Methods of Teaching Adult Education - Assignment Example

Methods of Teaching Adult Education Methods of Teaching Adult Education Introduction When teaching the adults, one important point to note is to know your audience and understand how they learn. As there are various methods of teaching that go with various groups of people, understanding the audience will help the teacher to choose the best teaching methods to apply. Such methods that will be use when teaching the adults should be such methods that present, immediate usefulness of the material used to the learners. The method should depict the material used as relevant while it is applied in the most welcoming environment. The best method used in teaching adults should also be a method that is engaging and embraces respect for the learners to share their experiences. In this assignment, we will discuss just three of the best and modern methods that can be used to teach employees to recycle as much of the organizations waste as possible. The methods to be discussed include the use of classroom lectures and assignments, use of demonstrations, and group works. The paper will also go ahead to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of these methods used. Classroom Lectures and Assignments Under this method, the employees, who will be the adult learners, will be confined in a classroom or a conference hall and be subjected to a lecture. The lecture material will be prepared with the consideration that will majorly touch on the theoretical view of wastes and waste management. This method will be used when conveying a general information to the entire lot of the employees that could otherwise be hard to handle when using some other methods that are only effective for a small number of learners. The basic information and briefing about waste management and recycling will be conveyed here. However, when using this method with the adults, the period of administering the lecture must be short. When time is made shorter, the level of concentration of the learners will be high, therefore, the effectiveness of the method will be achieved. The lecture method will encourage participation by the adult learners where they will be able to ask questions to improve their content mastery and understanding. The method will be one of the best methods to use in teaching this topic to the employees since it will be easy to use real life examples of other waste recycling that have been done before and such will be able to put emphasis on the learning outcomes. The method also combines lectures with assignments, thereby, acting as an evaluative method for the learners. It can, therefore, easily tell whether the learners have understood the learning objectives or not. The problem-solving assignments that will be administered in class will also help the learners to apply the concept of waste recycling elsewhere. The class situation will also allow the possible discussion of short-time assignments. This will be a possible way of developing the how the adult learners will be able to analyze situations as well as improve their critical thinking. It is a classroom lecture that can open up their viewpoint to be even different from their teacher. Strengths Lecturing method will give a chance to the instructor to expose the adult learners to several of the unpublished concepts in waste recycling process. At least it gives a free and open forum for the instructor to give all he knows about waste recycling including all the theories behind the topic. By using lecturing method, the instructor is also able to determine the aim, content, pace, organization and the direction of his presentation. This is unlike more student-centered methods such as discussion, which always require to adhere to the unanticipated ideas, questions and comments of the students. The instructor requires to arouse interest in the subject. Therefore, classroom lecturing method provides him with the opportunity to do so. Again, there might be some text material that is controversial to the adult learners. Such text materials can easily be clarified in a lecture situation. Such a method of also learning impart confidence in the learners as some students highly depend on the learning structure and material which are more teacher-centered. To sum all this up, classroom lecturing method is a teaching method that is favorable for a large class communication. Weaknesses Classroom lecture and assignment method of teaching adults may place learners in a passive rather than active role that therefore ends up the hindering learning process. We find that there are some students who do not like participating in class. Such students may be disadvantaged by the end of the teaching program since they shall have obtained too little from the lecturing process. Again, being that the class might be large, the instructor might not be able to attend to all the adult learners personally. Hence, the less active learners may benefit less. Lecturers also promote majorly a one-way communication from the instructor. Therefore, if the instructor does not encourage active participation from the students side, it might be hard for the instructor to realize and understand the students problems in understanding the content without providing a verbal feedback. While using this method for the adult learners, they will require adequate unguided time outside the classroom to go through the course material and ensure long-term subject and content retention. If the instructor has either poor writing or communication skills, this method of teaching can never be effective. This is because the adult learners will not be able to hear well the topic content or see clearly the writings used on the wall intended for clarification. Demonstrations Demonstrations involve using visual examples and trials to show the practicality of the subject. This is a very effective method especially when teaching the adult learners how to recycle organizations wastes. This method is always good in providing a mental picture to the learner through the visual learning tasks. The instructor might decide to use experimentation is to demonstrate well the concept of waste recycling. When the instructor wants to prove the facts he has taught in class conclusively about waste recycling, demonstration will be the best method to apply. In this case, the instructor will demonstrate to the adult learners, step by step, using real materials, how to recycle waste materials. Starting with displaying and explaining all the materials and equipment involved, the instructor will then proceed to demonstrate stepwise the procedure that he had given to the learners about how recycling of wastes is done. He will be using the materials as per his outlined procedure and