Adult Learning Philosophies: Social Learning Theory

Education is constantly evolving. What and how students learn has been a topic of debate throughout history. Who is being educated and how it is being done has been debated and has resulted in a plethora of ideologies and theories about education. Adult learning in particular has become a divisive subject within academia, resulting in a barrage of theories about how we should educate. This paper will discuss the adult learning philosophies produced by Albert Bandura, Abraham Maslow and Benjamin Bloom. The paper will also analyze the application of these theories and how they are used within a classroom.

Major Concepts of Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura is known as the father of cognitive theory. (5) This theory is based on the idea that we learn from our interactions with others in a social context. After observing the behavior of others, people assimilate and imitate that behavior, especially if their observational experiences are positive ones or include rewards related to the observed behavior (5) Bandura’s social cognitive theory is an extension of the behaviorism theory that emphasizes the importance of behavioral factors, environmental, and individual. (5)

Application in Adult Learning

Bandura’s social learning theory is dependent upon observational learning. It purposes that individuals learn through their environment and mirror the actions of others. This theory is applicable to adult learning by its foundation in self-efficacy. Self efficacy is one of the most enabling psychology models to have been adopted into positive psychology. It is the optimistic self-belief in our competence or chances of successfully accomplishing a task and producing a favourable outcome.(1).Adults need a reason to learn, by identifying this educators can structure class environment that incorporate Bandura theory. The educator models the behaviour they would like from their students. It works in conjunction with a reward system that rewards students when they are successful. This correlates with adult learning by having them learn from the environment and also helps them to identify what is required of them.

Strategies for Educators

Educators can utilize Bandura’s theory when instructing adult learners. The concept of using live models and/or symbols can be very impactful as a learning strategy. By using the behavioural guidelines an educator can create activities that align with Banduras theory. A method to incorporate can be using visual aids when teaching, having students watch videos that correlate to your course content, through this the students are able to observe what they are learning. An educator may also use a movie depicting the events that lead to WWII in order to teach history. The educator my also engage her students in role play while they read Hamlet and reward the performance with participation marks.

Major Concepts of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been coined the “Theory of Human Motivation' (8) It denotes that there are five categories of need and they are organized as pyramid starting from least to most important. The five categories are physiological, safety, social, esteem and self actualization. Self actualization is the final stage of Maslow’s theory. Maslow coined the term self-actualization to describe the growth of an individual toward fulfillment of their highest needs, those most advanced concepts and “big questions” humans struggle with, such as the pursuit of the meaning of life (9) Maslow believed that individuals who managed to become self-actualized people were able to resolve common ideological conflicts, such as that between determinism and free will, due to their enhanced creativity and psychological robustness. (9)

Application in Adult Learning

Motivation is the most important factor in influencing individual and organisational success (10) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is often presented and used as the most popular and efficient theory to understand and influence student motivation(10) Numerous empirical studies have validated this theory. In the fields of education, administration and social work, there is a long tradition of interest in motivation (10). Scholars, as well as practitioners, in education and administration (Çeliköz 2010; Fisher 2009), regard motivation as the most significant factor in accomplishing goals successfully through triggering individual productivity(10) Humans are fueled by a desire to achieve goals (11). Adult learning and Maslow theory are significant to one another because it allows the educator to be knowledgeable of needs of their students. The educator can organize and/or create a class environment with these needs in mind. Helping adult learners climb the Maslow hierarchical pyramid by providing the students with motivational cues.

Strategies for Educators

Maslow’s theory is humanistic. The educator can provide a viable environment to adult learners by trying to assist in the fulfillment of all of Maslow’s hierarchical needs. Adult learners needs vary, it is not stagnant across all individuals, but educators can try in various ways to assist. A strategy an educator can use is to facilitate the first level of the hierarchical need which is physiological by creating a class environment that permits food and water. Not all educators allow students to bring in food, by allowing this you have helped to achieve this lowered ended need. Adult learners often have busy lives and may not have time to eat, thus making a food friendly class environment essential. The facilitator can create an inclusive class, making class discussion open ended by requiring everyone to voice their opinions, so even those who would not be forthcoming has an opportunity to be heard.

Major Concepts of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a model that is a hierarchy. It is divided into three spheres, cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Three ways in which Bloom believes cognitive skills can be classified. These spheres are then broken down in subcategories that are hierarchal, intersectional and successive. Learning is a process, a student must navigate there way through education by mastering all levels of Blooms cognitive design. Bloom’s taxonomy contains six categories of cognitive skills ranging from lower-order skills that require less cognitive processing to higher-order skills that require deeper learning and a greater degree of cognitive processing (4)

Application in Adult Learning

Bloom’s taxonomy is important to adult learning because it identify levels of cognitive intelligence. It creates a scaling system that allows for process of learning to be classified. For Bloom, learning is an instructional method that presumes all learners can learn if they are provided with the appropriate learning conditions. Specifically, students are not advanced to a subsequent learning objective until they demonstrate proficiency with the current one (Mastery learning, 2009). Bloom argued that if students were normally distributed with respect to aptitude for a subject and if they were provided uniform instruction in terms of quality and learning time, achievement at completion of the subject would be normally distributed. Bloom’s idea is based on the fact that if each learner receives optimal quality of instruction and learning time required, majority of students will attain mastery (2)This is essential for adult learning as it aids in the study and evaluation of learning while also providing a consistent and rational method for designing and assessing courses (3). By using the hierarchical approach to learning, educators will be able to create teaching objectives based on the level of knowledge they would like there students to learn by guiding.

Strategies for Educators

Bloom’s theory in practice is to design a teaching environment that creates successful learners. Throughout the different subcategories of cognitive, affective and psychomotor it gives the student a way to determine what they have learned. The first level of Cognitive is knowledge. It is the foundation of cognitive learning. Knowledge is being able to recall information. A method that can be used in the classroom to obtain knowledge could be having your students participate in a vocabulary quiz, were they must define the meaning of words that will appear frequently throughout the course. Another way to incorporate Bloom’s theory would be utilizes peer discussion to invoke cognitive memory. Allowing the students to recall knowledge they have obtained to participate in a live discussion.

Conclusion

This paper has examined the theories of Bandura, Maslow and Bloom. It has taken a deep look into the makeup of each theory and how it correlate to adult learning. While their have been many theories conscribe about the learning matrix, the three outlined in this paper play a crucial role in the development of adult learning. Our society is ever evolving, and education among adults is growing rapidly as people enter in second careers. It is crucial that theories that can help facilitate this growth is taught and applied to adult learning.