement of andragogy? At least in European funded research project in the area of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) we are still talking about pedagogy when we really mean andragogy and the workprogramme of the European Commission also talks about pedagogical concepts when it comes to adult education. So I am wandering why not push one term before we already move to the next. I have the feeling that the theories behind these terms do not differ so much, they rather build on each other.
Personally I do not find it appropriate to talk about pedagogy in the context of adult learners, especially when dealing with very informal learning situations, and I would already be happy if more educational scientists and practitioners would talk about andragogy in such contexts in order to make a clear distinction between facilitating adult learning and educating children.
Comments»
Hi Barbara,
Thank you for your comments on whether or not Heutagogy is something new or merely an extension of andragogy. Stewart and I have psych backgrounds and we think that H offers more of an explanation of why the brain responds so well to such an approach. We have just finished a chapter for the book “The Challenges of Postgraduate Education” to be published by Continuum in UK later this year: that may be of interest to you.
Incidentally, I will be holidaying in Vienna for a few days from 9 September, if you wanted to chat over a coffee.
Best Wishes.
[...] I met Chris Kenyon, one of two thought leaders on heutagogy, and his wife in Vienna. We had a nice chat in the Cafe Sperl, one of these very traditional coffee [...]