Analyze Professional Development for Alignment to Knowles' Third Assumption: Readiness to Learn

Video Transcription

In this series of six tutorials, I'll be walking you through the process of aligning your professional development to Knowles' six assumptions for adult learners. Recall that the six assumptions are self-concept, experience, readiness, problem-centered orientation, internal motivation, and the need to know. It's important for us to analyze our professional development plans in the context of adult learning theories.

In all stages of professional learning from the design to the implementation, teachers need to be able to connect the various stages of their learning to the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, and to their classroom practice. Knowles' six assumptions of adult learning can help us here, as they provide a framework for analyzing our professional development. For each of Knowles' six assumptions, I'll guide you through a three-step process.

We'll begin by identifying the areas of existing alignment. We'll then identify areas of possible misalignment. And finally, we'll identify specific areas for enhancement. This analysis of our professional development is going to be an evaluative process. So I will be providing you with some evaluative questions and possible solutions that I recommend you use throughout the process.

Evaluative questions are going to ask for an opinion, or ask for a belief or a point of view. And so it's important to remember that these types of questions don't have any wrong answers. Rather they are meant to spark some thought and to get you to consider multiple points of view as we go through the process of alignment.

As we go through this process, I will be referring to a sample professional development plan. Note that this plan includes the focus area of professional development, the site goal, and the alignment to district goals, along with action steps, resources, a timeline, details about who is responsible and who is involved, and evidence. The two action steps outlined in this plan are aligning curriculum to common core standards and enhancing instruction with technology. We'll look at various aspects of this plan more closely as we go through the alignment process.

In this tutorial, we'll examine alignment to assumption number three, readiness to learn. This assumption tells us that adult learners will be more ready to learn skills that they can implement in their daily lives right away, rather than skills that they likely won't be able to use immediately. Step one of the alignment process is to identify areas of existing alignment. Here are some questions that you might ask yourself about your professional development plan to see if it is aligned with assumption number three.

If there is alignment, has the immediate need for the new knowledge been shared with the adult learners as part of the professional development plan? Which specific aspects of the professional development are going to be immediately useful to teachers? Does the professional development plan communicate to the learners exactly how they will be using this information in their present role or in their future roles? do the adult learners have the background skills that are going to be necessary to use what they are learning in the professional development?

Step number two is to identify areas of misalignment. Here, we'll be looking for particular places in which the assumption is violated or indications that it is not being applied appropriately to the professional development plan. So here are some questions that you can ask yourself about your professional development plan.

If there is misalignment, what can we change in order to help learners to understand the importance of the new information? What specific elements of the professional development are not going to be immediately useful to the participants? How are we going to explain the importance of the information to the learners so that they know the immediacy of the new knowledge or the new skills and how it applies to their present roles?

And finally, step three of the alignment process is to identify areas for enhancement. Remember, these might be areas in which the approach to the professional development is OK, but the design could still be altered in order to create better alignment to the assumption of readiness to learn. So questions that you can ask yourself about your professional development plan might include, what needs to be changed in order to foster the optimal learning experience for the participants?

What needs to be changed in order for the learners to see the professional development as immediately useful? How can the professional development plan be improved so that participants understand the importance of the new knowledge and skills as they apply to their current role? What can we improve in order to strengthen the activity and highlight the need for this new information in the participant's current roles?

Let's return to the sample professional development plan to check for alignment. Step one in the alignment process is to identify areas of existing alignment. The specific dates that are outlined in the timeline for each of the action steps are definitely aligned with this principle of the adult learner's readiness to learn. These specific dates will help these teachers to see the immediate importance of the information that they are learning in the processes that they are going through,

Also, using teacher-created evidence such as completed alignment maps and staff exemplars is another element aligned to the concept of the adult learner's readiness to learn. When learners understand that their finished products may be used as examples for others, or may be evaluated in some formal fashion, they may consequently feel more ready to approach the new knowledge and skills with that sense of motivation that is necessary.

Step two in the alignment process is to identify areas of misalignment. A potential problem area here is the approach being used to request and purchase subscriptions for apps for the iPads. According to the timeline, teachers are expected to submit their iPad implementation plans already in August. And presumably, they will be implementing the iPads in their classrooms right away when school begins in September. But the subscription requests for iPad apps aren't due until October 1st, and the apps themselves won't even be purchased until November.

Now while on the one hand, one can argue that this would give teachers necessary time to perhaps try out some apps on their own iPads, or to gather some data from students, and other teachers, and other possible sources about the apps that they might want to actually implement. On the other hand, we're talking about spending two full months of the school year without the apps that teachers would like to use.

In those first few days and weeks of the school year when we are establishing our classroom routines, it would be nice to actually have access to those apps so that we can begin using them with our students right away. Perhaps this district might consider implementing some sort of a rolling schedule for requesting iPad apps. That way teachers who are ready with their requests at the beginning of the school year can potentially have those apps on the student iPads right away when school begins, but other teachers who may want more time to investigate and make their decisions would have that option as well.

So now it's your turn to stop and reflect. Take a look at your professional development plan and determine whether it is aligned with assumption number three, the adult learner's readiness to learn. For more information on how to apply what you learned in this video, please view the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. The additional resources section includes hyperlinks useful for applications of the course material, including a brief description of each resource. Thanks for joining me today. Have a great day.