Fink has described some major educational goals that adult educators often have for their students. The following is a table from his book that give examples of what he sees as major educational goals.
Learning How to Learn
- How to be a better student
- Learning how to engage in self-regulated learning or deep learning
- How to inquire and construct knowledge
- Learning how to engage in the scientific method, historical method, and other forms of inquiry
- How to pursue self-directed or intentional learning
- Developing a learning agenda and plan; becoming an intentional learner; becoming skilled in autodidaxy (the ability to direct one’s own learning and life); being a reflective practitioner.
Caring
- Wanting to be a good student
- Wanting to have a high GPA or be an honors student
- Becoming excited about a particular activity or subject
- For example, developing a keen interest in bird watching, reading history, or listening to music
- Developing a commitment to live right
- For example, deciding to learn and follow Covey’s seven habits of highly effective people
Human Dimension
- Leadership
- Learning how to be an effective leader
- Ethics, character building
- Developing character and living by ethical principles
- Self-authorship
- Learning how to create and take responsibility for one’s own life
- Multicultural education
- Becoming culturally sensitive in one’s interactions with others
- Working as a member of a team
- Knowing how to contribute to a team
- Citizenship
- Being a responsible citizen of one’s local community, nation state, and other political entity
- Serving others (local, national, world)
- Contributing to teh well-being of others at multiple levels of society
- Environmental ethics
- Having ethical principles in relation to the nonhuman world
Integration
- Interdisciplinary learning
- Connecting different disciplines and perspectives
- Learning communities
- Connecting different people
- Learning and living/working
- Connecting different realms of life
Application
- Critical thinking
- Analyzing and critiquing issues and situations
- Practical thinking
- Developing problem-solving and decision-making capabilities
- Creativity
- Creating new ideas, products, and perspectives
- Managing complex projects
- Being able to coordinate and sequence multiple tasks in a single project
- Performance skills
- Developing capabilities in such areas as foreign language, communication, operating technology, performing in the fine arts, sports
Foundational Knowledge
- Conceptual understanding
- Developing a full understanding of the concepts associated with a subject to a degree that allows explanations and predictions.
References
Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences. San Francisco, CA: John-Wiley & Sons.
