Motivating adult learners can sometimes be a challenge. This module will provide you with information on how to design instructional content that will tap into your adult audiences intrinsic & extrinsic motivation! Click on this text to advance to the next slide.. Motivating Adult Learners

Why is understanding what motivates adult learners important? Adults comprise a large proportion of the workforce as well as, a large proportion of todays higher education student population. When we understand how to motivate our targeted learners, we can be more effective in our educational programs and training designs. Many employers and higher education institutions will require educational programs and training that is geared for an adult learner target audience.

Why is understanding what motivates adult learners important? (Continued) Understanding what motivates adults will help to provide a more meaningful and practical learning experience for adult learners. Understanding what motivates adults internally can help us to design instructional content in such a way that learners are rewarded by the learning experience itself. Employers will be better able provide training that will effectively improve productivity and performance. Higher learning institutions will be better able to provide an effective and meaningful experience for target audiences that include adult learners.

As learners, adults are autonomous and self directed. Instructional design would for example, involve obtaining participants perspectives about what topics to cover. As learners, adults have acquired a foundation of life experience and knowledge. Instructional design would need to make connections to the learners previously accumulated knowledge and experience. Adult learners are relevancy oriented; they need to be able to see a practical reason for a need for training. Motivating adult learners is a difficult problem to solve. Helping adults to connect who they are with what they are learning in order to generate intrinsic motivation is difficult.

Motivating Adult Learners Click here to see how to incorporate learners into instruction process Draw on learners’ past experiences and encourage collaboration between the instructor and the learner. Let learners provide feedback during the course. This will let them feel a part of the learning process. Involve target learners in the planning and design process and allow prompt redesign and new learning activities based on evaluation.

Portrayal of Motivating Adults Scenario 1: Julie, an instructional designer and trainer has involved members of the target audience in the planning process for a course she is developing. She has also allowed the target learners to provide input on what they would like to gain from attending the training and how they will utilize what they learn in the real world. Julie also encourages learners to actively participate and includes an element of fun and suspense by including a game to reinforce the material covered in the course. During the session, Julie encouraged learners to provide feedback that she will use for course redesign, along with the data she gathers from the course evaluation. The following aspects of this scenario may increase adult learner motivation: Involving target learners in the planning & designing process leads to increased learner motivation. The course is more likely to be relevant for the learners since Julie has involved target learners in the planning and design process when she developed the course. Allowing target learners to provide input about what they would like to gain and how they will use what they learn helps to ensure that the content is relevant to the learner’s life or job. Encouraging feedback and using that data for course redesign helps to ensure that the course is relevant and useful to learners. Encouraging active participation and adding a dose of fun and suspense through the use of a game will help keep the learners engaged and motivated.

Component Skill Application & Demonstration Janet is a new instructional designer, she is creating an art history course for a local university. She has decided to include five or six prospective students in her planning activities for the development of the course. Several activities are incorporated in the course that require students to actively participate. Janet also includes an element of suspense in an creating an adapted version of the game of clue that incorporates content in order to reinforce learning. Click on each statement that is correct. Incorporating the elements above makes course content relevant. Target learners are involved in the planning process. Learners are allowed to actively participate Learners are provided with an option to test out of the training. A dose of fun or suspense is added to keep learners motivated. Correct! Incorrect Correct!

Motivating Adult Learners Click here to see how to make training relevant to learners. Present the benefits to learning the skill so that it relates to the job or life of the learners. Accommodating individual interests and career goals can be a powerful motivator. Incorporate a discussion of any performance measures or incentives for attending training. Focus on practical knowledge that relates to real-life performance. Provide a demonstration of the utility of the content that is being covered. It’s a great incentive when training is immediately valuable.

Portrayal of Motivating Adults Scenario 2: Derrick is creating a course on how to create interactive websites. He has involved members of the target audience in the planning & design process. Derrick is also incorporating a presentation of the benefits to learning this skill and a demonstration of how it relates to the life and job of the learners. He has also enabled an option for testing out of the training for any learners with the necessary level of prior knowledge of interactive web design. When designing the course, Derrick focuses on practical knowledge that learners will need in order to perform the skill. He also chunks information into small sections and incorporates several opportunities for learners to practice performing the skill.Derrick also informs learners about how the acquisition of this skill may also increase eligibility for additional promotional opportunities for learners by expanding their knowledgebase and skill set. The following aspects of this scenario may increase adult learner motivation: Involving target learners in the planning and designing process provides valuable insight in order to ensure that content is relevant & beneficial to learners. Presenting the benefits and demonstrating the utility of learning the skill helps learners to understand how the content relates to the learner’s life or job. Chunking information into small sections and making instruction performance based increases motivation! Allowing an option for testing out is a powerful reward for previous knowledge and experience and helps to accommodate individual interests and career goals. Acknowledging and accommodating individual interests and career goals when promotional opportunities are available increases motivation.

