double take

“To children, experience is something
that happens to them; to adults, their
experience is who they are.”
Malcolm Knowles

We expect adults to act differently than children in all aspects of life other than education! Why? It is fundamental to acknowledge that adult learning differs considerably from children learning and this changes both the expectations that we set for students and how we set about meeting those expectations. There are many possibilities and techniques to present the information for adults, guide and let them practice and assessing their learning. Our job is to deliver content that are always engaging and meaningful, providing the best learning experience possible for our audience.

Adults learn best when…

• The material is relevant to something in their life or work;
• They face real-life problems needing real-life solutions that are considered essential for progress or improvement;
• The teaching is learner-centered.

Some characteristics of Adult Learning…

• Internally motivated: Adults are motivated by information or tasks that they find meaningful.
• Self-directed: Adults are decision-makers and self-directed learners.
• Tend to be problem-centered (rather than content-centered);
• Learning is two-ways (the “teacher” often learns from the “student”);
• Their life experience is acknowledged: Adults bring a great deal of experience and knowledge to any learning situation;
• There is a safe, accepting, and interactive approach to learning;
• Adults have many responsibilities and can be impatient when their time is wasted;
• Adults feel anxious if participating in a group makes them look weak, either professionally or personally.

When we talk about work, it is common sense to discuss the importance of incentives and guidance for achieving our best performance. Now, substitute work for learning. For a great learning experience, it is essential to provide encouragement and nurture the desire for discovering new horizons. People with support feel more confident and do a better job than ones that are ignored or isolated.

Learning Motivation

• Energizes learner attention
• Creates circumstances for learning
• Revitalizes persistence
• Stimulates participation in activities
• Encourages exchanges of information
• Creates opportunities for teaming up
• Creates ways to find missing pieces
• Engages learners for long hours
• Puts learners at the top of their abilities
• Makes learners willing to contribute with great ideas
• Helps to filter out irrelevant stimuli that can hamper the learning
• Fosters recall of knowledge
• Encourages synthesis of new information
• Causes potential relationships to be considered and evaluated
• Builds and reinforces meaningful new relationships that will be stored in long-term memory

Source: Michael Allen’s Guide to e-learning

Blended solutions are ideal for learning attitudinal skills (change of opinion, behavior). In these cases, we may have to use of simulations, conduct discussions and other methods for attitudinal skills training. For instance, let us consider a community program about risk behavior, prevention and health. It is uncertain that the computer-based training will work and provoke awareness and behavior change on issues such as risk behavior, stigma, prejudice etc.

How is it possible to create individualized instruction using different kind of learning styles, when there is a determined curriculum and schedule? This issue caught my interest because it is one of the biggest challenges that I see with online courses. Pretests are only used to evaluate students’ learning in comparison with the post-test and are not used to present students with the opportunity either to tell, or share, or choose a different teaching approach.

Each learner has a unique set of characteristics which make up his or her learning style. Experience has shown that some learning styles are likely to be well-suited to success in an online class; while others are usually more successful in a face-to-face environment.

Source: Assessment used at the
UW Extension E-learning course
to map students learning style

Just because you don’t meet face-to-face is no reason for being stuck in isolation as you do your coursework. In order to foster the kind of interactions that can help stimulate your involvement in the course, it is good to assign each student to a smaller StudyBuddy group. Also, encourage the students to contact their StudyBuddies via email, or by phone if this is mutually acceptable, to talk about course issues.

Following these simple guidelines facilitates your learning and contributes to a better experience for all. These rules extend the standard practices and courtesies of the classroom to the online environment.

Rule 1: Minimize Distractions

Turn off e­mail and phones and clear your area so you are less tempted to do other tasks while participating in your live event. It’s hard to divide your attention and still be a focused and active member of your group. Moreover, if your event is using audio, distracting and annoying background noises such as keystrokes and paper shuffling may be heard by other participants through your computer, microphone, or telephone.

Rule 2: Participate

The synchronous environment is ideal for interaction. Your active participation keeps you engaged and moves the event along. Be ready to have the leader call on you by name at any time, as there are no physical cues to indicate whether you are paying attention.

Rule 3: Raise Your Hand

The leader is not able to see if you are confused or have something to add. So follow their instructions for how to raise your hand. You might select the raised hand icon from the dropdown Status menu in the Attendee List pod, type and send your question or comment using the Chat pod, or speak out at the suggested times.

Rule 4: Be Patient

The leader is probably juggling many tasks, including presenting content, facilitating participation and conversation, and responding to questions and comments. Give him or her time to respond to you.

Rule 5: Stay in Contact

Let the leader know if you need to leave. If you leave temporarily, let the leader know when you return.

These rules are adapted from: Hofmann, Jennifer. 2004. The Synchronous Trainer’s