I think the key to adult education is making the material relevant to them in their everyday life. When I was teaching medical coding students, I had to teach these indepth medical modules. To do that, I included information that was applicable to them personally such as the methods to prevent skin cancer and when to see medical advice when examining skin lesions. This truly made this information valuable and they were more interested in the topic.
Understanding the basics of learning can be very helpful in my efforts to help learners grasp both the concrete and abstract aspects of Java programming. There are specific experiential opportunities to combine visual, auditory, and tactile experiences in learning to use a development environment, thus exposing learners to an episodic learning experience. In addition, learners are asked to apply semantic learning to specific coding principles, such as the ways to declare and use variables.
One question that bears consideration is how students learn to memorize large numbers of Java APIs. My contention is that through repeated episodic experiences, combined with the tactile and visual experience of coding using those APIs, the student learns to use them from memory after a long enough period of time.
This is a fascinating subject. I was interested in it for a while, and there is a field of computer science called neural networks, in which you can actually build organic computers out of neurons, which can repair themselves when damaged and even learn new concepts. This is truly an amazing field. The human brain is by far the most complex computing machinery in the history of mankind.
This is why mastery of a subject is so important for instructors. Since we have had success in our own experiences when learning our disciplines, we can pass on those paths to success to our students, providing them with guideposts as it were to ensuring that they follow a proven track. This is a source of security for students, and they can generalize our own episodic experiences. A good rapport does help quite a bit.
Hi James,
You method of helping students to learn large amounts of content in your course is a good one. As you mention episodic memory is powerful because students can see the connection between content and application. By blending the tactile, visual and application methods the content becomes a part of their working memory which makes it much easier the student to retrieve and use the information.
Gary
Hi James,
Now you have me curious about learning more about the neural networks field. The idea of a computer being able to repair itself as needed is very interesting to me. I'm still amazed at the human brain and how it operates. For a 3 lb computer it does an amazing job doesn't it.
Gary
I never had the formal labels available to me to put on the types of learning that we see in students. Since what we teach is something that our students usually have no prior knowledge of, it's hard for them to draw on past experiences to relate it to. However, they learn in the semantic way, based on memorization and short-term memory, but by using that new learning on a daily basis and applying it for hours each day, it hopefully gets placed in the long-term working memory area. Our younger students seem to learn much more quickly and don't question theory applications as much as older students. Is this because of life stresses of jobs, finances, families, or because they are more resistant to learning new things and "delete" them automatically, as you say?
Hi Marie,
The reason the older students question theory applications more is due to life experiences against which they measure the content to which they are currently being exposed. They also hit the "delete" button quicker because they have stored a lot of material in their brains already and are more selective about what they take in. With all of the outside influences in their lives and their extensive experiences they see episodic connections in their memories as being the most valuable and most worth retaining. This is why relevancy and application are essential for older learners as lessons are planned. The semantic part of the content can be done like you mentioned with hours of application and then they can move the newly acquired knowledge into their long term memory which it can be retrieved and used in their working memory as needed.
Gary
Understanding the basics of learning, especially in regards to the older students in my grad classes, will help me in the way I structure my class lessons and in my teaching style. I’m especially intrigued with “hands on” aspect of learning. In my Systems Engineering class, I already engage my students in discussion by asking questions, soliciting them to share work experiences, and having them give their views of various topics. I also do math problems on the board…I go through them thoroughly and ask questions to ensure they understand. But I found they still missed similar problems on the exams--more than I expected. I think that I’ll do a problem and then have the students do a similar problem at their desks. Once done, I’ll ask for volunteers to do it on the board. Hopefully, this will improve their skills.
Hi Douglas,
I think you will see a higher level of retention and improved performance with your new approach. Let me know how you come out with this effort.
Gary
It will help me understand that learners learn differently.
It's important to remember how complex the learning process is. Keeping the dynamics of learning in mind helps us to approach teaching in a more holistic way.
James-
I agree. Mastery of the substantive material is essential as is reminding ourselves of how we gained our knowledge. For me, it's been a challenge to appreciate and expand my approach to learning to incorporate other approaches. For instance, I'm pretty good at visual learning. Some students are more adept at auditory learning.
Best,
Monique Ferraro
Dina-
I agree that using a multitude of approaches is essential to ensure maximum learning takes place. I wish I had the benefit of these technologies when I was in college. I'm not a good auditory learner, so I hated lectures, and lectures + reading was all there was. Thanks for the post.
Best,
Monique Ferraro
It's great to know the general approaches to how students learn. It benefits me as an instructor to bear in mind that everyone is different in just about every way. How we learn is a salient example. I'll adapt my instructional strategy by remembering to observe and evaluate how individuals learn and augment course content whenever possible to accommodate those differences.
Monique Ferraro
Hi Monique,
This is so true. Learning is a simple process with many complex aspects to it. Instructors need to work hard at trying to understand the dynamics of the students, the pace of the class and the learning that is occurring. This is a big task but when the students get "ah-ha" moments then all the effort is worth it.
Gary
Hi Monique,
Well said in terms of how you will develop and adapt your instructional style for your students. A side benefit of doing this I have found it that it keeps my interest high in terms of seeing how the adaptation works out. When you teach the same course over and over again it is easy to fall into a rut and not being as dynamic as you should be. When you bring new activities, ideas and strategies into the course then both the students and you increase your interest.
Gary
Many adult students remark that, while they can handle sophisticated thinking and problem-solving at work, they 'fall back' into gradeschool-rote mentality for course tasks. It is essential to help move adult learners away from that restrictive episodic memory to integrative learning, in which concepts (ideas), professional and personal experiences, and required readings are meshed. I already use 'what if?' 'you're the consultant' and 'in your (workplace) case' activities in live chat. After reviewing modeule 1, I plan to emphasise generalization and abstract thinking to a greater extent.
The online learning environemtn removes most of the social cues on which students depend. One of the exceptions is realtime (live) chat, especially if it is supported by audio and video.
Are there integrative end-of-course acvitities to seve as capstones?
