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Adult learning and action learning — A realworkplace learning approachR.F. Fell aa Rural Extension Centre , UQ Gatton College , Q4345, AustraliaPublished online: 30 Jul 2007.

To cite this article: R.F. Fell (1999) Adult learning and action learning — A real workplace learning approach, The Journalof Agricultural Education and Extension, 6:2, 73-81, DOI: 10.1080/13892249985300191

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Adult Learning and Action Learning - A Real Workplace Learning Approach

R. E Fell*

Abstract

The Rural Extension Centre (REC) has developed an approach to accredited training that is based on adult learning principles and is driven by an action learning approach. One of the central features of this approach is the use of real workplace based learning projects to allow participants to immediately apply the theory of the subject being studied in a practical and useful way. The emphasis is on learning in these projects, however, they are directly based in the workplace with immediate benefits for the individual, their organisation and their clients. Action learning is applied in the courses offered by the REC at three levels. The levels are micro-, macro- and mega- that is; on a daily basis in the residential sessions, on a weekly basis as developing learning projects and on a subject basis over the three to four months that the subject takes. The learning project is a key vehicle for learning between the residential sessions. During residential sessions time is taken to ensure that the theory is delivered in a practical and useful way, to the extent that in some subjects there is real case study activity which allows the application of theory as the week goes on. JAgr Educ Ext (1999, 6~ 2, pp 73-82)

Introduction

1. The Rural Extension Centre The Rural Extension Centre (REC) is a joint initiative between the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI) and The University of Queensland. Its headquarters are at University of Queensland, Gatton College. The vision of the REC is "'enriching rural communities through learning partnerships "' and the mission is "to create, foster and implement collaborative action and learning opportunities through extension training, research, information, education and development for rural well-being and beauty ".

One of the primary tasks for the REC is to provide a focus for training in extension skills for practicing extension and other professional staff, through the following accredited training programs: - The Certificate in Extension - accredited by

Gatton College; - The Graduate Certificate in Rural Systems

Management (Rural Extension) and the

* Rural Extension Centre, UQ Garton College, Q4345, Australia

Postgraduate Diploma in Rural Systems Management (Rural Extension), and

- The Master of Rural Systems Management (Rural Extension).

These are offered through the School of Natural Rural Systems Management in the Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science, UQ.

The REC brings to these courses the experience of specialist extension staff through its partnership with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI) and knowledge gained through further study in extension and education of its core group of trainers.

The phUosophy beh ind the courses - structure and design The education and training philosophy of the courses is that of Adult Learning (Knowles 1990) where adults are self-directed to learn what is relevant to them, their needs or their work situation. The objective is to encourage participants to use this as a conscious learning

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method they can model in their professional role in their workplace.

The structure and design of the courses, with the workshop residential sessions and workplace learning projects, meet the needs of full-time professional staff and their organisations while delivering a direct and immediate input into the workplace. This was initially determined from a needs assessment by Woods and Graham-Smith (1993) and put into place in the first subjects in February 1994. In order to deliver education and training in a manner that meets these adult needs, the REC has based all courses and subjects on the Action Learning Cycle (Kolb 1984; Revans 1982) and Adult Learning Principles (Knowles 1990).

Action learning drives the training at both the micro, macro and mega levels and is described in detail below.

Learning theories for training and extension

General learning theories in application Burns (1995)outlines four pathways for adult education and training: - educational institutions which teach adults

alongside younger students - educational institutions set up primarily for

adults - non-educational organisations that teach adults

as a by-product of their own main activity - independent adult learning conducted by

individuals interested in particular topics using resources to hand. (Burns 1995 p 227-228).

The REC is an organisation that covers the last three groups and was set up to help adults learn in a work related context. It also hopes to do so in an independent adult learning manner, where the participants are encouraged to use a whole range of resources to learn and for this learning to be accredited at university level.

The course uses an androgogical approach where this is defined as "the science of teaching adults" (Knowles 1990). Malouf (1994) has converted this into a set of guidelines for teaching adults in "a fun and exciting way". Fetl (1996) bases his seven learning principles on these approaches and that of Rogers (1973).

