How to encourage mature adult students to find out their main learning style
I have several students in my classes who are middle aged and are pursuing re-training for a different professional career. They tell me they are not sure what their learning style is.
We should investigate how to help these students and provide testing to assess their learning styles to increase their chances of educational success.
I always ask at the beginning of my classes about my students' learning styles so that I can tailor my instruction to meet their needs.
Hi Sabrina- Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree that teaching classes with diverse ages is challenging. I have found that often they seem to learn from each other which is terrific! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Classes with early learners and adult learners together can be challenging as well. And the same issue and the same issue arises when it comes to the preferred learning style. Early learners are very computer savvy and prefer the usage of modern tools such as YouTube video’s incorporated into class material. Providing a combination of lecture, handouts, demo’s and group projects have been the most successful for me.
Hi Mark - Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, our job as instructors is to teach to ALL our students, not just the students with the style we feel most comfortable teaching to.Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I agree I believe we as instructors should find a learning assessment test and have our class take this exam at start of each class. Doing so should give a better light of how each and every student learns present in our class. Now we have to realize it is sometimes hard to teach an old dog new tricks and I mean this toward we the instructors. For years we may have taught a certain way and that was it. But in these modern times people are faced with so many things in their lives that it would be most beneficial to find out what learning style they respond to best and perhaps try to tailor our teaching in a way that best meets our students needs. The onus may have to be on us as the instructor more so than the students.
I completely agree. Adults must have a thorough understanding of what style works best for them. This will allow adult students to ask questions and work with the instructor to ascertain the most knowledge as poosible.
