Engaging the Adult Learner

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Engaging the Adult Learner
A Presentation For CAFÉ By Dr. Claudia
Santin
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Purpose of the Presentation

• Understand WHY and HOW faculty use adult
  experience, adult learning theory (andragogy),
  effective feedback and best practices in teaching
  adults in the classroom.
• Understand adult learning styles to enhance
  learning either in the classroom or online.

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Purpose of the Presentation

• Understand the contribution and impact this
  experience makes to the individual student,
  fellow students, and the faculty.
• Offer activities and assignments that can be used
  with adult students in the classroom taking
  advantage of their work experience.

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Who is an Adult Learner?

• Voorhees and Lingenfelter (2003) offered one of
  the most encompassing definitions of the adult
  learner in postsecondary education

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Who is an Adult Learner?

• Someone 25 years of age or older involved in
  postsecondary learning activities. The U.S.
  Department of Education defines the adult learner
  as anyone "engaged in some form of instruction or
  educational activity to acquire the knowledge,
  information, and skills necessary to succeed in
  the workforce, learn basic skills, earn
  credentials, or otherwise enrich their lives,"
  (NCES, 1999).

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Teaching Adults

• Why is teaching adult professionals different?

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Andragogy

• The art and science of helping adults learn
• Concept proposed by Malcolm Knowles
• Distinguished from pedagogy (the art and science
  of helping children learn)

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Andragogy

• Adult learning model developed by Knowles guides
  instructional practice
• An alternative to pedagogy, a term that refers to
  teacher-centered approaches for educating
  children
• Assumptions of andragogy
• 1. Adults are self-directed
• 2. Adults bring a wealth of experience to the
• learning process.
• Merrian, S.B. Caffarella, R.S. (1999). Learning
  in adulthood.

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Andragogy

• Adults come to the learning process ready to
  learn.
• 4. Adults are oriented toward immediate
  application of learned knowledge.
• 5. Adults need to know the reason for learning
• something.
• 6. Adults are driven by intrinsic motivation to
  learn
• (Knowles, as cited in Forrest III Peterson,
  2006, p. 116)

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Tenets of Andragogy

• There is a change in time perception as people
  maturefrom future application of knowledge to
  immediacy of application. Thus, an adult is more
  problem centered than subject centered in
  learning.

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Tenets of Andragogy

• An a person moves through adulthood his or her
  self-concept moves from that of a dependent
  personality toward one of a self-directing human
  being.
• An adult accumulates a growing reservoir of
  experience, which is a rich resource and basis
  for learning.
• The readiness of an adult to learn is closely
  related to the developmental tasks of his or her
  social role.

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Tenets of Andragogy

• There is a change in time perception as people
  maturefrom future application of knowledge to
  immediacy of application. Thus, an adult is more
  problem centered than subject centered in
  learning.
• Adults are motivated to learn by internal factors
  rather than external ones.

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Andragogy Best Practices

• Organize a web course development team including
  a content expert, instructional designer,
  multimedia producer, systems analyst, and
  network programmer (Chou Tsai, 2002)
• Courses need to be student-centered,
  activity-based learning environments with
  problem-solving activities (Brown, 2001
  Carr-Chellman Duchastel, 2000 Chou, Tsai,
  2002 Knowlton, 2000 Pallof Pratt, 2003)

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Andragogy Best Practices

• Universal design principles need to be adapted
  (i.e., courses need to be accessible to students
  with different learning styles and learning
  abilities)
• (Pallof Pratt, 2003 Dahl, 2005)

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Andragogy Best Practices

• Faculty need to be able to give control of
  information and processes to the students more
  of a mentor and manager role as opposed to one of
  information deliverer and expert
• (Palloff Pratt, 2003 Robson, 2000
• Shedletsky Aitken, 2001).

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Andragogy Best Practices

• Faculty need to create and sustain teaching
  presence based on 3 components
• a) instructional design and organization,
• b) facilitating discourse, and
• c) direct instruction
• (Shea, Pickett, Pelz, 2003)

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Andragogy Best Practices

• Chickering and Gamson encourage the following
  conditions and behaviors for successful learning
  (Keeton, 2004 Shea, Pickett, Pelz, 2003
  Pallof Pratt, 2003)
• 1. Frequent contact between students and
  faculty
• 2. Reciprocity and cooperation among students
• 3. Active learning techniques for different
  learning styles
• 4. Prompt Feedback

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Andragogy Best Practices

• Time on task (clear articulation of due
  dates/time frames for learning activities)
• Communication of high expectations
• Respect for diverse talent and ways of learning
• (Ko Rossen, 2001 Meyer, 2003)

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Adult Learning

• Nothing has meaning or is learned in isolation
  from prior experience.
• Acknowledging adults prior knowledge and
  experience is integral to the learning process.
• Educators need to be knowledgeable about prior
  knowledge students possess in a particular area
  and design learning activities accordingly.
• Merrian, S.B. Caffarella, R.S. (1999). Learning
  in adulthood.

