Heutogogy, Andragogy and Pedagogy

This week I would like to share an article just published by one of our colleagues. Our SoTL articles have focused on pedagogy/andragogy and this article extends these teaching approaches into heutagogy (Hase & Kenyon, 2000). The paper “Has the time come for Heutagogy? Supporting neurodivergent learners in higher education” is written by Friedman and Nash-Luckenbach (2023). The purpose was to identify a model of teaching for neurodivergent learners through investigation of theories and faculty lived experiences.

Some of us may not be familiar with the term heutogogy, please refer to this website by the University of Illinois for a comparison of pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy. In summary, “Pedagogy is the teaching of children, or dependent personalities. Andragogy is the facilitation learning for adults, who are self-directed learners. Heutagogy is the management of learning for self-managed learners.”

In this week’s paper, the authors remind us that an increasing number of neurodivergent learners attend college. One of the goals of the paper is to add to our teaching toolbox the ideas that while “pedagogy and andragogy have relevance, in isolation, they may lack alignment with the individualization embedded in neurodiversity-affirming practice.” The study uses a constant comparative qualitative analysis of faculty interviews and frameworks. Three themes were identified:

• pedagogy vs. andragogy,

• self-determination, and

• interdependency.

The authors created the framework “Building a Heutagogical Bridge” which described the role of heutagogy, student-centered, and self-determined learning. The bridge contains five principles connecting pedagogy to andragogy through heutagogy:

1. personal agency/autonomy of the learner,

2. learner capability,

3. learner metacognitive reflection,

4. experiential and cognitive engagement, and

5. non-prescriptive design (Blaschke & Hase, 2016).

The authors summarized the implications for SoTL as building and encouraging intentional reflective practice can support heutagogical principles of self-determination, experiential learning, and metacognition. For learners, building more reflective practices can challenge them to understand their own experiences, while for instructors, this can provide insight into how their practices can continually be improved. Allowing students to learn in the field with diverse hands-on experiences can support neurodiversity-affirming practice, while engaging learners in the process of forging and thinking about their own learning.

On another topic, some of you have asked for Teaching Conference suggestions. The Sunshine State Teaching & Learning Conference is this year on March 18-20 in Orlando, FL at the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management (9907 Universal Blvd). Registration is $300. Here is the Agenda at a Glance. Because this is a sharing conference, priority will be given to proposals that have clear ideas for take-aways that participants can use in their own teaching. The deadline to submit a proposal is Nov 27, 2023 and you can submit at this link. Feel free to contact Kevin Yee, the UCF CTL Director at Kevin.Yee@ucf.edu.

References

Friedman, Z. L., & Nash-Luckenbach, D. (2023). Has the time come for Heutagogy? Supporting neurodivergent learners in higher education. Higher Education.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01097-7