In the field of agriculture extension, professionals work with people. Whatever aims

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governments have or regional administrations or even within workplaces, extension professionals deal with people. These people are almost always adults, with varied levels of education, from high school through to Postgraduate degrees.

Many of the clients in extension are farmers, again with varied levels of education and experience. Many are chamcterised as being conservative, approaching change cautiously. This is often true for extensionists and researchers as well.

The application of the principles of adult learning and action learning to extension should improve the ways in which services are delivered to clients. The REC has developed training courses based on these principles and are helping extensionists and others to put these into practice with their farmer clients. The principles are more widely applicable to all facets of work, including research and regulation.

Principles o f adult learning in workplace learning Adult learning principles have been used to plan the course and are intrinsic to its delivery. Seven principles are grouped below (Fell 1986; 1996a).

Principle one: Build on local experience, use the knowledge within the group/individual. Adults come to educational or training activities for a variety of reasons. What they bring with them is a wealth of experience that is there to be built on and used in the particular activity (Malouf 1993; Knowles 1990; Rogers 1973). It is important to tap into this experience, to see what they already know and to then develop the material that you have from this base. Learning projects in the workplace are a direct way of putting new knowledge into practice that is based on the participants' experience.

Principle two: Make the learning environment comfortable and encouraging. When adults are faced with a new (learning) experience they are often anxious about their own perceived deficiencies and about showing this in public (Rogers 1973). Any learning experience should be structured to take these feelings into account. It is important therefore to create an environment that is comfortable and drawing out their experience is one starting point. The residential sessions in the REC

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courses use facilitation and other processes to ensure a comfortable and encouraging learning environment.

The learning environment must be socially and mentally safe (Malouf 1993). As participants develop their learning projects for the workplace where they are operating in a familiar and comfortable environment, as well as being socially and mentally safe.

Principle three: Ensure that the learning activity meets the needs and relates to the problems of the client group. An important aspect o f any learning activity is that adults feel a need to learn (Malouf 1993; Knowles 1990) and they usually have problems or issues that they are concerned about. Thus they come into activities looking for answers to their concerns. The learning needs to have practical pay off. Learning projects are planned by the participants to meet their needs and thus have an immediate impact.

Principle four: Involve the audience in planning their own learning experience. Involvement and participation in the learning process are also important for adults and activities need to be designed that cater for the four learning styles, activist, pragmatist, theorist and reflector (Honey & Mumford 1986). The action learning process provides a basic framework for involving people and ensuring participation. Key elements are activity with reflection and then developing how learning may be used in practice.

Adults come to these learning experiences wanting to learn, so this expectation must be met. Activities should therefore challenge and stimulate the individual in the learning process.

Principle five: Have activities that involve, that are stimulating and are participatory.

Principle six: Allow time for people to reflect on what they are learning, take difficult subjects slowly and always be open to questioning.

Principle seven: Build group and individual confidence by letting them know they are right, building a confidence that they are making progress towards their learning goals.

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There is inherent in these principles an assumption that extensionist and trainer alike are here to help people to learn, not to "teach" them what they need to know. This does not mean that the use of a lecture or talk is never appropriate; it means that we should be careful to match the learning process with the audience needs and learning styles. These are the principles that each of the subjects is designed around and is the basis, with action learning, of the whole course.

Brief description of course format and requirements The structure of each 10 credit point subject in the courses is : - A compulsory five day residential to start

each subject, designed to expose participants to theoretical concepts and the development of a plan for a learning project within their workplace;

- A work-based or community-based learning project (undertaken as part of the participant's normal work) which is completed prior to returning for the second residential session.

- A compulsory two day residential, 10 - 12 weeks after the start allowing for review and peer feedback on the learning project before the final written report is submitted, and

- A final written report (learning project) which is submitted three to four weeks after the second residential as the final part of each subject and the final part of the assessment.

