Notes regarding   pedagogy and    andragogy

Apparently, the word pedagogy initially referred to teaching methods for teaching children. It is currently used in reference to teaching methods in general. The term is often used in discussions of online learning, and generally does NOT refer to teaching children only.

The terms "teaching methods" or " methodology" are often used in place of the term " pedagogy".

Example: When we design courses for online delivery, it is imperative that we find creative ways to incorporate active learning; thus our pedagogy or teaching methods might include having students complete tasks, research, projects, and discussions.

Considerations: It is of paramount importance that we understand our target audience. Are we teaching teenagers or adults? If they are adults, are they working adults with families or mainly young adult college students living at home with parents? Do our learners live near the college or are they truly distance learners? Did they opt into the online course or was it their only option? Have most of our learners previously taken an online course or is this their first one? The more demographics we understand about our learners, the better. Armed with this knowledge, we can apply targeted pedagogy or methodology. For example: I know that everyone taking this course is a teacher. Therefore I know that all of you already know how to teach in a classroom and understand something about learning theory. Given this fore-knowledge, I did not include a lot of detail about learning theory and teaching concepts in this course.

The information below all comes from the Internet and the resource links have been provided:

What is andragogy?

Definition

Andragogy is the art and science of helping adults learn. (Knowles 1970)

Discussion

Andragogy is based on four crucial assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners that are different from the assumptions about child learners.

As persons mature,

• they accumulate a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning
• their self concept moves from being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directing human being
• their readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of their social roles, and
• their time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application.

Source: hthttp://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/ReferenceMaterials/GlossaryOfLiteracyTerms/WhatIsAndragogy.htm

Definitions of Pedagogy found on the Internet:

Opposite of andragogy. The art and science of how children learn.
e-learningguru.com/gloss.htm

The organization and teaching of content is referred to in this course as pedagogy. Teaching methods or methodology are often used in place of the term pedagogy. Currently little attention has been given to the pedagogy of teaching on-line.
busboy.sped.ukans.edu/sped798d/course/lessons/lesson1/glossary2.html

Pedagogy is the study of the methods and application of educational theory to create learning contexts and environments. A selection of the range of pedagogies is provided in Appendix 11.
www.bbk.ac.uk/ccs/elearn/glossary.htm

the art or science of teaching; teaching methods (Oxford English Dictionary, 1971).
spruce.flint.umich.edu/~cakers/glossary.html

Pedagogy is the art of teaching. "Pedagogical issues relate to teaching and learning. A fundamental pedagogical issue [in distance education] pertains to the importance of the medium in distance learning environments" (Hill, 1997, p. 77).
www.nsac.ns.ca/cde/staff/lcj/development/prototype/glossary.htm

Interesting article

League for Innovation learning abstract; Elements of Quality: The Sloan-C Framework
http://www.league.org/publication/abstracts/learning/lelabs0212.html