Working With Adults and What I Have Learned
This was really a great class. I have been working with adults students for 10 years. This class is an excellent refresher on working with adults. Here are some of the ideas I have gleaned here:
1) Adults need to know why they are learning something: This means that they need to know the value of learning the idea or concept
2) Adults need to be self-directed. When it comes to education, they need to feel that they have control over their educational outcomes. Often they are making a choice to go back to school and therefore they want some control over what they learn and why.
3) Adults have their own experiences to bring to the classroom. These experiences need to be valued by the instructor. At times adults come in with formed expectations and perceptions. These need to be taken into account as the classroom dialogue ensues.
4) Adults need to be brought to a place where they feel their education is paying off now. This is achieved when the goals are more present-focused than future focused. It is important for instructors to connect a goal in the classroom with a skill that can be immediately translated into the real world.
5) Ultimately adults are motivated by their own internal drives. The way knowledge is presented to an adult needs to meet with their inner drive to succeed and feel that they are that they are growing as an autonomous, competed and relational human being.
Liza, great post. You hit the nail n the head with your comment on getting to know your students. The more you get to know them and their motivations the more impact you will have on their learning your course objectives. Thanks for sharing.
James Jackson
I love when students come into a class with a variety of backgrounds. It personalizes the class with experiences and allows more students to open up a conversation with another student whom they have never met before. Whenever I start a new class I always do a meet and greet so we break the ice before we actually start getting down to business. I have developed a great rapport with some of my students because I really enjoy getting to know them and discuss their goals and aspirations as well as see them blossom into amazing nurses.
Kathy, leading by example is good for all students regardless of background. Great to see you understand that each student is different and as such you may need to incorporate different teaching styles to meet the different learning styles.
James Jackson
Adults are often from very different backgrounds and the instructor should motivate them by giving them a common goal: how to be successful in the career they chose and do the very best in the classroom to achieve that goal. Leading by example is the best strategy.
Lindsay, the best overall approach is to incorporate some form of active learning. If the visuals inspire active learning then they will be effective. Many forms of active learning exist and they key is to get students interacting with the course materials, with the instructor and with each other.
James Jackson
That is such a good point. I teach clinical classes and love the "hands on" part of class but I do think that it is SO important to have a great lecture/visuals to go along with the class. I always knew that students learn in different ways, but everyone can benefit by having different techniques of teaching in one class.
Cynthia, great job determining the needs of your students. Be careful however when you place all students within one single catagory as things can change from class to class and year to year. While some groups of your students will prefer the hands-on approach, others may also prefer other teaching styles to go along with their prefered learning styles. Remain open and always make it a process to discover what your current group of students need to be successful.
James Jackson
I taught my first class as a adjunct instructor and really learned alot from my students. I learned that adult learners prefer hands on activities versus lectures(PowerPoint presentations).
Since I had a small class, I would sit at the table with the students and do the exercises with them so they could see it step by step.
So right with these observations. It is so true that adults bring different life experiences that can be beneficial to one another. They understand the concept of what their education costs and need to know they are getting what they paid for.
Teaching along the "guide" style is definitely best for the adult learner.
Julie, great overview of the course. These are also the reasons we as instructors need to focus on relationship building so we can better understand our students and meet their needs so that learning can take place.
James Jackson
