Dewey Personal Reflection Paper. Heather Hodge. EDAE 520 Adult Education. Colorado State University

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1 Running Head: Dewey Personal Reflection Paper Dewey Personal Reflection Paper Heather Hodge EDAE 520 Adult Education Colorado State University

2 I read Experience & Education by John Dewey early in the semester. Dewey did an amazing job throughout the book of explaining the differences between traditional (old) education and progressive (new) education. He talked about how people viewed them as either/or, and he attempted to argue that neither is adequate. He discussed how important experience is in learning. While progressivism does take experience into consideration, it doesn t always take the quality of experience had into consideration. Thus, he argued that you must reflect upon the continuity and interaction of the experience. I agree that experience is of upmost importance in adult education. I feel that we have seen that demonstrated over and over again in our own situations, in our readings and discussions, and in the historical reviews. One of the biggest challenges I have faced this semester and I suspect I will face throughout this Master s program is one that I wasn t really expecting. That is, trying to complete assignments and projects from the standpoint of someone who doesn t really teach but is more involved in program development and method of delivery. I have attempted to consider concepts based on the very few teaching opportunities I have had, on the multitude of courses that I have been involved in developing and then watching them being delivered and on my role as a mentor to my staff and to other staff in my office. In continuing medical education (CME), the importance of experience is obvious, which is why a physician completes a residency prior to practicing on his or her own. Yet, so much of medical education is lecture based. One of the challenges is letting the learners talk about their experience instead of just listening to an instructor talk about theirs. One of the best courses I watched was one without a real structured agenda, where the course directors served as moderators of a very open and frank discussion about the future of medicine from a socioeconomic perspective. Each attendee had the opportunity to discuss his or her challenges in 2

3 running a medical practice. Current and impending legislation was discussed and participants learned more about how to get involved in the legislative process. Based on the course evaluations, it was well received. I have also been involved in many CME courses where lecture, discussion and hands-on were intertwined to create a very effective learning environment. Participants heard a lecture first, then went into a cadaver lab to actually learn some hands-on techniques while discussing with the instructors and other participants. Each of the above examples includes some of the key qualities of progressive education, including an emphasis on learning by doing, a call to action (democracy), and using varied learning resources to try to encompass several learning styles. Early in the semester, we read about access and participation. While many of the challenges faced by some in accessing adult education opportunities are not faced by physicians, one of the biggest challenges to access for physicians is time. So, online education has become an important part of CME. Adults are the largest age group to use online learning because of its convenience and flexibility (Ginsberg and Wlodkowski, 2010, p. 25). However, Dewey (1938) points out that, The principle that development of experience come about through interaction means that education is essentially a social process (p. 58). This presents a challenge for some online education that can be easily overcome. Currently, the online education my organization offers is completely one-directional and there is no interaction. As I move forward in developing online CME activities, and as we implement a learning management system (LMS), I will incorporate more opportunities for the attendees to interact with each other in the form of online discussions and/or webinars. Each is easy to accomplish with today s software. Different situations succeed one another. But because of the principle of continuity something is carried over from the earlier to the later ones (Dewey, 1938, p. 44). Not only is 3

4 this concept important within specific educational activities, as I described above, it is also important in the study of adult education as a whole. In several of the historical reviews, Dewey s concept of interaction and sharing of experiences was evident even before he was born. Benjamin Franklin s Junto, as introduced to the class by Nathan Galster (2013), was founded by in Its members came from diverse occupations and backgrounds with a desire to improve themselves, as well as their community (Galster, 2013, slide 1). In doing so, they utilized their experiences and backgrounds to present essays to the group which was then followed by discussion. While not explicitly stated, I can t imagine that each week did not build on the other or provide ideas to other members of other topics to introduce. Thus, the shared experience built on each other and not only helped the individual group members to improve themselves, but to also improve their community. For me personally, one of the most enlightening parts of the Dewey book was when he said, Now, preparation is a treacherous idea it is a mistake to suppose that the mere acquisition of a certain amount of arithmetic, geography, history, etc., which is taught and studied because it may be useful at some point in the future, has this effect, and it is a mistake to suppose that acquisition of skills in reading and figuring will automatically constitute preparation for the right and effective use under conditions very unlike those in which they were acquired (p. 47). When I was an undergraduate, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I randomly chose a major and while my grades were good, I had no experience when I graduated. It was really difficult for me to find a job. Over the years, I have acquired the appropriate experience, but if I had it to do over again, I would have tried to get an internship 4

5 that may have helped me to be better prepared upon graduation. In short, I completely agree with Dewey s statement above. For some of us, we are not prepared for most jobs upon graduation without any experience. We can t take what we learned in the classroom and apply it directly to a career. I rarely felt that I used what I learned as an undergraduate in my career. Flash forward to now, and I m having a completely different experience as a graduate student. Not only am I able to apply what I learn to my job, but I also see a multitude of applications to everyday life. I m excited and I look forward to applying what I am learning. As I referred to earlier, physicians are forced to get experience through a residency before they are able to practice on their own. While it seems so evident, I think the value of experience can never be underestimated. 5

6 References Dewey, J. (1938). Education & Experience. New York, NY: Touchstone. Galster, N. (2013, September 28 ). Benjamin Franklin and the Junto. Message posted to Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_196 72_1%26url%3D Ginsberg, M.B. and Wlodkowski, R.J. (2010). Access and Participation. In C.E. Kasworm, A.D. Rose, J.M. Ross-Gordon (Ed.), Handbook of adult and continuing education. (pp ). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. 6