Comparing the Principles of Adult Learning with Traditional Pedagogical Teaching in Relation to the Use of Technology: The Tacit Dimension in ICT-Based University Teaching

Abstract

The traditional principles of adult learning are being subject to critical reconsideration from new adult teaching approaches and a growing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). ICTs in adult learning have an ambivalent effect. On the one hand, they offer potential improvement in online communicative activities and the transmission of codified or explicit knowledge. On the other hand, they can reduce socially and interactive-mediated tacit teaching and learning. Thus, the crucial criterion for effective and complementary use of ICTs in adult andragogy is whether they enable time and social space for the tacit dimension of teaching and learning. This article analyzes these issues by comparing how two young universities in Spain have dealt with these effects of ICTs in relation to the tacit dimension of learning and teaching.