Category Archives: adult learning

Nine Years of Water Testing

adult learning, blogging

Water Test Procedure

  1. At home, do the sodium thiosulfate test. Check kit for equipment and data sheets.
  2. At the dock, hang the thermometer out of the sun to take air temperature.
  3. Complete the front of the data sheet.
  4. Use the secchi disk to record water clarity and water depth.
  5. Use the bucket to collect a water sample. Place it on the dock, preferably out of the sun.
  6. Record air temperature and put thermometer in the bucket to test water temperature.
  7. Begin dissolved oxygen test: add the first two chemicals and then let the precipitate settle.
  8. While it’s settling, record water temperature and complete the ph test.
  9. Complete the DO test.
  10. Do the salinity test.
  11. Check all recorded data, especially tidal stage.
  12. Complete rest of form. Sign.

This is the procedure I have been following for the almost 200 water tests I have done at this same spot on Morris Creek. My data is available online. Yesterday, I attended the bi-annual recertification workshops where they review procedures and issue new equipment and chemicals. Continue reading Nine Years of Water Testing →

NEO Blogging

adult learning, blogging, technical skills

Normally, my location is probably of no interest to anyone reading this blog. But, this post is all about location. I am sitting on my dock, which reaches out into Morris Creek, a fresh water tidal creek along which my husband and I own a piece of property. I want to record my thoughts about the water testing I’ve been doing for almost a decade. In order to do that, I am going to use a very handy piece of technology called a NEO.

Part word processor, part micro computer, the NEO is an Alphasmart product. I normally don’t bring any technology out to this undeveloped property about 30 minutes from our home. There is no electricity or running water, just a tent with some adirondack chairs and a spectacular view. The quiet peacefulness seems to preclude sitting in front of a computer, and I can see you shaking your head over this breach of the nature/technology border.

Continue reading NEO Blogging →

Exploring The Weather Underground

adult learning, documentary film

I watched this documentary, directed and produced by Sam Green, yesterday. My husband and I both agreed that while we remembered the group–and in particular I remembered knowing that some of them had blown themselves up in Greenwich Village–we did not remember how active they had been in bombing various buildings. I suppose it’s a testament to my age–I was 13 when the Vietnam War ended in 1975–but also to the lack of widespread media in the 70s. The news just wasn’t as big a deal as it is now.

The PBS show Independent Lens has an extensive website devoted to the documentary. In an interview frm the site, Green says that he and his co-director, Bill Siegel, tried to give a fair and balanced account of the history. I guess I agree. They did interview a former FBI agent involved in the hunt for the Weathermen. They also included Todd Gitlin, former SDS president, who is clearly negative towards them for taking over his organization. And the members of the group themselves seemed to cover the various points of view. For instance, Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers seem to have little regret for what they did while Mark Rudd discusses feeling ashamed by their actions. I guess I just can’t imagine what it would be like to be them. They are close to 60 years old now, with jobs and families, one of them even went on Jeopardy and won some money. So, what do they tell their grandchildren? “When I was your age, I was at war with the government.”

Continue reading Exploring The Weather Underground →

Technical Learning

adult learning, documentary film, technical skills

I am learning technical skills even while I am interfacing with documentary films on DVD.

I learned how to rip a DVD to my iPod using Handbrake.  Learning how to use Handbrake was pretty easy although I think I only got one of the movies on the DVD. But I thought of all the learning I’ve already done to make using Handbrake easy: I can access a webpage, find the download link, pick the correct format, etc. I know how to install programs on my computer and am pretty adept at navigating software. For instance, I opened Handbrake and tried to access the DVD but it didn’t seem to work. It occured to me that I had to quit the DVD player that opens automatically. When I did that, Handbrake worked fine. I’ve learned most of these skills so well that they are automatic; I don’t have to think about them anymore. But I didn’t learn them all at once and I learned them in two primary ways: reading help files and talking to people. I continue to learn from people; I downloaded Handbrake because of a colleague’s recommendation when I told him I knew I could rip DVD to my iPod but didn’t know how.

