Critical and Postmodern Perspectives on Adult Learning

Abstract

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a generic learner who acquired knowledge in one or a few predictable ways? Wouldn't it be even better if we all agreed what knowledge was worth acquiring? Our models of learning would be brilliant guides to successful outcomes, and educators couldn't go wrong if they simply followed the bouncing ball of cause to effect, stimulus to response.However, with the increasing inclusion of diverse participants in the conversation about adult education, it has become clear that there is no such thing as one kind of learner, one learning goal, one way to learn, nor one setting in which learning takes place. Many theorists have convincingly demonstrated that commonly held assumptions about generic learners and learning are irrelevant and even willfully oppressive when recklessly applied to all kinds of people without regard for their unique life experiences and attributes such as race, class, and gender. Furthermore, theorists have contributed new ways of understanding who learns and how, where, and why.The theoretical perspectives of those who challenge neat and thus exclusionary models of adult learning often fall within the broad categories of critical and postmodern theory. Critical and postmodern theorists alike believe that knowledge is socially constructed and takes form in the eyes of the knower, rather than being acquired from an existing reality that resides "out there." Theorists from both perspectives are also interested in power as a factor in determining what and how we come to know a lot about certain things and not others, and have certain ideas while not others. Different individuals and groups see the world from different positions, some having more power than others. From either a critical or a postmodern

Hermeneutical Portrait of Today’s 18–22 Year Old Young Adult Male

“…Deborah Kilgore (2001) highlights the need for a postmodern turn in the way we understand and teach young adults towards adulthood. She argues that "the theoretical perspectives of those who challenge neat and thus exclusionary models of adult learning often fall within the broad categories of critical and postmodern theory" (p. 53).…”

Utilization-Focused Evaluation (Program Evaluation)

“…This strategy is predicated upon the understanding that language manifests itself in the electronic environment. Kilgore (2001) notes that this environment contributes to communities of practice, which are integral to building and disseminating knowledge within an organization (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995 453). Certainly computers are the chief tool through which this language is shared.…”

“…The literature makes clear the organizational knowledge is socially constructed and, for the most part, context-based. The literature clearly defines knowledge as socially constructed (Bruffee, 1999;Flaherty, 1999;Merriam et al, 2001;Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995;Preskill & Torres, 1999;Starratt, 2003 Learning is intentional and contextual (Bruffee, 1999;Hansman, 2001;Kilgore, 2001;Marsick & Watkins, 2001;Merriam, 2001;Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995;Preskill & Torres, 1999;Starratt, 2003). Thus, it is critical to examine the role context plays in organizational knowledge creation and problem solving, and it is ill advised to apply "blinding focus on the individual learner whle ignoring the sociohistorical context in which learning occurs" (Kilgore, 2001, p.11).…”

Toward a postmodern pedagogy

“…Postmodernists take issue with the validity of these or any overarching explanations (Hemphill, 2001;Usher and Edwards, 1994;Lyotard, 1993). They say that any knowledge presented as such could be hegemony, taking certain conditions of human life in society to be normal and fair even though they serve the interests of some people at the expense of others (Cahoone, 1996;Kilgore, 2001;Tierney, 1997).…”