Three levels of action learning - the learning process of the REC course in detail

L Micro-process used during the residential sessions Figure 1 (page 76) illustrates the way the action learning process operates during the residential sessions. The activities that help ensure that the action learning cycle is put into practice are:

Quick reflection or debrief at the end of each particular session. What has stood out, what was learnt, what can we do differently? - Learning Log, using the same prompt

questions, completed each day. A daily written diary to capture learning and potential action.

- Walk-talk, 10 minutes discussion with a partner at the end of each day, using the reflection questions as above.

- Learning review, to start each day there is a small group discussion, review, based on action

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learning questions, similar to those above and shown in the Figures which follow.

Each subject opens with a session on expectations and then a session that enables the participants to share their current level of knowledge (briefly) with each other and the trainers. These activities and the action learning process in 'action' also help to ensure that the subject is conducted within the principles of adult learning.

Some subjects also use Action Learning Sets (McGill and Beaty 1992) or Learning Support Groups (LSG) during the first residential session. If participants have found them useful, they have continued to use the Learning Support Group during the period of the learning project.

2. Macro-process for assisting with the learning projects Action learning is used as each participant feels they need to in their own learning project and is usually used at intervals during the project. Some participants use the LSG throughout the learning project.

The Learning Log is also used by some to help drive their learning project, it is set up with this in mind. Figure 2 sets out the learning project within the action learning cycle.

3. Mega-process for learning The flow chart below shows all the parts of the mega-process that the REC uses in the conduct of the subjects in the course and represents a mega-action learning process for the course. Each subject has the following elements: - content and theory sessions that lead to a better

understanding of the subject; - developing an action plan to put aspects of the

theory into practice (learning project); - working through the action plan with reflection

and review as they are going along; - review and reflection on the learning project in

the second residential session; - generalisations and conclusions from the

subject and learning project, the learning; - re-plan or plan to use in the future, written into

the report at the end of the subject.

The mega process of action learning is captured in Figure 4 below and shows the four phases that are broadly encompassed in the courses and for each subject in the course.

There is evidence from evaluation (Fell 1998; Hossain 1998; Samu 1998) that participants have not only recognised the process being used, but have understood the principles and are putting them into practice in their work.

PLAN How will you put these things you have learnt into practice? How do you plan to use them? Will you use them in your learning project?

ACT Conduct or take part in an activity, exercise or presentation - the subject content.

"Micro-process"

GENERALISE CONCLUDE

(What have you learnt? What can you use from this session? What are the 'rules of thumb'?

R E F L E C T / O B S E R V E

Reflect on the previous activity. What did you see, feel, hear, do? What stood out for you? What had meaning for you and your work?

Figure 1. Micro-process for learning in the Extension Course

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Fell

PLAN How are the changes to be made? What are you going to do now? Re-do the action plan for the learning cycle and do it.

ACT Develop and put into practice a learning project action plan. Put the amended action plan into practice, etcetera.

"Macro-process"

GENERALISE CONCLUDE What can I conclude? Do changes need to be made? Is everything on track ?

REFLECT/OBSERVE Reflect on the action plan at regular intervals. What did you see, feel, hear, do? Where am I in the process? How is it going?

Figure 2. Macro-process for the learning project

PLAN 1. How will these changes be made to the action plan? What are you going to do now? Re-do the action plan for the learning cycle and put it into practice, etc. 2. What will I use in future? What is important for the written report.

ACT 1. Develop a learning project 2. Put the learning process into action.

"Mega-process"

GENERALISE CONCLUDE 1. What can I conclude? Do changes need to be made? Is everything on track for the learning projects? 2. What have I concluded from the subject for my future work?

REFLECT/OBSERVE 1. Reflect and review the action plan at regular intervals. What did you see, feel, hear, do? Where am I in the process? How is it going? 2. Change the plan as needed from these reflections.

Figure 3. The mega-process used in the course

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Learning projects - turning theory into practice

As a central pillar of the REC's action learning approach the learning project has been very successful. Evaluations of the course have each shown the learning project to be one of major ways that participants have put the theory of a particular subject into practice in their work.

