Effective Teaching

I believe effective teaching for adults is facilitation and participation.

                Except for specific, technical knowledge, lecturing adults is less productive than interactive discussion and participation. Adults bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the classroom that collectively exceeds the knowledge any single teacher might possess. Malcolm Knowles (1975) identified one critical difference in adult learners as being “self-directed”. He stated that “one of the competencies possessed by self-directing learners is a concept of themselves as non-dependent and self-directing persons.” (p 64). I believe that the idea of being non-dependent makes adults responsible for their education, including what and how they learn. They expect to be part of the process. Knowles (1980) summed it up as “there should exist a spirit of mutuality between teachers and students as joint inquirers.” (p 47). Ken Blanchard et al. (1985) described it as becoming a “participant observer”.

                Part of effective teaching for adults is respecting and utilizing the experience in the room. The duty of a facilitator is to encourage the sharing of experience by all participants and to lead discussions to develop new solutions. The adage here is that the total is greater than the sum of its parts. I view it as every participant coming into the room with a piece of a puzzle. My job is to help them collect all the pieces and create a new picture.

I believe effective teaching provides information and coaching that adult participants need to achieve their goals.

When you are a child, you are expected to learn what others have decided you should know. Children rarely have learning goals. As an adult, our experiences spur us to learn specific things. We have goals. We have a purpose in mind when we undertake learning. We know what we want. Brockett (2015) notes that as much as 90% of the adult population undertakes some type of learning each year (p 31). Merriam et al. (2020) summarize pedagogical assumptions about why adults want to learn (p 120). If adults know what they want and why, it follows that it is the responsibility of the teacher/facilitator to meet that goal.

I believe the facilitator should help participants identify gaps in their existing knowledge.

To help the participant meet their goal, the teacher/facilitator must also recognize gaps in the participant’s knowledge. I believe this is one of the biggest challenges for an adult educator. Failure to identify knowledge gaps can cause wasted time and effort for everyone. If the facilitator focuses on information the participant already has, the learner is bored and has wasted their time and money. If the facilitator starts at an advanced level, the learner is left in the dust. (Ask me about a lecture I attended at the Atlanta Orchid Society!)

The McClusky Theory of Margin presented by Merriam et al. (2020, p 131) could illustrate the negative consequences of not identifying gaps. The adult with limited Power can’t afford to waste it on unusable training.

I believe the facilitator must trust the participants. The knowledge is in the room.

                While this seems a strange statement to follow the previous point, the facilitator mustn’t act as the expert in the room. The combined experience of the participants will often create a more eloquent solution than a single expert. The facilitator has the role of coaching and keeping the discussion on track, but they are not “above” the group. This requires the facilitator to trust the participants. Sometimes, this is difficult, but it is almost always gratifying. Brockett (2015) encourages us to know ourselves and to be authentic (p 92). He also points out the importance of trust (p 10). This simply means we should value our participants and trust them.

References

Blanchard, Ken, Zigarmi, Patricia, Zigarmi, Drea (1985) Leadership and the One Minute

Manager. Morrow Publishing

Brockett, Ralph. (2015). Teaching adults: A practical guide for new teachers. Jossy-Bass

Knowles, Malcolm. (1975) Self-directed learning: A guide for learners and teachers.

          Follett Publishing Company.

Knowles, Malcolm (1980) The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to

andragogy (2^nd ed.). New York NY: Cambridge Books.

Merriam, Sharan B; Baumgartner, Lisa M. (2020). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive                guide.  (4th ed.) Jossy-Bass