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Adult Learning Is

• Self-Directed
• Self-directed learning focuses on the process by
  which adults take control of their own learning,
  in particular how they set their own learning
  goals, locate appropriate resources, decide on
  which learning methods to use and evaluate their
  progress.

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Adult Learning Emphasizes

• Critical Reflection
• Developing critical reflection is probably the
  idea of the decade for many adult educators who
  have long been searching for a form and process
  of learning that could be claimed to be
  distinctively adult.

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Adult Learning Honors

• Experiential Learning
• The emphasis on experience as a defining feature
  of adult learning was expressed in Lindeman's
  frequently quoted aphorism that "experience is
  the adult learner's living textbook" (1926, p. 7)
  and that adult education was, therefore, "a
  continuing process of evaluating experiences" (p.
  85).

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Adult Learning Supports

• Learning to Learn
• The ability of adults to learn how to learn - to
  become skilled at learning in a range of
  different situations and through a range of
  different styles - has often been proposed as an
  overarching purpose for those educators who work
  with adults.

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Adult Learning Includes

• Practical Theorizing
• Practical theorizing is an idea most associated
  with the work of Usher (Usher and Bryant, 1989)
  who has focused on the ways in which educational
  practitioners - including adult educators -
  become critically aware of the informally
  developed theories that guide their practice.
• Colleagues' experiences and formal theory -
  intersect continuously in a dialectical interplay
  of particular and universal perspectives.

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Essentials of Effective Feedback

• 1. Personal
• 2. Respectful
• 3. Constructive/Constructivist

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PERSONAL for both you and the student

• Not generic, not canned.
• Expressing your values, meaningful to you. i.e.
  This is an hour from your life as well. The
  students want a conversation with you.
• From one colleague to another.
• Tailored to this particular work of this student.

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RESPECTFUL, EMPATHETIC

• You acknowledge your students experience.
• You convey that you have a sense of how it will
  be to receive this feedback.

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RESPECTFUL, EMPATHETIC

• You recognize that no matter what the quality of
  this particular work, the student is an adult,
  working professional.
• You maintain your patience and professionalism.

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CONSTRUCTIVE, CONSTRUCTIVIST

• You use the feedback to teach, to enhance their
  learning.
• You link your feedback to course goals or to
  assignment objectives.
• You recognize this assignment and this course are
  part of a larger educational context, reminding
  students of previous coursework, or directing
  their thinking toward their lifelong learning.

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Forms of Feedback

• Discussion
• Model Answers
• Rubric (Criterion referenced)
• List of Common Mistakes
• List of Writing Strengths

• Continuous Assessment to track progress (i.e.
  formative)
• Specific, individualized comments on one work
• Bravo Insights!

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Research on Adult Learners

• In the classroom and online adult learners
• Have better technical knowledge and people
  skills.
• Draw upon their first-hand experience in dealing
  with textbook problems in their dynamic, changing
  and uncertain environment of the real world.
• Like to apply what they learn immediately.

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Research

• In the classroom, students who have work
  experience
• Are more productive as students
• Have higher-order thinking skills
• Should be given examples reflecting and
  acknowledging their experiences

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Adult or Part-time students
Advantages - Take it seriously - Motivated -
Know how to juggle a busy life - Are focused -
Grasp connections between theory learned in class
and their work

• Disadvantages
• Competing interests
• Travel
• Havent been a student in years
• Time is limited for meetings

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CAPITALIZING ON STUDENT EXPERIENCE Knowledge
Transfer

• Traditional Model Adult Model

Student
Instructor
Instructor
Student
Students
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Talking Points

• Have you developed in-class activities or
  homework assignments that utilize students work
  experience? 
• What did you hope to achieve by doing so?
• How has students work experience benefited your
  teaching?
• How does one student sharing his work experience
  benefit other students in the classroom?
• If you have taught students who lacked work
  experience in the subject, what are the major
  differences?