Fell (1997a) showed that learning projects were the main vehicle for putting into practice adult leaning principles, action learning and good facilitation. Hossain (1998) and Samu (1998) also underlined the worth of learning projects in their evaluations of the course.

The following "glimpses" give a brief insight into some of these learning projects.

Glimpse o n e - Ac t ion learning in action (He i s swo l f1995) By using action learning cycles at three levels Heisswolfwas able to restructure and re-energise the way in which a traditional field day on the control of Cabbage White Moth in Brassicas was conducted.

Cycle one - the action learning cycle was used with farmers and consultants to plan the day and resulted in the traditional day being reorganised to be more participative and practically oriented.

Cycle two - the day itself had an action learning cycle underpinning, shown by the periods for reflection, seeking commitment to action, as well as the series of activities during the day. All parts of the action learning cycle were covered.

Cycle three- Heisswolf used the action learning cycle to drive the process from her viewpoint, both for the planning and holding of the field day, as well as completing her learning project through to writing up.

It should also be noted that the day and its preparation strongly followed adult learning principles: - building on experience, farmers expressed their

experience on the day, as well as on being in the planning group,

- involved in planning, farmers helped to plan the day and were consulted at the start of the day about the program,

- needs orproblem-related, Cabbage White Moth is a problem that needs controlling in Brassicas,

- t ime to reflect, this was built deliberately into the program,

- s t imulating andpart icipatory, planning was participatory and activities and exercises were stimulating and involving on the day,

- comfortable learning environment, starting with a bus tour and then visiting farms, both engendered a comfortable learning environment,

- building confidence in a take home message, this was the cumulating message of the day.

Glimpse two - Pastoral property visits at CharleviUe (Edmons ton 1995 per s corn) "the pastoralists had visited a property, which took about nine hours to get round in four-wheel drive vehicles and at the end of the day there was a faint feeling of dissatisfaction, what had we achieved? It seemed very little. After doing Adult Learning the next time I used the learning review questions at the end of the day - what stood out? What have you learnt? What can you take away and use at home?.

This went quite well - but one grazier made me think by saying ' if you had told us at the beginning of the day that you were going to ask these questions, we would have looked at the proper ty with different eyes ' . I took this to mean rather than looking at the property with a view to he lp ing the owner f ix any apparent problems, they would have looked for things that were useful to them on their own property, to learn from what was going on, a different way of looking.

Glimpse three - Deve lop ing the P M P Learning course - Lefts and Stewart (1997) As their Postgraduate Diploma Extension Project, Letts and Stewart, in response to a need they had seen in their positions running Futureprofit in Queensland, developed the Futureprofit/Property Management Planning (PMP) Learning Course. This ran as a pilot and has since been taken up as the initial training for PMP facilitators.

The course was designed with adult learning and action learning as the underpinning, as well as part of the core content. Other content was also derived from the subjects in courses conducted

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by the REC - material such as planning and project management, facilitation processes and leadership, and evaluation. The course was designed using the principles and theory from another subject - Developing Training Courses and Extension Packages. This is a real workplace project that met a local need initially but which has now been taken up at national level and conducted seven times across Australia.

Benefits of the learning project approach

Learning projects provide both the vehicle and the opportunity to put theory into practice - not just the adult learning principles and action learning, but also the material content of each subject. Thus they operate as an action learning opportunity within the action learning context o f the course as a whole.

All respondents feel the learning projects are one of the keys to their successful completion of the course Fell 1997a and Hossain 1998). The adult learning subject was, in particular, an opportunity which most were able to use to demonstrate an understanding of the principles o f adult learning and the application of these in their project. As well they used action learning to drive the process.

Case studies conducted in the first residential session

A second application of real workplace projects is in the first residential session for some subjects. Case studies have enabled participants to practice skills and put understanding to immediate use in real projects for clients from the community or organisations outside the REC.

This approach has applied particularly in Evaluation of Programs and Projects where a number of short or pilot evaluations have been completed. Two examples are given in the "glimpses" below.

