Androgogy

Androgogy is the art of teaching adults.Fact|date=June 2008

Adult learners tend to be self-directed, that is,they want some control over both the content of learning and the way the knowledge or skill is presented. One of the principal premises of adrogogy is that the successful facilitator acknowledges that need and creates a learning environment for adults that is highly interactive. Therefore, androgogy tends to be process-driven more than content-driven. That is not to say that content is immaterial to the adult learner, but that the adult learner acquires new material (content) or a taught skill more efficiently when the facilitator teaches to his/her learning style preference.

ASTD, the American Society of Training and Development, [http://www.ASTD.org] is a United States membership organization that provides research and development support to adult educators. There are also organizations devoted to a specific segment of adult educators like [http://www.NASJE.org] , the National Association of State Judicial Educators.

Malcolm Knowles was one of the first educators to differentiate this teaching discipline from pedagogy, the teaching of children. Malcolm Knowles is considered one of the first educators to study and publish about androgogy.

References

Knowles, M.S. (1980). The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Androgogy. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall/Cambridge.