When I'm not working with volunteers in my day job I am a volunteer myself. This provides lots of insight on what happens on both sides of the equation. One of my favourite volunteer roles I play is a leader for Girl Guides of Canada typically with girls aging from 5-9 years old.
Girl Guides is an organization that trains their volunteer leaders to use a "girl centered approach". In other words, try not to plan out all the weekly meetings and outings based on what you want to accomplish, but find ways to involve the girls in the planning and gain an understanding of what they are excited about. As the girls grow in the program they are involved more and more in the planning and execution of their program activities. By the time they complete high school, they only have leaders who act as guides to support them on how to determine risks associated with activities and to keep them thinking outside the box.
I have LOVED and RESPECTED this program for years. What I didn't realize was the organization takes a Heutagogical approach to their programming. Ok who has ever heard of that word before? So no wonder they don't market it like that.
Girl Guides is an organization that trains their volunteer leaders to use a "girl centered approach". In other words, try not to plan out all the weekly meetings and outings based on what you want to accomplish, but find ways to involve the girls in the planning and gain an understanding of what they are excited about. As the girls grow in the program they are involved more and more in the planning and execution of their program activities. By the time they complete high school, they only have leaders who act as guides to support them on how to determine risks associated with activities and to keep them thinking outside the box.
I have LOVED and RESPECTED this program for years. What I didn't realize was the organization takes a Heutagogical approach to their programming. Ok who has ever heard of that word before? So no wonder they don't market it like that.
So what is Heutagogy?
“Heutagogy is the study of self-determined learning … It is also an attempt to challenge some ideas about teaching and learning that still prevail in teacher centred learning and the need for, as Bill Ford (1997) eloquently puts it ‘knowledge sharing’ rather than ‘knowledge hoarding’. In this respect heutagogy looks to the future in which knowing how to learn will be a fundamental skill given the pace of innovation and the changing structure of communities and workplaces.”
Hase, S. and Kenyon, C. (2000). From andragogy to heutagogy. Ultibase, RMIT. http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/dec00/hase2.htm
Web 2.0 supports Heutagogy
There is a great article I just found on how the web 2.0 (see my past blog post to find out more about web 2.0 tools are), is really supporting the self-determined learner. It serves the need to allow the learner to explore and discover especially in distance education. This is something I need to look at further as both in my volunteer and work life I am using taking part or leading training that happens outside the classroom.
Check out "Heutagogy and Lifelong Learning: A Review of Heutagogical Practice and Self-Determined Learning" by Lisa-Marie Blaschke from January 2012.
Check out "Heutagogy and Lifelong Learning: A Review of Heutagogical Practice and Self-Determined Learning" by Lisa-Marie Blaschke from January 2012.