Earning Learning

I have been around undergraduate adult learners in a university setting for the past six years on a pretty regular basis. They come to the program having started and never finished college or perhaps having never gone and deciding to get their degree for job-related or personal reasons later in life. I came to the program with what I've learned is a very non-traditional approach. In my classes, the emphasis is on learning rather than teaching. Learning is an active process that puts the onus on the student to take responsibility and sometimes wrestle with content to gain understanding. I do not spoonfeed information to be repeated. I focus on facilitating and guiding to enable "aha!" moments when students see things from a different perspective or when blurry concepts come into view and make sense.

I admit to having great expectations and high standards. Some of these have had the edges knocked off a bit over the years because I also know most adult learners have full time jobs, families, other goals, pressures, interests and limits. And whether or not I like it, not everyone chooses a class because they are interested in the subject matter. Some are there because they are about to graduate and need a class, any class; and some are there because they are only free on Wednesday night this quarter and there are probably other reasons as well.

With that as preface, let me tell you a story.

In a recent class, everyone read a common text, and subgroups read other topic-specific readings. Students worked in groups throughout the class. The plan was that they would support each others' learning about the common text and cross polinate and learn at another level about the topic specific readings certain members were doing.

In a conversation, it came out that several people didn’t understand a particular topic-specific reading. They’d tried they said, but decided it wasn't clear or was too difficult to grasp and chose to omit it and simply rely on the other text for their final paper. The next day I emailed that group to explain that the specific book was assigned for two reasons: first, it explained in more detail information that was important to being successful in the class and second, students in prior classes who had used it as a resource strongly suggested that it be required. I said it was expected that something out of it would inform the final paper and offered to answer questions online or in a phone call between then and when papers were due. There were no takers.

I've seen this type of behavior in every class. There are more than a few students in college classes who are unable or unwilling to take control of their own learning and do the necessary "wrestling" with the content. If it doesn't come easily, they become intimidated or discouraged and disengage. Conversely, this can manifest in the assumption that taking control of their learning means that anything they do is ok ("I don't understand so I'll leave this book out...") so they deserve an A. While not operative in this case, often there is also the assumption that using the words from the class also deserves an A regardless of whether it is in the form of a cogent discussion or analysis or is simply mental Memorex.

The sorry moral of the story: rather than valuing the process of learning our culture values ease and speed. Unfortunately, looking for easy answers quickly generated has created many of the complex messy problems we face in workplaces and society. And more of the same isn't going to solve them.