I joined the US Nuclear Navy in the fall after graduating high school, and became an instructor training high school and college graduates how to operate a nuclear power plant.
After discharge ten years later, I was an adult learner obtaining a BS in Chemistry in three years, while working full time in food processing industry as an environmental engineer, with a wife, 3.5 children, a mortage payment, etc.
I migrated to the semiconductor industry, back to the food industry, then back to the nuclear industry, before coming back to my Alma Mater to teach technical students, at age 58. I had taught back in the Navy 30-40 years ago, and weekly to youth and adults in church sunday schools.
Coming back to teaching adults in college was challenging. As an adult learning, i did NOT master the LMS system and it caused significant problems between my students and i the first three semesters i taught. The Alma Mater didn't really prepare me for the use of LMS, beyond what i thought was a way to organize presentations... It really has a lot of capabilities i did NOT master. sadly.
A new teacher orientation checklist, coving all the "how to teach" functions, and use of the LMS would have been really beneficial (not just the one hour drinking from the fire hose daily orientation), but a semester long "teaching assistant" function guided by the program chair, and or department head. Sadly this was compounded by the Alma Mater changing LMS systems to a new one...so as an adult.... one adult characteristic was "why bother" learning the old one well, when it is going to be replaced.... being told partly that "I didn't have to use the LMS".
Well. The students relied on the LMS as the plan of the day, or plan of the week, and it would have been really helpful to me, and to my students if i gained at least a rudimentary understanding of the capabilities of the LMS, beyond organizing presentations.
The "teacher assistant role" could have prepared me to teach better, had they had me 1) generate an attendance role in the LMS 2) take role throughout the semester 3) grade assigments that were submitted on line 4) review the quizzes in the LMS for accuracy and completeness, 5) upload new teaching materials, 6) upload assignments due 6) grade exams, mid terms and finals, 7) zoom calls, 8) and a variety of other preparations. These things would have brought me back into a teaching mindset, and made me more prepared for my first and second semesters teaching....when i was taking attendance on paper, and expecting students to hand in assignments on paper.
The first semester was a generational challenge with Gen Z... or rather Gen Alpha. The second semester with an adult learning and others much more oriented as Adult learnings (still Gen Z), but adults returning back to school with some experience.
and i found that some things i that i taught i really knew... some researchers call this "Crystalized knowledge" other things i knew, i had to relearn, in order to teach, stimulated by some questions that i was not as prepared for... and still other thngs, in my training and life long experience, i didn't know in the first place and had to learn new. This took much longer than expected. and with some of the students, patients wasn't a virtue.
Oh, and i realized in years of teaching sunday school, i didn't have to grade homework, or prepare final exams... i was there to instruct, not judge - that is someone elses responsibility. and the weekly pace was much easier than the three classes a day schedule. Oops
It really took until the 4th semester to get a better handle on teaching again... to realize it is fun. That conveying knowledge from a variety of experiences, providing analogies to the students... helping them to learn, then challenging their understanding makes it rewarding.
Well: Lessons learned.
