Biography and Adult Learning

Course description:
This course is designed to introduce students to biographical methods. The biographical method consists of a type of research that aims to capture the interpretation that individuals make of their life course or of a specific domain of their lives. It is also a source of knowledge of individuals, groups, communities and societies to which they belong, allowing the (re)construction of individual and collective identities. The remembrance of the past and its retelling allow the emergence of new meanings and readings about the past that feed the construction of new futures. Biographical methods, in addition to research strategies, have also been used as a training methodologies in the field of teaching and adult education. In this case, individuals and their life experiences are the most relevant educational resource. Reflection on experiences and what was learned from them is at the origin of what is called biographical learning.
During the course, students will learn about the use of biographical methods in general and biographies in particular, in Social Sciences and Adult Education and discuss the emergence and the spread of concept biographicity in late modernity. The course contents will also provide students with  theoretical frameworks to understand the learning potencial of life experiences and importance of educational biographies in adult learning processes.

Outline of the course contents:
Part 1: Biography as a research method
•    Genesis and development of the biographical methods in Social Sciences
•    Biographies and life histories: philosophical and epistemological foundations
•    Biography and biographicity
•    Biographical methods in Adult Education research
Part 2: Biography as a teaching method
•    The learning potential of experience
•    Biographical Learning: a theoretical framework
•    Pineau’s theory: hetero, eco and auto learning
•    Educational biography: a pedagogical methodology in teachers and adult educators training

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