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EDU 528, WEEK 4, PART 2: Adult Learning Within the Human Resource Development

Slide # Topic Narration

Slide 1 Introduction Welcome to Methods of Teaching in Adult Education. In

this lesson, we will discuss Adult Learning Within theHuman Resource Development.

Next slide.

Slide 2 Topics The following topics will be covered in this lesson:

Human resource development goals;

Human resource development and performance

improvement;

Human resource development and adult learning;

The premise of individuals controlling their own learning;

and

The phases of the adult learning planning process;

Next slide.

Slide 3 Topics, continued We will also cover the following topics:

Adults determine their own learning needs;

Adults create and implement their own learning; and

Adults evaluate their own learning.

Next slide.

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Slide 5 Human Resource

Development and

Performance

Improvement

There are a number of ways in which human resource

development can improve performance at the individual,process, and organizational levels.

Within each cell are enabling questions that permit

diagnosis of performance. Each cell in the matrix can alsoserve as a conceptual framework for classifying

performance interventions.

There are a number of questions that can be asked at thedifferent performance levels. For example consider the

mission/goal performance variable.

Organizational Level: Does the organizations

mission/goal fit internal and external realities such as

economic, cultural and political forces? The answer this

question will determine whether there is a need forintervention.

Process Level: Do the process goals enable theorganization to meet the organizational and individual

goals?

Individual level: Are the professional and personalmission/goals of individuals in line with the

organizations?

Business and industry leaders use the knowledge andexpertise that fits within and between the fifteen cells of

the matrix to talk about the core competence to the life oftheir companies.

Adult learning has a part to play in almost all the fifteen

cells of the performance diagnosis matrix. For example, if

HRD wants to change the organizational culture, thenprinciples and practices of adult learning will play an

important role as the employees develop and learn new

norms. The role of HRD is to build the organizationsstrategic capability; therefore, adult learning is critical to

maintain the performance of the existing system and to

improve on that system.

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Slide 6 Human Resource

Development and

Adult Learning

There are a number of definitions for human resource

development. Here are two examples, one by Swansonand the second one by McLagan.

Swanson: HRD is a process of development and/or

unleashing human expertise through organizationaldevelopment and personal training and development for

the purpose of improving performance at the organization,work process, and individual levels.

McLagan: HRD is the integrated use of training and,

organizational development and career development toimprove individual, group, and organizational

effectiveness.

The two definitions show that the outcome of HRD is

performance improvement and that learning is the corecomponent of HRD. However, it should be noted that

there is more to HRD than training or adult learning. HRDcan initiate interventions that do not have any planned

educational component. This requires what is called

unleashing human expertise.

We have discussed before that HRD and AE differ on the

issues related to control of the goals and purposes for

which adult education is employed. If the organizationholds the control to approve or disapprove learning

interventions, adult learning is HRD. HRD and AE arediscrete disciplines. Their area of intersection occurswithin adult learning.

When adult learning outcomes and learning process

decisions about individuals are bounded by the rules ofand requirements of the organization, then adult learningis HRD. When adult learning outcomes and learning

process and requirements are located in the individual then

adult learning is AE. Some activities of HRD do not

focus on adult learning. For HRD, adult learning focuses

on development interventions with two attributes: The

context is organizational, and the desired outcome islearning-that will impact the performance goals of the

organization.

There can be tension in terms of organizational controlif the individuals needs and goals are not congruent with

the organizational performance requirements. Learning

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professionals in HRD must balance the two. Sometimes it

is not possible for an organization to implement all theadult learning principles. For example, it is inconceivable

for an organization to invest in learning programs for its

employees that do not lead to performance improvement

over the long run.

Next slide.

Slide 7 The Premise of

Individuals

Controlling Their

own Learning

There is a common belief that better outcome results when

the learner has control throughout the learning phases.This is one of the popular ideas in adult education.

However, there is no consensus on how much control

individual learners want and can handle.

There was a discussion in the eighties about embracing

self-directed learning as a unifying theory and goal for the

field of AE. Brookfield, one of the leading proponentsobserved that self-directed learning is more complexthat it was first proposed.

The core assumptions of andragogy do not raise learnerself-directedness to the same level as has been proposed

by many AE theorists and practitioners. According to

andragogy, adults have a self-concept and expect others totreat them as capable of self-direction. AE suggests that

the purpose of learning is to develop self-directed learning

capacity in adults. HRD practice is generally in agreement

with the andragogical notion of self-concept, but does notshare the goals and purpose of adult education.

HRD focuses on performance outcomes, so thesignificance of learner control is viewed as secondary by

most professionals in HRD.

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Slide 8 The Phases of the

Adult Learning

Planning Process

Adult learning is defined as the process of adults gaining

knowledge and expertise. Here we will discuss the issuessurrounding the core idea of learners controlling their own

learning process.

The adult learners controlling their learning planningprocess framework can be used to discuss the issues

surrounding the core idea of learners controlling their ownlearning process. It has four phases: These are used to

search for what is known about the learners controlling

their own learning process.

Need: Determine what learning is needed to achieve goals;

Create: Create a strategy to achieve the learning goals;

Implement: Implement the learning strategy and use the

learning resources; and

Evaluate: Assess the attainment of the learning goal andthe process of reaching it.

