Emerging Gender Differences in Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Andragogical Learning in Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates and Instructional Strategies to Support Male Students

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-660-4_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Andragogy; Self-directed Learning; Gender Differences; Flipped Classroom; Hybrid Learning

Abstract

Adult learners learn differently from children, and they bring many experiences to the adult learning classroom. Understanding students’ attitudes towards andragogical learning can help educators plan and execute meaningful learning at the tertiary level. Andragogy explains how and why adults learn, and it was chosen as the theoretical foundation for this chapter. Knowles (1987) identified the key assumptions of andragogy: the importance of self-directed learning, the role of experience, readiness to learn, orientation to real-life situations, and motivation. A recent survey indicated significant gender differences in two of these assumptions in a hybrid learning environment: motivation and self-directedness. These gender differences have implications for instructional design and strategies. This paper will address the gender differences in the andragogical tenet of self-directedness. The results indicated that male students are significantly less self-directed than female students. Research suggests that self-directedness can be developed by supporting students to set goals, have a say in assessing progress, define the structure and sequence of activities, choose a timeline, and seek feedback. As a result, to ensure successful self-directed male students, instructors must know how to scaffold learning to develop these skills needed for male students to be successful. The theory and applications of andragogy, specifically self-directedness, can provide instructors with valuable tools for their instructional practice, which can be used to address the needs of male adult learners in the United Arab Emirates for academic and lifelong learning success.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Magdaleen Corné Lötter
AU  - Panagiotis Papadopoulos
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/02/26
TI  - Emerging Gender Differences in Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Andragogical Learning in Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates and Instructional Strategies to Support Male Students
BT  - Proceedings of the HCT International General Education Conference (HCTIGEC 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 35
EP  - 48
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-660-4_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-660-4_4
ID  - Lötter2025
ER  -