I wanted to watch The Weather Underground, a documentary I’ve had floating around for awhile now. I started watching it on my laptop and then realized I coudln’t work on my computer while I watched. Luckily, the Fed Ex truck pulled up and my new 20 inch monitor got unloaded. (The computer itself won’t be coming until the first week in October–blech.) I unloaded it and got it hooked up and working in about five minutes so now the movie is playing on the monitor and I am blogging on my laptop monitor. I didn’t really “learn” how to hook up the monitor since I’ve done it before, but I did read the manual just to make sure I was doing it correctly. Also, I was already familiar with the concept of dual monitors and mirroring so I knew I could drag the DVD window to the new monitor.

EPPL 714 Class Notes

adult learning

Next week: We will develop a concept map related to learning; check Blackboard folder for resources

Began by getting thoughts on our intellectual journey for the past week:

  • Issues related to the reflection questions: tough to define learning, problems identifying better/new ways to learn
  • We each went around and shared what we had learned:
    • Idea of not learning in isolation: so rather than self-directed learning we are experiencing self-connected learning
    • Concerns about how to reflect on learning
    • Part of learning is unlearning
    • To what extent do principals of adult learning apply to younger students? What is an adult? Do younger people have the frame of reference needed to guide their own learning? Talked about Summerhill as humanistic education. And what about graduate school: does it count as adult learning? The volunteer aspect is taken away. So, perhaps the voluntary approach is the way to distinguish this type of education. To what extent do learners have control over the methodology and the content? In club settings, learners have much more control over the environment than if you are taking a certification class.

After the break: send Gene a final copy of your learning contract. He will send some sort of blessing.

The people who hadn’t been in class shared their contracts.

Chris T. talked about doing learning assessments. Taking those tests makes you psychologically patriotic (ie, you learn that your style is ok and you shouldn’t judge yourself negatively based on your results).

The premier journal is The Adult Education Quarterly. If you read the journal, it will give you some idea what the key themes and areas of research are right now. There aren’t many journals left in adult ed: there is a series published by Jossey-Bass on new directions in adult learning but they tend to be practitioner based rather than theory and research. A lot of the research is going on in other fields (ie, nursing, lawyers, social workers). Tend to be published in the research journals of those fields rather than in a specific adult learning journal.

Sharan Merriam’s update to adult education theory written in 2001: Merriam, S. B. (2001). The new update on adult learning theory. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

From this point on, the time is up to you…if you would like to fill the class time doing things. Gene isn’t going to try to fill the class up so he needs to hear from us next week as to how much time we need to be in class. Ben would like to come and do a class presentation. We’ll fill in a schedule for the next month or so. There will be at least one week when Gene will be gone.

What do we think about andragogy?

Is adult learning a theory or a set of assumptions? Brookfield’s biggest argument against these being a theory is that there are plenty of adult learners who aren’t self-directed or internal learners. Seems to be a variety of adult learning experiences that may have different levels of student commitment to the course.  When Brookfield looks at Knowles, he says it isn’t a theory because Brookfield uses theory as an empirically tested hypothesis and he also points out that we know lots of people who simply aren’t self-directed when it comes to classroom learning.  How valuable is this as a list of prescriptive assumptions for setting up your class if it isn’t really a valid theory?

Brookfield: self direction is a goal we should be trying to do, develop people who are more self directed.  It’s a worthy goal even though we know there are lots of people out there who aren’t.

One point is that there is no adult learner: you have whole human beings who have potential and experience that they bring to it and effective adult ed programs will understand that.  Within any group of adults you will have people who are doing it for a variety of reasons.  Gene uses andragogy as a way of putting a course together.  For Gene, it’s a philosophical kind of model. It’s flexible enough to be usable by a variety of educational organizations.  Gene just wanted us to understand that there are holes in adult learning ideas.