Fitting the Pieces Together

I want to give some of my background so you see where I came from in the education field. I worked for AT&T as an engineer in Video, Voice, Facilities, Data, and Global Feasibility & Impact. I was also in marketing for eight years. One of my responsibilities was to conduct training classes for employees transferring into our division. I never gave any thought to what education theories would work best for the students; I presented the material, answered questions, and gave tests to see if I needed to go over the material again. Now I see many things I could have done to improve the learning experience for everyone I taught. One of the easiest was to get to know the students and if they were audio or video learners. They were all adult learners and I see know that:
• "Adults will commit to learning when the goals and objectives are considered realistic and important to them. Application in the 'real world' is important and relevant to the adult learner's personal and professional needs.
• Adults want to be the origin of their own learning and will resist learning activities they believe are an attack on their competence. Thus, professional development needs to give participants some control over the what, who, how, why, when, and where of their learning.
• Adult learners need to see that the professional development learning and their day-to-day activities are related and relevant.
• Adult learners need direct, concrete experiences in which they apply the learning in real work.
• Adult learning has ego involved. Professional development must be structured to provide support from peers and to reduce the fear of judgment during learning.
• Adults need to receive feedback on how they are doing and the results of their efforts. Opportunities must be built into professional development activities that allow the learner to practice the learning and receive structured, helpful feedback.
• Adults need to participate in small-group activities during the learning to move them beyond understanding to application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Small-group activities provide an opportunity to share, reflect, and generalize their learning experiences.
• Adult learners come to learning with a wide range of previous experiences, knowledge, self-direction, interests, and competencies. This diversity must be accommodated in the professional development planning.
• Transfer of learning for adults is not automatic and must be facilitated. Coaching and other kinds of follow-up support are needed to help adult learners transfer learning into daily practice so that it is sustained."
Speck (1996)
I could have done a much better job of teaching and prefer to teach adults. Adults have a passion for learning or they would not be attending classes. The ability to communicate with noted professionals and not so noted non-professionals over the internet opens the world of information to everyone. I believe the days of teaching from a few text books are in the past, the reference material from around the world is now open to anyone who care to look. The next five years in the field of education will see more changes then the last 50 years.