Rosemarie J. Park Adult Education and Human Resources Development Unique Needs and Classroom Strategies: Working with Returning Adult Learners

Focus on the learner

Know your audience  You are all pretty experienced teachers)  There is a huge diversity of experience  You work with a wide range of clients  Whose skills/access to technology vary

The experience bank Work with:  Elected officials  Government programs  Rural, white communities  Small business owners  Non-profits/for profits  Nursing homes

Experience bank (cont.)  Migrant women  Hispanic communities  Islamic populations  Youth/adults in organ donation  Sales & marketing  Community education  Grant writing  Conflict resolution

Top picks for learning  Techniques & strategies (65%)  Motivations and barriers (63%)  Using technology (59%)  Communicating specialized information to lay audiences (50%)  Moderating or facilitating (44%)

Knowing your audience  What do they see as useful?  Preferred mode of learning  Demographics - important or not? Age, ethnicity  Institutional, situational, attitudinal barriers?

Kolb’s (1984) Learning Style Inventory  Accommodator  Converger  Diverger  Assimilator

Keys to content delivery What the pyramid tells us about strategy- The more active the strategy the more effective Group learning is not wasted time Teacher as facilitator model works

What we know about motivation  Learners often prefer to be passive (entertain me!)  Brookfield identifies learner resistance - this can be the product of experience!  Don’t put your reputation on the line each time you meet resistance  Focus on the entire group to meet their needs  Time is the most precious commodity adults have so don’t waste it

Resisting learning  Necessity is often the mother of invention - real need = real learning  Learning may involve taking risks best taken in private  For low skilled groups fear of failure is a strong disincentive  Comfortable certainties, old skill sets and attitudes interfere

Hallmarks of good teaching  Credible & authentic instruction (Extension has a reputation for this)  Clarity of instruction  Buy-in built into instruction  Demonstrable results  Learning is incremental & reflective and hardly anyone will do everything you say

Mediums of instruction - technology  What constitutes good use?  How do you evaluate what is on offer?  How do we accommodate the low end user?  Issues of infrastructure  Issues of culture

Communicating specialized information  How well does the general public read?  What about my service area?  How difficult is this to read?  How comprehensible (understandable) is it?  How easy to use is it?

Do I need to redo this?  Writing in plain language  This includes the NET!  How about those forms?  Is there help available?  There also is a law…

Focus on you the instructor  You are the subject matter expert

What influences how you teach?  Your level of experience  Your vision of learning  How you yourself were taught  Your knowledge of the teaching process  Your own personal style (be yourself)

Instructor roles  Facilitator  Guide  Co-investigator

Stuck?  Go back to the pyramid!

Keys to success  The more active the strategy the more learning occurs  Authentic, context based learning motivates the learner  Learning occurs both top-down and bottom-up

Thank you  Never do more than 15 overheads per presentation!