Everyone learns differently. That is a fact....no way around that one. I have said this before and I will say it again, we need to ensure that people get what they paid/came for. As adult educators, we provide a service and we should strive to have people want our service. So if we discount learning styles that differ from our way of teaching, well that is bad business sense. This person is putting their time and money on the line in hopes of gaining some knowledge. This being said, we need to ensure their needs are met. Sure, it may be hard, but that is life. If you want an easy job go do something else, but dont be an educator that cuts corners. An adult educator must atleast aware of every learning style so that they may be useful should the need arise.
My thoughts.....................
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Hey Sean,
ReplyDeleteSomething struck me as I read your post that made me think about adult education in a different light. You said "we provide a service and we should strive to have people want our service." I have not thought about this in this light but is this something that, as an adult educator, advertise our learning style teaching methods so that those that match our style would benefit more from our class? I could say I am a hands-on visual type technology teacher, for example, and those that had that learning style would sign up for my class and benefit more than those that didn't learn in that style.
Interesting concept! I wonder if it would work. Back when I first when to college I remember other students talking about certain teachers and how they taught. Did they just lecture and drone on and on? Did they go outside and write about something? Did they show a movie? Etc., etc. I wonder if I would get more people to attend my workshops if I told them how I taught? hmmm....
Thanks for making me think!
Jason - I think you are on to something... and if you are writing the description of your workshops (if you are the one to do that) you should include what your learners will learn as well as how they will learn it. I am sure anyone who has attended a conference looks at the descriptions of the breakout sessions and the ones that sound interesting... AND fun, or match their learning styles, are the ones they pick.
ReplyDeleteI am still wondering though, is it really possible to really meet the needs of all of our learners? And if we don't, is it because we are not good educators or because we are not wanting to do the hard work like you mention?
I do write the descriptions and I think I'm going to start adding something about this when adding new workshops. I don't think there is anything wrong with outlining what you will be covering and HOW. Just thinking through the tips of my fingers (typing) but wondering if you could do something like:
ReplyDelete• Workshop Overview - Lecture/YouTube Video/Large Group Discussion - "What do you want to learn today?"
• Introductions - Small group activity (Create a "radio script" with and about your partner and share.)
• Using Wordpress and finding Examples - Demo and individual investigation
• Logging in - Hands on
• Planning your site - Reflection to plan, draw and/or outline site organization.
• Etc., etc.
Thanks for letting me think "out loud" here Sean and for stretching me.