A recent blogger, Mark Anderson, in reference to the online course he had completed, commented, "I really enjoyed the training. It is so relevant to what I am currently doing in my career at the moment." This started me thinking about "relevance" in the eyes of the adult learners in our classrooms and labs regarding the skills and concepts they are mastering in their training and educational programs. 

Learners must see relevance - not, "this is what you need to know," but "this is how what you learn will help you accomplish your career objectives."

As Faculty Coaches in our instructor mentoring roles, we hopefully have the opportunity to encourage faculty, in the daily recesses of planning and instructional delivery, to always link a new concept, skill or application to what a student has learned in the past - as a building block - as well as to what the student will learn in the future - a foundation to the next step in the process.

This undoubtedly helps our adult learners see the bigger landscape toward their goals and, hence, see immediate relevance to what they are learning.