Next slide.

Slide 9 Adults Determine

Their own Learning

needs

Adults who show control in the need phase of theframework for Adult learners control their learning

planning process will be able to determine the learning

needs to achieve their personal goals.

The idea of control at the need determination phase can be

better examined through the perspective of four types of

learning:

Unintended learning: There is no locus of control;

Self-directed learning: This is learner controlled;Mediated learning: There is shared control between the

learner and some external authority; and

Authority directed learning: This is authority controlled.

Most of the adults want to learn on their own because they

want to retain control of the learning process.

Literature in the AE portrays learning professionals asreacting to the needs expressed by adult learners. This

approach is neither strategic nor tactical. There are a

number of assumptions about students that this approach

makes such that the learner is fully aware of his or herneeds, the learner can accurately assess the specific

learning required.

The idea of adults determining their own learning needs

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Slide 11 Adults Evaluate Their

own Learning

Evaluationis defined as a systematic collection of

evidence to determine if desired changes are taking place

Who evaluates depends on who was in control of learning

in the first place. If the learner has retained and executed

control, then the learner should be asking the evaluationquestion What evidence needs to be collected to

determine whether desired changes took place? All thequestions on learning are focused on learning outcomes or

summative evaluation. The questions are not focused on

the process of working toward the learning outcome or

formative evaluation.

There are two different measures of outcomes: Some are

direct while others are proxy or related measures. Indirect

measures have highly questionable validity. Adult learners

who depend on proxy measures such as self-assessment ofanticipated outcomes may make false conclusions based

on invalid data. The learner who wants to retain self-control must reach outside his or her internal reference to

gain rational evaluation data. This can be obtained from

formal tests or expert judges.

Because HRD functions in an organizational world that

demands results and assessing of results, management or

work teams will be full partners of evaluation phase oflearning outcomes rather than the individual learners.

Next slide.

Slide 12 Check Your

Understanding

Slide 13 Summary We have now reached the end of the lesson. Lets take a

look at what we have covered.

We started our discussion by examining human resource

development goals. Here, we learnt that both humanresource development and adult education view adult

learning as central to their theory and practice. However,

they differ on the issues related to control of the goals and

purposes for which adult education is employed. We also

learned that HRD can have two foci, individual first then

organization; or organization first then individual.

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Hortons taxonomy of performance outcomes and

performance drivers bridges the gap between the two

perspectives on the priorities of HRD.

Next, we examined human resource development and

performance improvement. Here, we learned that thereare a number of ways in which human resource

development can improve performance at the individual,

process, and organizational levels. The diagnosis of

performance can be done by usingperformance diagnosis

matrix of enabling questions. Business and industry

leaders use the knowledge and expertise that fits within

and between the fifteen cells of the matrix to talk about

the core competence to the life of their companies. Also

we learned that adult learning has a part to play in almost

all the fifteen cells of theperformance diagnosis matrix.

We then examined human resource development and adult

learning. Here, we learned that that the outcome of HRD

is performance improvement and that learning is the core

component of HRD. We also learned that when adult

learning outcomes and learning process decisions about

individuals are bounded by the rules of and requirements

of the organization, then adult learning is HRD. When

adult learning outcomes and learning process and

requirements are located in the individual then adult

learning is AE.

Next, we examined the premise of individuals controlling

their learning. Here we learned that there is no consensus

on how much control individual learners want and can

handle. Self-directed learning is more complex that it was

first proposed. Andragogy says that adults have a self-

concept and expect others to treat them as capable of self-

direction. AE suggests that the purpose of learning is to

develop self-directed learning capacity in adults.

We then examined the phases of the adult learning

planning process. Here, we learnt that adult learning is the

process of adults gaining knowledge and expertise. Here,

we also learnt that we can use the adult learners

controlling their learning planning process frameworkto

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discuss the issues surrounding the core idea of learners

controlling their own learning process. The framework has

four phases: Need, create, implement, and evaluate.

Next slide.

Slide 14 Summary, continued Next, we examined adults create and implement their ownlearning. Here, we learnt that adults who show control in

the need phase of theAdult learners controlling their own

learning process framework will be able to determine the

learning needs to achieve their personal goals. There are

four types of learning that can be used to examine the idea

of control at the need determination phase:

Unintended learning;

Self-directed learning;

Mediated learning; andAuthority directed learning

The idea of adults determining their own learning needs

can be extended to HRD. HRD can conduct a process, and

the organization.

We then examined adults create and implement their own

learning. Here, we learnt that there isnt enough relevant

literature in adult education that dwells much on the

learner control of the creation and implementationplanning phases. We also learnt that it is always the

struggle for the HRD to strike a balance to meet

organizational goals and at the same time engage the

learners. In the create and implement phases of planning

learning theory and practice, the shared control between

the external authority or instructor and the learner is the

principal focus rather than the learners self-direction.

Finally, we examined adults evaluate their own learning.

Here, we learned that evaluation a systematic collection ofevidence to determine if desired changes are taking place.

There are two different measures of outcomes: Some are

direct while others are proxy or related measures. Indirect

measures have highly questionable validity.

This completes this lesson.