Component Skill Application & Demonstration Brandon is designing a new flight simulation course. He involves several prospective learners in the planning and design process. He asks the prospective learners about what they expect to learn from the course and he also inquires about their interests and career goals. The course will allow for a safe place to make mistakes. Brandon decides to break up the large quantity of information by creating a series of six different simulation exercises that are each ten minutes long. Click on each statement that is correct. Incorporating the elements below help to accommodate individual interests or career goals. Target learners are involved in the planning process. Content is made relevant to learners life or job. The instruction is performance based and learners will apply their knowledge. Target learners are involved in the planning process. Content is made relevant to learners life or job. The instruction is not performance based. Content is not chunked into small sections. Correct! Incorrect

Portrayal of Motivating Adults Scenario 3: Cynthia is designing a course for her employer, she will also be presenting the content for the course. She involves a few target learners in the planning process and asks them about what they expect to gain from the course in order to ensure that the content is relevant to them. She also asks the target learners about their individual interests and career goals in order to accommodate their interests during the training when possible. At the beginning of the course offering, Cynthia, provides a demonstration of the utility of the training followed by a discussion about why it is important and what learners can expect to gain from it. Cynthia provides a demonstration followed by a practice session, where she encourages active participation. During the practice session, learners are provided with some interactive, fun activities where they can apply the content covered in the course. Learners are encouraged to play and make mistakes. The following aspects of this scenario may increase adult learner motivation: Target learners were involved in the planning & design process. Since target learners were involved in the planning process, this helps provide insight about what learners need and expect to gain from the course and helps to ensure that the content will be relevant to the learners job or life. Accommodating individual interests and career goals increases motivation. Providing a demonstration of the utility of the training early in the training session also helped to relate content to the learners job or life. Including a demonstration and practice session and allowing learning to occur through mistakes increases motivation. Allowing learners to actively participate and adding a dose of fun increases motivation.

Component Skill Application & Demonstration Camille is designing a dental hygiene course. She asks prospective learners about what they expect to gain from the course and how they will apply what they learn. Camille designs the course to involve active participation from the learners by including a fun game to get learners involved and engaged with the content. She also includes a demonstration followed by a practice session where learners can practice their technique on a mannequin. Click on each statement that is correct. Incorporating these elements makes course content relevant. Target learners are not included in the planning process. Active participation was not encouraged. An element of fun or suspense was included. Incorrect Correct! The instructional design included a demonstration and practice session, that allowed learning to occur through mistakes. Correct!

Portrayal of Motivating Adults Scenario 4: Brad is designing a web course for a local company. He involves several target learners in the planning & design process in order to learn more about what they expect to gain and how they will apply what they learn. Brad is also now aware of and accommodates for some of the individual interests and career goals of the target learners. Brad determines that the instruction will need to be performance based in order to meet the instructional goals for the course. The instruction for the training is broken up into a series of six small modules. Each module involves a demonstration of the new skill to be learned and also includes a game that allows opportunities for learners to apply what they are learn to realistic situations in a practice session. Learners are allowed to play and make mistakes. The following aspects of this scenario may increase adult learner motivation: Target learners were involved in the planning and design process. Learning about what learners expect to gain and how they will apply what they learn, helps to ensure that the course content is relevant to the learner’s life or job. Accommodating individual interests and career goals of the target learners increases motivation. The course will be performance based, and is broken up into smaller chunks that are each one hour long. When this is possible it can increase adult motivation. Designing for demonstration (show me) and practice (let me try) is allows learning to occur through mistakes. Learners actively participate, and the training involves an element of fun in the incorporation of a game, which helps to increase motivation.

Component Skill Application & Demonstration Diane is redesigning a basket weaving course. The course now covers twelve different techniques, with a single technique taught at each session. The new design will involve several brief demonstrations that are followed by practice sessions where learners can apply the technique. Learners are encouraged to participate in the practice sessions and ask questions during the demonstration. Diane includes a white elephant gift for the most creative basket design. Click on each statement that is correct. Incorporating the elements above help make instruction performance based. The design includes demonstration and practice, allowing Learning to occur through mistakes. Information is not chunked into small sections. Active participation is allowed. An element of fun or suspense is included. Correct! Incorrect Correct!

Motivating Adult Learners Now you will take a quiz on what you have discovered. Click on this text to continue.

Click on the statements that make motivating adult learners difficult. As learners, adults are autonomous and self directed. Instructional design would for example, involve obtaining participants perspectives about what topics to cover. As learners, adults are dependent only on the entertainment value of the instruction being provided. Correct! Incorrect Adult learners are relevancy oriented; they need to be able to see a practical reason for a need for training. Adult learners are not relevancy oriented; they do not need to be able to see a practical reason for a need for training.

Click on the statements that describe why motivating adult learners is important. Understand what motivates adults will help to provide a more meaningful and practical learning experience for adult learners. Understanding what motivates adults internally would not help us to design instructional content in such a way that learners are rewarded by learning experience itself. Correct! Incorrect Correct! Higher learning institutions will be better able to provide an effective and meaningful experience for target audiences that include adult learners. Employers will be better able to provide training that will effectively improve productivity and performance.

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