Transform Adult Education: Expert Teaching Strategies for Educators

Transform Adult Education:

Expert Teaching Strategies for Educators

by

Dr. Bruce A. Johnson

Copyright © 2017 Dr. Bruce A. Johnson

All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

About the Author

Introduction

CHAPTER 1. Adult Education: The Educator

Do Your Students Look Up to You?

Do Students Need Instructors to Learn?

Here's How to Be an Engaging and Highly Effective Educator

Do You Know How to Empower Students to Perform Their Best?

How Do You Make a Difference for Your Students?

CHAPTER 2. Adult Education: Transformative Teaching

How Do You Put Heart and Soul into Teaching?

Do You Understand the Power of Words in Education?

Do All Students Deserve Your Time and Attention?

Do Students Benefit from Hand-Holding or Strict Discipline?

Is the Carrot and Stick Method Useful in Higher Education?

How Do You Get to Know Students You Cannot See?

Here's the Secret to Teaching Younger Adult Students

The Secret to Learning is Change

CHAPTER 3. Adult Education: Transforming Students

How to Help a Student Change When the Default Setting is No

How to Help Students Develop an I Can Attitude

Can You Tell When Your Students Are at Risk for Failure?

How Do You Help Students Who Will Not Help Themselves?

What Do You Do When Good Students Seem to Go Bad?

What Is the Secret to Student Success?

CHAPTER 4. Transform Adult Education: Critical Thinking

The Challenge of Teaching

The Challenge of Learning

Evolution of the Learning Process

Why Critical Thinking is Critical for Learning

Transforming Adult Education: Critical Intellectual Discourse (CID)

About the Author

Dr. J's mission is to teach, write, and inspire others as an academic educator, leader, author, writer, and mentor. Dr. J has been working in the field of higher education and distance learning since 2005, with roles that have included Chief Academic Officer, Dean, online instructor, college instructor, and online faculty development specialist.

Dr. J also has significant experience with curriculum development, having developed hundreds of courses for corporate training programs, along with bachelors, masters, and doctorate college degree programs. Dr. J completed a Master in Business Administration (MBA) and a Ph.D., with a specialization in Postsecondary and Adult Education.

Introduction

You may remember how you got started as an instructor, but do you recall what inspires you to continue teaching? The instructional duties of an educator require well-developed planning, organizational, and time management skills, especially if you have multiple projects or career responsibilities to balance. If you teach in a traditional college classroom, you must plan for a class or classes that typically meets on a specific day or time during the week. If you teach online, the general expectation is that you will be actively engaged in your class throughout the entire week.

What inspires you to devote the time necessary to create a meaningful learning experience, knowing that you will need to make a significant commitment of your time? Yes, it is your responsibility to meet the requirements of your job, but what drives you to succeed? Is it your job, your students, or both?

Many instructors describe teaching as something they are passionate about doing and it stems from a desire to share knowledge and the experience they have acquired, while also helping students develop necessary academic skill sets. Other educators also focus on helping students work on areas such as self-motivation, self-confidence, and development of their overall sense of self-empowerment. Another reason for teaching is a love of learning, which requires ongoing professional development and a need to stay current in the field related to the subject being taught.

Are You Inspired to Share Knowledge?

Do you find you have a desire to share your knowledge and background with adult students? Most college instructors are working in a field related to their classes and they also have advanced education related to the subject matter. This adds depth to the class discussions because they understand the course concepts and can translate theory in a way that allows students to view it within the context of the real world.

The knowledge an educator possesses helps to strengthen all learning activities because it becomes easier to tell if students are on the right track with their comprehension of the course topics. This is demonstrated through student responses during class discussions, along with their written assignments, research papers, analyses, and other projects. For example, students with limited academic experience often discuss business issues from a should or needs to perspective, without considering the potential implications or reality of their proposed solutions. Through the use of Socratic questioning and feedback an educator is able to guide students in the right direction and encourage them to explore alternative viewpoints, opinions, and perspectives.

Are You Inspired to Teach Self-Development?

As an educator, do you have a desire to help students do something more in class than acquire subject-specific knowledge? Do you see students as individuals who have an interest in learning about their personal or professional needs? As any instructor knows, there isn't a set of characteristics or qualities that can be applied to all students because they each possess an individualized approach to learning and they have a wide range of skills and abilities. The process of teaching involves being able to quickly assess and interpret where each student is at, from an academic skill set perspective, and knowing how to assist them in the most meaningful manner. This is applicable to any classroom environment, whether in a college or corporate training class.

