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Teaching at College- Andragogy and Pedagogy

Teaching support for faculty

Pedagogical Approaches

These strategies focus on the meaning of learning materials and builds on past knowledge - students construct knowledge. 

Examples or applications of constructivist ideas: 

  • Inquiry based learning
  • Problem based learning
  • Integrative learning
  • Experiential learning

AKA Social Constructivist Pedagogy

Students construct knowledge through interaction (with each other and instructors), and understanding is more complete when students work together, discuss topics together, and then work together to apply new information to ideas or concepts they've already learned- contextualizing the new knowledge. 

Reflection is an essential part of teaching strategy, first as an instructor practice, the instructor reflects on instruction. Teaching reflection can include journaling, video-recorded teaching practice for self-review, peer or mentor review of teaching, and formative assessments from students, using teaching inventories. 

It can also involve students - asking students to reflect on learning, gaps in learning, strengths and areas of development, etc.

Peter McLaren- linking the micropolitical (daily life) to the macropolitical

Open pedagogy is a high-impact practice that that engages students as information creators, rather than information consumers. Students create content— assignments with a value that continues after their class ends. 

"We might think about Open Pedagogy as an access-oriented commitment to learner-driven education AND as a process of designing architectures and using tools for learning that enable students to shape the public knowledge commons of which they are a part."

The Open Pedagogy Notebook

 

Why pedagogy/andragogy matters

Curriculum refers to WHAT we teach, while pedagogy/andragogy refers to our approach, the philosophy behind HOW we teach it. This is deeply connected to what we believe about how learning works. Evidence-based pedagogy or andragogy calls for educators to consider emerging theories, technology, and evidence. Thoughtfully developing and improving our approach is one of the most effective ways we can improve the quality and impact of our instruction. 

A great way to clearly encapsulate your pedagogy is to write a Teaching Statement. This is something you can choose to share with your students if you feel it would help them to understand your approach to teaching. The University of Iowa Office of Teaching, Learning & Technology offers a Teaching Goals Inventory which can help you capture your priorities and think about how you teach.

This page will offer a brief overview of many approaches and point you toward to resources to learn more. For simplicity's sake we will use the term pedagogy as an overarching descriptor.