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Posts Tagged ‘Teaching’

The adult education literature generally supports the intent that teaching adults should be approached in a different way than teaching kids and adolescents. The assumption that instructors of adults should use a different style of teaching is based on the widely espoused theory of andragogy, which recommends that “adults anticipate learner-centered settings where they can set their own goals and organize their own learning around their present life needs” (Donaldson, Flannery, and Ross-Gordon 1993, p. 148). However, even in the field of adult education, debate occurs about the efficacy of a separate approach for teaching adults. Some believe that adult education is essentially the same process as education generally (Garrison 1994) and therefore does not require a separate teaching approach: that is, all good teaching, whether for adults or children, should be responsive in nature.
The question of whether teaching adults is different remains ambiguous.

For example, research summarized in an ERIC Digest(Imel 1989) has shown that even those educators who state they believe in using an andragogical approach do not necessarily use a different style when teaching adults. Additional myths and realities related to teaching adults are explored in this publication. Two areas are examined: types of adult learning and what learners themselves want from teachers.
Different Types of Adult Learning
One way to approach the question of whether teaching adults is different is by analyzing the types of learning in which adults engage. Drawing upon the work of Habermas and Mezirow, Cranton (1994) classified adult learning into three categories:
Subject-oriented adult learning-In adult learning contexts that are subject oriented, the primary goal is to acquire content. The educator “speaks of covering the material, and the learners see themselves as gaining knowledge or skills” (ibid., p. 10).
Consumer-oriented adult learning-The goal of consumer-oriented learning is to fulfill the expressed needs of learners. Learners set their learning goals, refer objectives, choose relevant resources, and so forth. The educator acts as a facilitator or resource person, “and does not engage in challenging or questioning what learners state about their needs” (ibid., p. 12).
Emancipatory adult learning-The goal of emancipatory learning is to free learners from the forces that limit their options and control over their lives, forces that they have taken for allowed or seen as beyond their control. Emancipatory learning results in transformations of learner perspectives through critical reflection (Mezirow 1991). The educator plays an active role in fostering critical reflection by challenging learners to think about why they hold certain assumptions, values, and beliefs (Cranton 1994).
Of the three types of adult learning, only emancipatory has been described as one-of-a-kind to adulthood, but even that claim has been challenged (Merriam and Caffarella 1991). Subject-oriented learning is the most common form of learning engaged in by youth. Collaborative and cooperative learning and other types of experiential learning that are more consumer oriented are also found in youth classrooms. However, according to Mezirow (1981), emancipatory learning, with its emphasis upon learner transformation, can take place only in adulthood because, “it is only in late adolescence and in adulthood that a mortal can recognize being caught in his/her own history and reliving it” (p. 11). In adulthood, “rather than merely adapting to changing circumstances by more diligently applying old ways of knowing . . . [individuals] discover a need to acquire new perspectives in order to acquire a more complete understanding of changing events and a higher degree of control over their lives. The formative learning of childhood becomes transformative learning in adulthood” (Mezirow 1991, p. 3). As a result of the research and theory-building efforts of Mezirow-fully described in Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning (1991)-emancipatory adult learning has become more commonly known as transformative learning.
Teaching Approaches for Transformative Learning
If transformative learning is one-of-a-kind to adulthood, does it require the use of teaching approaches that are geared specifically to adults? This is not clear. It is true that transformative learning requires that learners address problems through critical reflection. Some strategies used to assist transformative learning, e.g., such as journal writing, critical incidents, and experiential methods, are used in other types of learning as well. (See Cranton 1994 and Mezirow and Associates 1990 for a full discussion of these and other methods that can be used to promote transformative learning.)
What is clear is that fostering transformative learning demands a different approach by the educator. Even though learners must decide on their own to engage in transformative learning, educators who wish to promote transformative learning have the responsibility to set the stage and wage opportunities for critical reflection (Cranton 1994). When educators are operating in the domain of transformative learning, they help learners analyze their beliefs and how they have acquired them by creating situations in which they can debate how their values, assumptions, ideologies, and beliefs have come to be constructed (Newman 1993). Instead of congratulating themselves for having prefabricated their point when a learner says, “I never looked at it that way before,” educators can help learners engage in transformative learning by responding with, “`How did you see things?’ and then, `What prefabricated you see things like that?’ and then `If we can comprehend how you came to have a set of ideas and attitudes then, let’s look at how you come to have the ideas and attitudes you have now’” (ibid., p. 182).
Of course, not all adult learning is transformative in nature; many adult educators also do not believe that they have a role in helping adults engage in critical reflection and, consequently, never operate in the transformative domain. Those who do, however, perceive that teaching adults is different.

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Depending on the kind of online teaching jobs that you undertake, you might be called upon to develop teaching materials. Of course, if you are delivering an existing course on behalf of an educational institution (at the one end of the spectrum) or providing homework help and supervision for primary school learners, then materials development is not likely to be a major component of your online teaching jobs. Still, developing teaching materials of some kind – and the time and effort this demands – is something most people, in most online teaching jobs, will have to think about to some extent.