Working with students requires patience, emotional intelligence, and persuasive communication skills, if you are going to connect with them and develop productive working relationships. Your ability to connect with students is important no matter what the class length may be, whether two hours or ten weeks. Helping students develop skills such as writing and critical thinking can be very rewarding, when you watch a shift in their perspective and approach to interacting with their environment, and you see them gain knowledge from the course materials or other information received.

As students discover their capacity to learn they often become more self-confident, and over time their self-motivation increases. This is the essence of self-empowerment, when students understand that their work and effort produces a positive result, which includes the accomplishment of their goals. Those goals may be relatively simple, such as successfully completing the class or meeting the learning outcomes, or it can be more complex and involve the acquisition of knowledge or learning a new skill.

Are You Inspired by Lifelong Learning?

Do you have a love of learning? Another reason why someone would choose to work as an educator is a passion for their career field and they enjoy reading current research, topics, and trends related to their chosen field. As an educator, it is essential to stay up-to-date so your instructional approach relates to current thinking and research within the field you are teaching.

Another area of lifelong learning that is necessary for all educators is the continued self-improvement of their instructional strategies. This can be accomplished by reading books, articles, and online resources that are related to adult learning theories and adult education in general. A passion for acquiring and sharing knowledge will help you become a much more effective educator, and it can also teach your students how they can also become lifelong learners.

Are You Inspired by Your Own Professional Development?

As an educator, you will find it beneficial for your career, along with your students, to nurture a desire to perform your very best in class, know where you excel in your classroom facilitation strategies, and what areas you need to work on. Take time to look for professional networking opportunities as a means of sharing ideas and resources, and find classes or webinars you can attend to further your continued self-development.

As you review the reasons why you are inspired to teach you are likely to think about the sense of personal and professional fulfillment that results from helping students reach their academic goals. While the work of an educator often requires a substantial investment of time and energy, it is part of the process of teaching that you accept as being necessary for the benefit of your students. The opportunity to share your knowledge and experience, while teaching self-development skills, can be transformative for you and your students. When you feel inspired it will bring out the best in your instructional abilities, along with the best performance of your students.

I have discovered my purpose as an academic educator, leader, author, writer, mentor, and coach is to teach, write, and inspire others.

With this book, my hope is that you are inspired to learn more about adult education, and more importantly, transformational instructional strategies that will help you create conditions for meaningful learning to occur in your classes. I believe as you perform your very best as an educator, you will also bring out the best in your students.

Dr. Bruce A. Johnson

August 1, 2017

CHAPTER 1

ADULT EDUCATION: THE EDUCATOR

Transformation of adult education teaching practices begins with the educator. How an instructor teaches matters just as much as the subject matter being taught. Many adjunct instructors, especially adjunct online instructors, are hired for their subject matter expertise rather than their knowledge of adult learning theory. While they may be able to explain course concepts effectively to students, they may not understand what it means to facilitate a learning process and work to meet the developmental needs of their students. What this means is that they must work on their own professional development, utilizing feedback provided from classroom audits and other resources.

This first chapter explores the role of the educator. Whether you are an adjunct instructor who has subject matter expertise and limited adult education theory, or you are a highly experienced educator now, you will likely find something to help you continue to learn and grow. The purpose is to help you remember why you choose to teach, and the potential influence you can have on your students. Everything presented in this chapter is based upon my work in the field of higher education, along with my ongoing adult education research. What I have studied and learned may help you grow as an educator, and more importantly, it may inspire your work as you interact with your students.

Do Your Students Look Up to You?

When you are actively involved in the classroom and working with your adult students, classroom management and what you need to teach are the order of the day. As the class progresses, you may consider the perspective of your students; along with what motivates them, how they persist when faced with challenges, and what it is like for them to interact with the classroom environment. But have you ever considered how your students view you as an educator? Does it matter to you, or influence how you teach, when you are planning your class or considering future professional development?

Most educators choose this type of work or career, even when the pay or working conditions are less than ideal. What if you decide to function, from this point forward, in a manner that is transformative for your students, so they are somehow better for having been enrolled in your classes? In other words, what if you could teach in a way that will have a long-term impact on your students?

If you do influence them in this manner now, or decide you want to change how you teach, they will likely look up to you. This means they will remember you and your class, and more importantly, they will be transformed in some way, whether academically, professionally, or personally.

A Question for Educators

As an educator, consider this question: is functioning in a transformative manner a matter of making consciousness choices in how you act while you are teaching, or is it a result of every interaction you have with your students? Not every student is going to have a positive experience while they interact with you, despite the best of intentions you may have set, yet when students know their instructors care they are more willing to put in the time and try when it comes to being