Over the last month I have been studying and comparing the learning design for adults and children. They have names and acronyms, but there is a definite similarity in planning out instruction.
Analyze, Background, Information Gathering, Teaching with the End in Mind, Design, Presentation Style, Develop, Plan, Outline, Engage, Explore, Explain, Implement, Elaborate, Testing, Rough Draft, Final Draft, Evaluate
All of these are catch phrases for how to plan lessons, create workshops, or any other type of “lesson.” For me using the 5 W’s and 1 H questions are the best way to begin planning. I have sat through some bad workshops (including more than one that was not the presenting on the topic that it was supposed to) which waste time and money for all parties involved. I want my presentations and workshops to be valid and helpful to the learners (school-age students and adults alike).
– Who am I teaching? What is the education level (this can be a giant discrepancy among adult learners)? What are the gaps we are trying to close with the lessons?
I know this can be hard to admit as a classroom teacher; but sometimes I don’t focus on the who my lesson is really intended. However, what I am meaning is, if we are using materials that are put together and provided – have I read over it enough to know what relates to my students or not. I have made this mistake when using different math materials. They said 6th- 8th grade and I attempted to use them. I have had those lessons backfire in being too technical to comprehend or where the material was below my students’ working levels and did not give them enough challenge. In the end both times, we were all unsuccessful. You need to also think about your English-language learners and how your information can/will be translated if needed. The past few years I have planned technology workshops and trainings for other teachers, I have to evaluate what technology implementation level those teachers are on in order to create the best fit of a presentation. For adults knowing the level of education would also be important because you would be focusing on the information that is specific to the learning; keep in mind that education level does not mean intelligence level. Find your learners’ levels.
– What am I teaching?
– Why? What is the goal in this lesson(s)? What problem am I trying to solve?
The what and the why to go together. What am I teaching? _______ For me it has been Microsoft Teams and implementation of Microsoft Tools into the classroom. Why was I teaching this? I wanted to share what I knew and learned with others at TCEA. I wanted to other teachers to be able to implementation the ideas about using Excel, PowerPoint, and Word into their lessons at a higher level of technology integration. Another time, I was told to teach new teachers by my district. What was my goal? For my teachers to be able to implement Teams into their classroom successfully, to use the different features to make a successful asynchronous learning experience for their students during COVID. As you can see, when you focus on what and why you are teaching, you can focus the learning goals and have more successful results. Other adult goals could be to learn a new corporate program, to learn new equipment, or to understand HR policy. Find your lesson’s focus.
– When? How much time will be dedicated to learning? To implementing? To prove understanding?
– Where will the learners be learning? Classroom setting or virtual synchronous learning? Self-paced asynchronous? On the job training ? What is the access to technology?
– How will the final result prove comprehension? Will there be PDFs, short videos, quizzes?
I feel these last three questions go together also. When, where and how? Once you decide on the goal of the material, moving into how much time you have to dedicate to the learning vs time for implementation. For students this can look like a scope and sequence and timing of benchmark exams. For adults this could be: new hire time period and learning the corporate intranet and job specific programs or training on a new piece of equipment. In most classroom situations you are teaching in face-to-face, but in the post-COVID environment the ability to switch to virtual synchronous or asynchronous settings is important. When teaching adults, I had to adjust my presentations to meet time constraints (1 hour, 90 minutes, 2 days, etc.) and also presentation methods. I created PowerPoint and Prezi Presentations to be shown face-to-face with handouts to follow along. I also embedded short screencast videos that were hyperlinked into the presentations, so that they could be watched and referenced at a later time. I used QR codes to link to PDF ‘cheat sheets.’ These worked for me because everyone I was training was sitting with a computer or tablet and smart phone. In certain workplace situations, training may consist of face-to-face only, or self-paced computer course on a work-provided computer room, because those jobs don’t involve computers daily. PDF job aides (‘cheat sheets’) may be the best resource in certain situations. Lastly, how do I want to prove comprehension. In a classroom, quizzes, exit tickets (a question to answer of the way out), daily work, assessments, projects are the typical way to prove understanding. With adults, we want to see scenarios and examples to talk through; for example when learning CPR – showing the CPR steps on the dummy. Talking point discussion questions: How will you implement this new process on the job? What would you do if you saw someone harassing a coworker? (We’ve had the discussions before) Taking a quiz over certain details in a video is another way we check for understanding in adults. In both of these instances, the learner is owning their learning. Learning becomes valid, is comprehended, and then incorporated more fully.
Before I begin creating my next workshop, I will be going back over my old ones. I will compare the who, what, when, where, why and how against what was already created and improve, because we should always be learning and implementing that new knowledge.
Implement, Testing, Rough Draft, Final Draft
Evaluate, Was it productive? Was the goal met? Is there proof that they learned?
Teaching Re-Imagined 