method. Adults are known to being very skeptical during the teaching and learning process. Thus, demonstration proves to be a very powerful tool in teaching such people. Demonstration will work very effectively in this kind of teaching as the adult learners will be provided with the opportunity to try the provided concept in waste recycling in a controlled environment. The learners will also be provided with supervision and coaching while trying to put the new concepts in practice. It is also a very easy to use the method for the adults in situations where the adults are not capable of understanding the concept in a classroom situation. Strengths Demonstrations are very useful in instructing a reasonable number of people about basic skills like how to recycle waste materials. At least, everyone in attendance will have to see a demonstration and be able to learn the skills effectively. It is also very important that the demonstration allows this group of people being trained to see, discuss and even participate in the demonstration itself. This enhances learning more effectively through promoting participation in the adult learners. It is, therefore, a very effective learning method when teaching adult learners as it is more of training and giving practical instructions than providing the learners with theoretical information. The adult learners can visualize the practicability of the waste recycling process. Thus, they will be able to replicate the process even later in life. Demonstration is also a method that involves more of active participation than passive listening to a talk, even if illustrations were used to support it. The method can also generate a great deal of interest and enthusiasm for carrying out a practice, as well as the skills involved in the practice. Demonstration is also the simplest way of teaching adults even without having to talk to them. The adult learners will only be able to observe and see what the instructor does and emulate the skills in the demonstration performed by the instructor. Weaknesses Demonstration works effectively with few or manageable number of learners. If the employees are very many, then this method might not be effective since some of the learners will not get the opportunity to hear or to see what is demonstrated by the instructor. When this happens, some of the learners can adopt wrong techniques or suffer from understanding things the wrong way. Demonstration also does not give the opportunity to all the learners to practice the skills taught adequately due to the limitation of resources and time. Group Work The adult learners can also be put in groups where they will be provided with the materials and a topic under waste recycling to research about and discuss. After discussing the topic as a group, one of the group members may come and present their findings to the rest of the members about waste recycling. Each group may be provided with all the resources they require for their research to succeed. A group may go as far as carrying out a demonstration to test their research findings, thereby, during the presentation; they get to present valid and proven concepts. Group work increases social integration where the adult learners will have to know each other better when they are put to work as a team. The learners will also have high retention capacities brought due to social integration. It is very possible for small groups of adult learners with the same level of career maturity to create a social environment that motivates them and make them persist in the learning process. Due to group works, the adult learners will be able to learn and share their skills, values and experiences. This method of adult learning is internationally approved and supported. Strengths The strengths of using group work as a method to teach adults include the fact that members can receive moral and emotional support for their views. This may act as a motivational factor for them to continue working with the group and feel important members of the group. The method also helps members of the group make personal ties and develop career advantages. It is also advantageous to work with a group since the group will have access to much information than any single individual. It will, therefore, be effective in teaching how to recycle wastes as the group members will bring forth various methods that can be used to do the same thing. A group also gives multiple attentions and diverse focus on the topic, unlike individuals who will only have a unidirectional focus on approaching the topic. The group will also be more thorough in dealing with the topic than how an individual could have dealt with it. Groups may resort to conflict, which they might harness and exploit to help them generate many new ideas. The method, therefore, helps in attaining deeper understanding of the topic than when individuals were to be taught separately. Weaknesses Group work is the most time-consuming method of teaching, since it will need enough time to tackle each issue conclusively. It is also very possible for group members to involve into conflicts, hence, derailing the learning process as some members fail to corporate with the group. Groupthink can also create a learning barrier and make the group not to achieve its intended objectives. This is where group members may possess too much diversity in their outlook on an issue, with each member sticking to their own views, learning cannot take place and it will be difficult for the group to progress well in their activities. Conclusion Teaching adults can be very difficult sometimes, but very easy when appropriate teaching methods are chosen. To teach adults a very practical skill like how to recycle an organizations wastes, teaching methods that are interactive, interesting and respectful should be chosen. Classroom lecturing, demonstration and group work methods were chosen as the most effective methods to teach adults how to recycle wastes. In as much as these methods have their strengths, they also have their demerits. However, the strengths and the weaknesses of the method can be weighed to decide on their effectiveness to teach adult employees. References Anthony, M. W. (2012). Teaching and Learning Methods for Adult Learners. HubPages, 1-3. CIRTL. (2013). Lecturing: Advantages and disadnvantages of the traditional lecturing method. Center for the Intergtation of Research, Teaching and Learning, 1-2. Knowles, M. (2012). Effective adult learning. The Adult Learners, 11-12. O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2004). The Essential Guide to Group Communication. . Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. RKMP. (2011). Advantages and disadvantages of method demonstration. Rice Knowledge Management Portal, 1. Read More