Materials and Assignments for January

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REFLECTION

  1. How do we best plan activities for adults who want to learn something?

  2. How do we prove to ourselves (and to the student) that learning is taking or has taken place?

  3. How do we measure how much learning has occurred?

  4. How do we challenge ourselves and our learners to learn more?

In Segment One (December) we discussed several ways of getting adults in our programs to commit to their own learning (learning contracts or other agreements); we've discussed how people take in data/information (learning styles); and we've examined how they integrate it into their lives (intelligences).

What do we do with all of that information? I suggest that we put it into practice!

JANUARY ASSIGNMENTS

A. Reflect on the questions in the Discussion Forum (Links Below). This segment will provide you with a forum to discuss the four questions raised , above. I challenge you to think outside of the traditional adult education box. Think of "bottom line" concepts as you reflect on every student you or your program serves. A good way to begin might be to ask the questions of yourself as an adult learner, which we all are. You might ask...

  1. How can someone best plan activities for me when I want to learn something?

  2. How can I prove to myself or an instructor that learning is taking or has taken place?

  3. How can I best measure what learning has occurred?

  4. How can I challenge myself and my instructors to learn more?

Are we different from our students? I think not - not so much. We may be more literate in some areas and more flexible in our learning because we were willing and able to force ourselves to learn the way we were taught (ouch!). However, how differently would we want to be treated than how we treat our students? Hopefully, not much!

GO TO THE FORUM AND GET INVOLVED. FORUM PARTICIPATION IS ESSENTIAL TO THIS COURSE! THAT'S WHERE YOU'LL HAVE THE MOST FUN AND GROW THE MOST. I've changed our discussion platform. I think you'll like it. Be patient as you learn how to use its many features and read the instructions on using the forum.



GO TO THE FORUM

B.  Design an activity. After considering the suggestions made for possible activities and after examining samples of each one (see links below), design a short and simple activity that applies what you learned in Segment I. I challenge you to design an activity that is different than what you ordinarily use so that you have more fun in the exercise. I encourage you to use links to Internet resources in your activity. Your whole activity, as a matter of fact, may be designed completely around online resources. Just make sure that the reading level is correct unless you plan to facilitate the activity a lot.

Use the KISS principle and go for the activity. You can't make a mistake as long as you develop something that your students will use.

The activity you design, will have the following components:

  1. The rationale for creating the activity (How have I best planned this activity for my adult student who wants to learn something?)

  2. What your student wants to learn in this activity.

  3. What your student will do to learn what you have designed. (The steps in learning).

  4. What your student will do to show you he or she is learning during the activity (How do I prove to myself and to the student that learning is taking or has taken place?)

  5. How you and your student will measure what learning has taken place (How do we measure how much learning has occurred?)

  6. What more we want to learn about this or any other topic. (How do we challenge ourselves and our learners to learn more?)

Send me your completed activity or the activity in progress as an email attachment. I'll publish it for you! 

Following are some additional resources for you as instructors. I skimmed the top, really. You'll find so much doing a search on any topic of interest. Please don't feel like you have to read everything. The idea is to browse through and check some sites that you can use over and over in your program. One of the current difficulty people face in working with the Internet and all of its resources is to wade through its deep waters looking for pearls. Don't allow yourself to get discouraged if you are not a good diver. Grab a few lines I've thrown out to you and start using one that leads you to good stuff. When you get confident with that, grab another line.

Some of you will only want to spend the 5 hours expected from you in these segments. However, I've put out stuff to keep you smirking a lot longer if you so desire. If it takes too long, ask, no, beg your program to purchase faster connections and better equipment. We'll talk about grant writing later. Things get done from the bottom up if you holler enough!

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