Hi Sherrell,
Good approach to customizing instruction for your students because you know them better. The more you know about them the more accurately you can target your instruction.
Gary
Hi Robert,
Thank you for sharing both the strategy and the letter. This is what keeps us coming back to the classroom. Teachers like you are making a difference in the lives of students as evidenced by this student that "got it" too late but was willing to try to improve his communication skills.
Gary
Adults must be able to identify the reason for learning something. It must be applicable to their personal or professional lives if it is to be of any value. As instructors, in defining program objectives, we must make sure that the theories and concepts are relevant to the learners’ needs. We must also let adult learners choose projects and activities that reflect their own interests.
We must also realize that most adult learning is voluntary; it’s a choice that they make. It stands to reason, then, that adults are more motivated to learn. They also have a variety of other strengths that may not be present in the younger learner, such as experience. In the classroom we should focus on the strengths that learners bring and not just the gaps in their knowledge. By again, making information relevant and linking it to past information we can provide a greater depth of learning and retention. We should provide opportunities for dialog, for sharing of information amongst peers. We as instructors do not have to have all of the answers, it can be a collaborative effort amount the entire class to develop or discover the answers.
Another factor that is important to remember is that adults are often people whose style and pace of learning has probably changed. We need to make sure that we incorporate a variety of teaching strategies such as small group problem solving and discussion. Also, the use of auditory, visual and tactile (hands-on) and participatory teaching methods. We need to always remember that adult learners typically prefer teaching methods other than lecture.
Relevance plays a huge role in the adult learner. Adults prefer to relate new knowledge and information to previously learned information and experiences. As instructors we need to assess the specific learning needs of our learners at the beginning of the class. We need to present single concepts and focus on application of concepts to relevant practical situations. It is also important to summarize frequently to increase retention and recall. Material outside of the context of our students' experiences and knowledge becomes meaningless.
An adult learner needes to be able to relate the course content to their lives. They need to see the relevancy.
I always make it a point to do a pretest or introduction assignment at the begining of the class, so that I will know a little bit about my students, their interest and experiences.
I have found it to be very effective
I have been using reviews in simaliar ways. Pre-knowladge tests, post section reviews, with limited success. Knowing how to apply these to relevant information will be a help to show the students what they have learned & how to apply it to succeed in the course.
Knowing that students DO need to see the relevancy of the course material motivates me to deliver that relevancy as much as I can. As a writing instructor, I am keenly aware of that "how does this affect me?" mentality. So I try to answer that question as best I can.
One story that I've told often regards a young male student I had once named Gerald. The first time he took my course, he was quite frankly a trouble-maker. He slouched in the back row, shows visible contempt towards the material and the campus as a whole, and even got into a physical confrontation with a fellow student. Quite predictably, he failed the course. Somehow he slipped through the course progression, even making it into the capstone course where students interact with customers on campus. Finally, apparently, the campus realized he had never passed my course, so there he was, otherwise ready for externship but enrolled again in my course. This time around, he was a better student - not great, but at least he submitted assignments and showed less overt hostility towards being there. He kept to himself, participated when I called on him, and generally stayed under the radar.
At the end of the course, I distributed one of my final assignments, where I ask students to write a letter to the NEXT group of students coming into the course - advice, warning, encouragement, etc., whatever they want to say. Gerald wrote a very honest response. He said that the first time he took the course, he didn't take it seriously. But then when he progressed into subsequent courses and found himself facing real-life customers on campus, he was embarrassed by his lack of ability. He couldn't interact with them, he couldn't answer their questions clearly, and he was humiliated by his inability to communicate cleaerly with customers. And, he wrote, that's when he realized how important my class had been and wished he had taken it seriously the first time around.
When I read his letter, I wanted to hug him.
I kept his letter and have distributed it many times to later classes, frequently to murmurs of "wow!" and "that's cool!" and "good for him!" I can't really verify how, specifically, that exercise might show students how relevant the course is, but at least on the spot when I distribute it, students seem to get it.
I use my experience in the automotive field to tell my story of education and hands on experience to remind them of the big picture. I tell students the field will be different to keep an open mind and keep learning
As related before, I make every attempt to use "hands on" learning in the laboratory environment before our students are actually placed into the clinical rotation experience. This seems to work well in that it tends to bring our the students' previous experiences as it applies to the current learning process.
Hi John,
Good plan. The students need to be able to make immediate use of their newly acquired knowledge.
Gary
In each class that I teach I try to give the students something that they can take to work and apply right away.
Hi Roy,
You make a good point about the challenges many adult learners have as they come into the classroom for the first time after being out of school for a length of time. This is why I make my pretest like a game which reduces pressure on the students while getting me the information I need. I give them definitions, words and letters and have them explain what they know about them. I make it light and humorous so everyone is relaxed during the discussion after the pretest that way the students can leave the class feeling that they had a good first class meeting.
Gary
Hi Loren,
Good point. This sets up the next step which is application. By seeing both the relevancy and application of knowledge and skills the students are making progress toward their career goals.
Gary
Agree. Utilizing different teaching methods by relating content with their real-life situations would be helping students to make the connection that the content of the class is relevant.
Instructors with an experience in the field would be able to handle this quite easily. We can talk about our experience and get students make the connection between content and real life situation.
Hello Dr. Meers,
The adult learner comes with experiences, needs, and expectations. They know where they have been, where they are and where they want to be. Using their past combined with what they want the future to look like, they are pretty focused on what they need in the here and now. They have a pretty good idea of what is needed to thrust them into a successful future. This is the basis or foundation to relevant instruction. I have never used a formal pretest before and I will probably do that in the future. I usually survey the class and make notes, but I see the value of pretesting, especially for adult learners, especially in written form. I have found many adult learners are unable to express themselves adequately in writing. They struggle with spelling, puctuation, etc.
allowing students to understand why a topic is relevant in important. Making a student realize how relevant the topic or information is...........Is teaching.
Hi Brooks,
Application and relevancy is so important to students. When they are in general ed courses they need to see both of these elements even more so they dismiss what is being taught as having no relationship to their career preparation.
Gary
I second much of what has already been said. I'll add that, as an English instructor, I often like to assign a research project in which my students can take what we've learned and apply it to either their career field or a subject of interest. This creates a bridge between their goals and the course content.
Hi Gina,
I like this approach as well. The students really enjoy hearing stories from their instructors and the ones that are humorous or highlight a mistake that was made are even enjoyed more. This really gets the students engaged in the listening process.
Gary
I give real-life examples from my personal experience after most lectures. I am a chef instructor, so it is pretty simple to make connections in a very vivid way when describing the relevence of different techniques. I also like to give the students examples of how I messed up the techniques when I was at their stage of learning. I think is personalizes the moment, and lets them know it is OK to make mistakes, and that eventually... they too will learn how.