Developing Online Materials

The key thing about the materials you need to develop for use in your online teaching jobs, whatever they might be, is that you will need to design them carefully. Ideally they need to be plain carefully and appropriately for the online medium and crafted to make the most of the possibilities that it offers.

Though some teaching can be done much as it is in a conventional educational setting, there are some obvious limitations in the online medium, as well as some opportunities to be innovative and make online learning both effective and fun.

Going Interactive

Interactive content is high on the list of things to think about when designing content to use in your online teaching jobs. Software (some acquirable free) is online to help you in this task. You don’t have to get into designing and creating educational video games. Easy things like interactive graphics and quizzes can spice up your teaching or online tutoring sessions. They can also be used as part of a wider strategy to encourage learners to work by themselves, as well as in interactions with you.

Using interactive images can be useful because visual materials can be more effective teaching aids than text, while the act of interacting with the image helps learners to remember more efficiently. Interactive quizzes can have the feel of a game rather than a test. Sometimes simple interactive aids are more effective than more complex ones in inculcating knowledge. A full-on video game might be fun but the game element can swamp the educational content unless it is carefully designed.

If you are creating your own online content for use in your online teaching jobs it is important to keep the material tied to learning objectives and information delivery at all times. It is also worth keeping in mind that some aspects of a subject might be superior communicated by interaction with you, the instructor or tutor, than through interactive materials. Sometimes there is no alternative for human input. That is something you will have to judge for yourself.

Thinking Independently

It can also be useful to design materials to develop learners’ research skills. In your online teaching jobs you don’t want to hand students answers on a plate. Encouraging them to find the answers for themselves by searching online (or going to sites you recommend) is something that can be built into online teaching materials. Bear in mind that you want to test their capability to gather and process information. It’s not to instruct them how to use a search engine.

Online Content Development: Miscellaneous Issues

It’s simple for  people to underestimate how time-consuming developing course content and interactive materials for use in your online teaching jobs can be. But  if it works and engages learners then it can be time well spent. You will need to monitor how effective your self-created content is but, as a rule of thumb, building in variety and interactivity, while staying closely focused on learning objectives, is a winning strategy.

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One of the ideal concepts behind teaching reading strategies is that the reader knows some things before reading the material. A good instructor or parent helper will set the stage for the student by stirring an interest in the material to be read.

It is a benefit to the student to have some knowledge of what he or she is supposed to get from the reading material. If it is a story with an ending, a mystery to be solved, or an instructional document in which something needs to be learned, the student should be anticipating a result before reading the material.

With an understanding of what the results are going to be, the student can condition themselves by recalling things they have already learned about the subject at hand. Proper preparation will grant for acquired knowledge to help in understanding any new subjects or material.

Another part of teaching reading strategies is predicting the outcome of the material when it is read. A story that has some conditions and characters that are known about before the reading starts can lead the reader to foregone conclusions. These keep the reader interested to find out if they were correct with their initial assumptions.

During the reading of the material, the student should make note of any words that he or she doesn’t know and needs help with to be healthy to receive what is necessary from the reading. If the whole passage is read, sometimes a mystery word will become obvious.

Sentences that are confusing because of demand of understanding or ones that contain words that can’t be pronounced should be reread as many times as necessary to get the correct meaning.

Teaching reading strategies is necessary for all students who are not as proficient in their reading skills as they need to be, and the same rules apply to those who have good reading understanding.

The intent that money goes on tree is a false idea. What is true is that money surely does not grow on trees and it does have to be attained to be useful to people. Many kids grow up not knowing the value of the dollar. That is a shame. Because when they become adults, those people tend to have more money problems than others. All parents should be teaching kids about money.

Are there good reasons to instruct kids about money primeval in their lives? There really are. Many young kids don’t really know the value of money, but when they do they want to have some just like mommy and daddy. Once the value of money is learned, then it is a good intent to instruct kids that if it is not taken care of, then it can be gone very fast. Just take a look of the world economy.

There are always those families that have more than their share of money and have no problem just giving their kids anything they need, and that includes a darn good allowance of money.

Sometimes it appears that the money they give is limitless. That is not how the world works, and that is really less than half of one percent of the world. Those people don’t know how to handle money on their own.

It is such a good intent for parents to instruct their kids to be tight with their money in these economic times. Those that are healthy to place some money back for a rainy day are going to be much superior off than those that don’t. Saving money is so important for individualized growth.

It is very smart to instruct kids while they are young. This is the age when they are very impressionable and will listen more eagerly to their parents than while they become older. If you move until they are older they will simply listen for a moment, and then let go out the other ear.

Untaught kids are irresponsible with their money.

All parents should be teaching their kids about money.

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