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• Have you developed in-class activities or
  homework assignments that utilize students work
  experience, for example 
• Discussions in-class, online, or panel.
• Formed teams purposely made up of students from
  different companies, organizations, schools, etc.
• Identified environments or projects at work where
  theories could be applied.

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OR..

• Taken a system, process, or data from a work
  project and analyze it using a technique learned
  in class.
• Conducted a post mortem analysis of a project in
  which the student was involved.

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• Potential Outcomes
• Students see how concepts and methods can be
  applied in different ways
• They cement what they know by applying theory to
  practice immediately
• To provide lesser experienced students with the
  opportunity to hear from those who are in the
  field
• Helps students reflect on their own situation at
  work, see the big picture instead of the just
  parts in which they are involved

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Benefits for Faculty

• How can students work experience benefit
• your teaching?
• A wealth of real-world examples that I can use as
  case studies, anecdotes, which are more
  compelling than artificial textbook examples.
• As practicing managers, they brought in issues,
  principles, and techniques that I would not get
  otherwise.

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Benefits for Faculty

• More insights into combining concepts, gives
  depth and breadth.
• Keeps me up to date, learning what technologies
  are used.
• Makes me a better facilitator. Keep me on my
  toes!

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Benefits for Students

• How does one student sharing his work experience
  benefit
• other students in the classroom?
• They often learn as much from other people in the
  class
• Get ideas and tips from each other
• Exposed to something new that they dont do at
  their work, opens up new worlds

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Benefits for Students

• They realize it isnt just an academic exercise
  but is practical and useful
• They trust information obtained from other
  students
• Enhances their learning
• Adds color to the lectures and discussions

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If you have taught students who lacked work
experience in the subject, what are the major
differences?

• A student who can relate the material to problems
  at work are more motivated to learn and apply the
  knowledge
• Students with less work experience could not
  contribute as much

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If you have taught students who lacked work
experience in the subject, what are the major
differences?

• It is nice for me when students say that they
  will apply what they just learned in their
  organization tomorrow
• Experienced students quickly grasp the connection
  between theory and practice

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Benefits to Students

• Helps students reflect on their own situation
• Hearing how their peers do it helps students see
  how concepts can be applied at work
• Students work harder and learn more if the
  project is meaningful to them

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Benefits to Students

• Form relationship between what they know and the
  material presented
• Actively engages them in the material rather than
  passively absorbing a lecture

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Benefits to Other Students in Class

• Enhances their learning by hearing multiple
  applications, opening up new worlds
• Learning from each other reinforces concepts
• Student need not be skeptical of professors
  ideas if reinforced by fellow students
• Find out how other organizations operate

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Benefits to Faculty

• Gain repertoire of compelling students stories
  from the field to be used as examples, in case
  studies, anecdotes, etc.
• Learn what is happening in industry, staying
  current with technologies used
• Supports/lends credence to theories presented in
  class

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Probes

• Do faculty who have prior non academic work
  experience value it in students more or less than
  career academicians?
• Do students feel their work experience was
  incorporated/valued/used in the classroom?

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Probes

• What is it like for the student who lacks work
  experience to be in a class where experience is
  valued?
• Would the responses be same for education
  programs, business programs, psychology programs,
  etc.?

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Ethical Principles

• Nine Ethical Principles in University Teaching
• Content competence
• Andragogical competence
• Dealing with sensitive topics
• Student development
• Dual relationships with students
• (keeping focus on academic issues)
• Developed by the Society for Teaching and
  Learning in Higher Education

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Ethical Practices

• Respect for colleagues
• Valid assessment of students
• Respect for institution
• Confidentiality

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References

• Bash, L. (Ed.). (2005). Best practices in adult
  learning. Bolton, MA. Anker Publishing Company,
  Inc.
• Johnson, S. D., Benson, A. D., Duncan, J.,
  Shinkareva, O. N., Taylor, G., Treat, T.
  (2003).Distance learning in postsecondary
  education No. 2003-10-00). Columbus, Ohio
  National Dissemination Center for Career and
  Technical Education.

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References

• Mingle, J. R., Birkes, A. Y. (2004). Targeting
  the adult learning challenge in SREB states
  (PDF). Challenge to lead. Southern Regional
  Education Board.
• Yoon, S. (2003). In search of meaningful online
  learning experiences. New Directions for Adult
  and Continuing Education, (100), 19-30.