This class showed me that a lot of the teniques I use in the online classroom are beneficial to the student. Continuing to add and adjust my lesson plans to help the adult learner can make a positive impact in the student's learning experience.
I learned about the 4 R's
- respectful relationships
- responsive facilitation
- reality-based
- reflection
I found Responsive facilitation very interesting. We as instructors try to responsive to our adult learners. Instead of being an authority as instructors, we must facilitate them by helping them and guiding them. We need to find ways to guide our adult learners into learning situations that will give us an end result of both an intellectual and behavioral change
The 4 priniciples of andragogy helped to expand my view of the adult learner. I can fully see how lifer experience contributes to learning and processing of knowledge.
The student is responsible for their learning, but we are working with a Master's degree student, who was a undergraduate student last quarter. Workshops on adaptation to Graduate Studies must be given.
This was a super informative module. I was basically able to work through the "final-authority anxiety" by realizing that students are excited to share something I didn't know how to do because it means they're excelling in the program and field. I'm going to be up front about not knowing everything, and I hope it'll help students feel more comfortable coming to me with questions that we can figure out together!
It is important to explain why and how learning the information will benefit the student and how they can apply it in their career. Building trust in the relationships of student to student and student to instructor may help the adult learner to feel comfortable in responding and asking questions in the learning environment.
In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs to focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. Strategies such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation are most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource rather than lecturer or grader
I have learned how important it is to encourage adult learners to be accountable for their own learning through research and class discussions and interactions.
The 4 R's are a helpful reminder of the steps involved with learning, and to always find angles and approaches where the learning can be applied to a student's and/or teacher's immediate reality is an excellent reminder to ask (and answer) "WHY doe what we are learning matter, and for WHOM?"
Also, the opening of dialogue and sharing amongst the cohort has generated the most positive reactions, a democratization of the learning process which helps the students to feel empowered and also flips the classroom by allowing them to participate in the teaching process.
Engaging with learners as partners in their learning journey is vital to continued growth and development. Ultimately creating a respectful and inclusive, psychologicaly safe environement for curisoity and and experimentation will further enhance learning outcomes and objectives.
I've learned that online adult learners need to know the immediate relevance of the courses they are teaching. They do better when they understand the purpose and use of the courses they take.
I have learned you have to allow adults to the opportunity to review the material at their own pace
I have learned that as instructors, it is important that we realize that adults learn differently from children. Adults have a plethora of experience that can be used as a valuable resource for learning. They can be more motivated and more successful if they are learning about topics that apply to their life, that they want to learn, and have a say in the learning process. The key for instructors is to be successful when teaching adults is to create a safe environment for the adult learner to share their viewpoints and opinions comfortably, and try to meet the student where they are at, when they are ready.
I have learned more about the four R's of Andragogy. Responsive facilitation was enlightening.
I learned about the 4 Rs of androgogy, and while I am not instructing courses currently, they can also be applied in tutoring to really help students fully learn and grasp the concepts taught in the classroom.
I enjoyed the theoretical information; too often I think career education doesn't provide our faculty with a theoretical underpinning from which to build a course or classroom management. I like the R's of Andragogy as well & hope to incorporate several things from this course into my course design as I overhaul my online course organization.
Not to forget the learner in the development of the content and the role of democracy, even in an online classroom.
I really enjoyed this course in the fact that it enforces that instructors can be guides for adult learning. I think there are perceptions that take place in that instructors should be teaching and are responsible for students understanding all information. This course has reinforced that actually positive learning techniques and classroom practices involve more open discussion and democratic principles, while guiding adult learners to success, without the assumption that the instructor has to be the dictator to ensure student retention.
I do like the ideal of respectful relationships, responsive facilitation, reality based learning, and reflection both for the instructor and the student are all important to help ensure success for the adult learning process.
Getting students to be responsible for their own learning objectives can be a challenge, especially in an accelerated term such as ours. On discussion boards, this can be particularly challenging.
To facilitate that goal, I ask bolded open ended questions on the board, but not to every student, because I try to mix up my response types to keep their interest. That said, many times students don't circle back around to answering the questions. I could be more diligent about following up with them one on one when they fail to do this. The expectation is set from Day One, however, that this is part of the etiquette of discussion boards. After all, you wouldn't just ignore me face to face if I asked you a direct question, would you? Probably not.
I learned about many of the specific attributes of adult learners that might differ from younger students.
