In over Our Heads: Applying Kegan's Theory of Development to Community College Students

Abstract

Kegan's constructive-develomental theory builds on the work of Piaget, Erickson, Kohlberg, and Perry to conceptualize the process of human development from infancy through adulthood. Kegan emphasizes the period of adolescence onward, encompassing the ages of community college students. The authors outline the basic concepts of Kegan's theory, particularly as it applies to education. Based on their teaching experiences, they illustrate how Kegan's theory can be used by instructors to understand the dynamics of the community college classroom using entries from student journals. The illustration provided can be used by instructors to explore their own expectations when they make assignments and to begin understanding how students develop during a semester.

Tailoring Retention Theories to Meet the Needs of Rural Appalachian Community College Students

“…Kegan emphasizes that progression through the different orders of cognitive development occurs at a personalized rate and is not, therefore, necessarily aligned with social class, gender, or other factors dependent on the external environment of one's childhood. Although Bourdieu contends that some students do not understand the rules of academia when their personal habitus fails to align with that of the dominant culture, Kegan's psychosocial development theory lends an additional caveat: Even students from middle or higher social standings, whose habitus does mirror that of the college, may not grasp the rules of academia because they have not yet reached the cognitive development order that allows for understanding within a complex academic setting (Hlinka, 2012;Tinberg & Weisberger, 1998). Educators cannot teach their students to think at a level higher than what they are intrinsically capable of at that time in their lives; however, educators can serve as sympathetic coaches who nurture students' cognitive development by gently prodding and challenging students to analyze things differently (Baxter Magolda, 1999).…”

University Educator Mindsets: How Might Adult Constructive‐Developmental Theory Support Design of Adaptive Learning?

“…Most effective teachers are aware that learning results from an iterative process of feedback loops; a process of asking and answering questions between teacher and students, between experts and novices, and between students, as well as questioning and finding answers ourselves. The process of observing a phenomenon, querying an aspect of that experience, and eventually symbolizing the query response into an answer suggests an interactive learning cycle (see Tinberg & Weisberger, ).…”

Community College Adjustment Among Dislocated Workers

“…Although a substantial knowledge-base exists regarding persistence and academic success factors (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2003), student readiness and goal achievement (Byrd & MacDonald, 2005), influences of the campus environment (Schuetz, 2005;Veltri, Banning, & Davis, 2006), and student development (Tinberg & Weisberg, 1998) among community college students generally, less is known about dislocated workers' community college experiences. Understanding these learners' experiences is necessary in order to create successful programs that can respond to their needs and, thereby, meet the goals of retraining this constituency and preparing them to apply what they have learned and return to the workforce.…”