Applying Andragogical Principles to Internet Learning By Susan I ...

Prior to this, there is evidence that well-respected historical figures knew there was a difference between adult and youth learners in the way they described how they transmitted knowledge, understanding, skill, attitude, value, and interest to adults. To begin a quest for how to integrate andragogy and Internet learning, it is important to first understand what is known about the adult learner.

Examples of andragogy can be found early in the recorded history of the world. Before it was named, the art and science of adult learning was practiced as evidenced by early writings about Socrates. Known only through the writing of his students Plato and Xenophon, an Ancient Greek historian, Socrates (480 B.C.) used conversation for the “dialectic improvement of the learner” (LoveToKnow Corp., 2002a, 16). Understanding that the answer comes from the learner, and not the teacher, he invented the Socratic method or the asking of probing questions to promote learning. He promoted self-assessment or know thyself, a cornerstone of adult learning and understood that adults’ past learning and experience contributes to new learning through reflective and critical thought. Socrates perceived learning as a process of active mental inquiry. Socrates’ inquiry method is described as a dialectical method with two distinguishable processes: the destructive process, by which the worse opinion is eradicated; and the constructive process, by which the better opinion is induced (LoveToKnow Corp, 2002b, 6). Further, Socrates found that many learners “stopped short at the stage of perplexity” when, in fact, “the constructive process was the proper and necessary sequel” ( 10). Socrates carried his learners to positive conclusions—conclusions that are concerned with practical action. Therefore, in general, there is a process from the known to the unknown. Taylor (1986) would agree that not facilitating the movement of the learners past the stage of perplexity results in less than positive conclusions.

In light of what is known about the Socratic method, a Socratic Internet learning experience could be described as a process that takes the learner from the known to the unknown by asking probing questions in a conversational way, honoring past experiences, and promoting reflective thought. Ending with a practical action plan will increase the possibility that a constructive process follows the destructive one.