Glimpse 4 - REC'n the N T - an evaluation project (Sullivan et al 1997) During the Evaluation subject first residential workshop at Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory one group undertook an evaluation of the impact of training through the Certificate in Extension on extension "delivery by the

Fell

Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries in the Northern Territory.

Their chosen methodology was: - A pilot focus group (Krueger 1989) which they

ran on themselves as participants in the training program (8 of 30 participants).

- A second focus group with another large group of course participants ( a further 8 of the 30 regular participants).

- A n open-ended question survey of managers and supervisors by fax, with telephone follow up (17/19 returned).

- Content analysis (Berg 1989) of the data collected.

- A verbal report back to the whole group as a TV News report role play.

- A written report to the course trainers and the REC.

The evaluation showed that there had been a large impact on the way extension was done in the Territory by those who had completed four or f ive subjects in the Certificate course. They recognised the following changes: - "improved skills in extension; - increased confidence in dealing with people

and situations; - a more professional attitude and greater

knowledge and range o f skills to use in the workplace." (Sullivan et al 1998)

Their managers and supervisors also endorsed this view quite strongly.

Glimpse five -Rapid Appraisal of the Eastern Downs- Cruickshank et al (1998) In the first Rural Innovation Management (RIM) subject in October 1998, conducted as a three-week workshop, the small group of participants was able to undertake a multi-perspective appraisal of the development prospects for the Eastern Downs region of Queensland. This was undertaken on behalf o f the Eastern Downs Turnaround Group.

Two-person teams used a semi-structured interview approach to collect data from 37 respondents in the space of three days, Respondents were chosen on the basis that they were informed about the potential for development on the Eastern Downs but also to cover the widest cross-section of the community.

Results from the appraisal were written up within the week set aside for the appraisal and were

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reported back to the client group. A final written report was prepared for assessment and submitted to the REC.

The multi-perspective appraisal found that there was a divergence of views on not only development but on the ways in which these can be helped and hindered in the region. These views cover agricultural value adding, tourism, community development, youth access to seed funding, a need for linkages, marketing of the region and an ideas incubator. (Cruickshank 1998).

Benefits of the case study approach

The course is about putting the theory of extension into practice in real workplace situations and about the learning which comes from taking action. To enhance this approach it is important to use the same principles in the two residential sessions that are part of the course format for each subject.

The Evaluation subject has taken the case study approach to help underpin the theory and methodology of evaluation with the practical experience of doing a case study. This has helped to ensure that participants have not only a better understanding of the theory of evaluation but also a grounding in the practical aspects of conducting a real evaluation in a short space of time.

In all cases the participants have learnt a great deal with the proviso that they have not had the time to focus on their own learning project as much as they would be able to in other subjects.

Conclusions

It is obvious that those who have been through the course have a good understanding of adult

learning and action learning and are putting these into practice in their daily work, particularly through their learning projects. The importance of the learning project in the whole process is emphasised in the evaluations of the course.

The use of learning projects and case studies reinforces the use of adult learning and action learning in the format that the REC has chosen as a good learning process for accredited training in extension. It is concluded that the emphasis on adult learning principles and action learning processes should be kept in the course. The learning project approach is also central to the format and underscores the use of adult learning principles and action learning for learning by participants in the course.

The use of adult learning principles and action learning processes as the basis for developing each subject is recommended as good practice for developing good learning experiences (Fell 1997b). The REC overall format has also proved to be a good way to deliver relevant an useful training for extension and other professional staff.

While there were many reasons for coming to the course, the most frequently mentioned result was a gain in self-confidence that was seen by the respondents themselves, their managers and some of their clients as well. Managers and respondents feel that there has been an increase in the knowledge and in the practice of extension, especially in the group facilitation processes. The full evaluation report provided further evidence that the course had changed the way these extensionists went about their work. However, the rich picture that is provided by the respondents "saying it themselves" (Fell 1997c)shows that the course has achieved a high degree of success.

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Burns, R. (1995) The Adult Learner at Work. Business & Professional Publishing, Sydney. Cruickshank, M., E. Colless, H. Letts and R. Fell (1998) Rapid appraisal of the Eastern Downs. Internal Report

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