Once again, to be put into the place some of our learners are in is good for us to understand what it feels like. There was a mixture of emotions leading up to taking the exam - anxiety, fear of failure to say the least. Why is this so? Even having been well prepared by going through the training material diligently - even if I thought I was au fait with the content, I was still quite nervous going into the exam.
Adult training or Andragogy, is well documented and I was aware of this as I prepared and went through the training material and considered my experience and knowledge as I did them.
I considered the assumptions of andragogy [1][2] following this exam to see if there was something in here to explain the nerves... Need to know: I knew the reason why I was learning this.
- Foundation: I was using experience as the basis for learning
- Self-concept: self-concept was not a tick - I wasn't involved in the planning or evaluation of this instruction
- Readiness: this had immediate relevance to my work
- Orientation: this learning was mostly problem-centered, scenarios were included, and there was some content-oriented material.
- Motivation: and the motivation for me was internal rather than external as I knew I needed to dig deeper into the Google Suite. External motivation was also a factor as it is an expectation of our employment.
No real clue in there either as all but one was a tick. Maybe I am just an over-achiever? And it just goes to show - you're never too old to learn.
Upshot of it all is that I now have Google Educator Level 1 & Level 2 and ready to take on the Google Certified Trainer next - but first Apple Teacher.
1. Instructional Design: Theories - Andragogy M. Knowles Encyclopedia of Psychology. http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/andragogy/ Retrieved 2018/08/12
2. Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction, and andragogy.
http://infed.org/mobi/malcolm-knowles-informal-adult-education-self-direction-and-andragogy/ Retrieved 2018/08/12
