This is important for adult learners bc it provides them with skills that are transferable to their new careers. It imparts confidence.
Students get focused on words at times, especially if the word has two meaning. I give them the a example of the wrong application of the word, pause long enough to get them thinking and then give them the right application.
It helps them apply their new skills to their already experience in the field - "all roads lead to Rome."
Scott,
and it helps show the value for their lived experiences that do contribute to the class.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
As I had mentioned before on the discussion about adult learners and young adult learners that each have different experiences in life and knowledge in different areas. The young adults as I had said before they can really help with the computer knowledge and application with the adult students. The adult students can tell the young students about real life....
Allowing adult learners to use their life experiences, allows them to show the class their abilities that may not being presented well within the classroom setting. It allows for experiences to be shared among one another and maybe find overlapping situations in life. Students can begin to see why they do belong in the career studies they have decided upon. One life experience may trigger an experience another student had that could lead to better understanding of the classroom information.
My students love when I tell them about my experiences. I give them example of the wrong way to do things and the right way. I tell them they can learn from my examples or my mistakes.
Yes, this works well especially if some of those stories demonstrate a concept or lesson learned from making a mistake. It shows the students that we all mess up, but we can rise above those issues and strive for better performance. I have rarely had a student not want to talk about their experiences, and everyone learns something. It also helps a group bond.
Every student that enters the classroom brings with them a unique life experience. I have student right out of high school, military experience, already have a degree and returned for another or different field, to the displaced worker, and grandparent. This brings a great amount of knowledge in many areas of life that is a benefit to all students, and as an instructor I learn as well. I welcome all.
Not only do I utilize my life experiences in the classroom but I encourage my students to talk about theirs as well. I have found that by using my own life experiences has shown my students that if i can do it so can they!
I think the kernel of the answer to this question lies in that axiom "Life is what happens to you while you are making plans", the point being that life experiences are rich in context and posess a diversity of 'hooks'. This latter not only makes the life experience more powerful and illuminating for the adult learner, but it also allows fellow students to benefit from this illumination as well.
The plain fact is that educators over-intellectualize -- not surprising, really, given that their major task is the cultivation of intellect and skills in the first place. But just as Proust wrote a gigantic book founded on the scent of a cookie, many experiential tags are both non-verbal and extremely powerful.
I have been around long enough to have a number of life experiences of my own. When these are related to the classroom, they become a 'story', with all of the inherent explicatory and expository power such an artifact represents. The life experience of any adult learner represents exactly such a story, and has the additional benefit of being open-ended. When people's voices are heard, and their stories understood, they gain great self-empowerment, which is, ultimately, the educational objective towards which we all should strive.
It is important because it is what they bring to the classroom. Each experience is personal and memorable and allows them to take the content of the course and apply it to something they already understand.
they can relate their experiences with the subject matter which enhances their understanding.
Life experiences in the classroom not only bring diversity, they also allow the student to be the instructor in some cases.
It's important because it gives them motivation to excel beyond what they have already acheived and/or to overcome perceived failures. It is a way for them to see that they can succeed because of or inspite of their prior experiences.
DONNA,
I always feel my students will make plenty of mistakes on their own, why not help them learn from some of mine?
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Students like to hear your experience tales in the classroom. They like to put themselves in that
situation and learn from it. This way, they can use that experience in their career field and feel assured that they know how to deal with each situation.
I teach at a culinary school. We have a high degree of Career Changers.
As this prgram is designed to get them ready for new life experiences in a somewhat alien environmnent, it is most important to relate past experiences to the new ones.
The theory of experiental learning, is that they can draw on these experiences to help propel them forward.
Many experiences are transferrable among occupations.
Adult learners have a variety of resources to draw from in order to help them deal with the new experience it.
Since this is a new environment for them, helping them realize that they already have skills from which to draw that can be used in the new one.
Thereby showing that their past experiences are valuable, even though they may not think so. Sometimes you have to open their eyes for them. For whihc they are usually highly thankful.
Michael,
this is a great point. And by sharing our mistakes we also help the students realize it is okay if they do.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Students like to hear real life experiences, the instructor should be willing to talk about mistakes made in the field, I like to use mistakes made as a learning experience, students appreciate honesty as well as expertise
