Motivation
As a mathematics and computer science major, I recognized that many peers in my program felt that our courses – although advanced – were not giving us real-world experience. I took it upon myself to learn modern programming languages and software to find internships. This is not the case for everybody. With my current experience as a STEM educator, I focused my research on analyzing the curriculum of an undergraduate mathematics course to improve the educational experience for adult learners.
As I built a qualitative data analysis around recorded lecture transcripts, I focused on this question:
Is the course centered around pedagogy or andragogy?
Pedagogy
- Adolescent education
- Student dependence on the guidance of teacher
- Teacher-oriented classroom
- Motivated by external pressures
Andragogy
- Higher education
- Self-directed study
- Student-oriented classroom
- Problem-centered orientation of learning
Andragogy: The Study of Adult Education
Pronounced an-druh-go-gee, this theory gave me a framework to build my curriculum analysis research. It showed me what my previous undergraduate courses were missing – what my peers and I were missing – due to outdated degree plans. The 6 principles of andragogy (referenced in the figure below) will allow teachers to assess the relevance of assigned coursework to adult learners.
It reaches far beyond the grading scale and narrows in on developing the student’s understanding of subject and self.
Research Method: Grounded Theory
I collected textual data from class lecture transcripts and assigned it to pre-defined cases based on:
- student-teacher interactions
- course materials
- classroom environment
I then narrowed in on unique case classifications:
Student-teacher interactions
- Density of questions + discussions
- Reference to prior experience of student
- Occurence of course learning outcomes
- Real-world applications
Course materials
- Syllabus
- Use of technology + software
- Class recordings and transcripts
- Weekly assignments, group projects, final assessments
Classroom environment
- Accessibility
- Collaboration
- Supplemental materials
- Use of technology [Zoom, Canvas, Jamboard, Desmos]
Generating quantitative data allowed me to cross-analyze the occurrence of andragogical principles to inform curriculum design of an undergraduate mathematics course at Boise State University.